At the East of England Co-op we recognise the importance of charitable organisations in providing support to our local communities. We’d like to provide space to support you to do this, whether it’s to raise awareness of your good cause and ways that you can offer support or be supported or to provide access to your services. We’re passionate about community cohesion and integration and aim to support people in playing an active part in our communities to reduce barriers and inequalities and improve social contact and experiences. By situating the hub in a familiar, accessible setting, we hope to create an easy point of connection that links people to more support and information.

Whilst we’d like to be able to support everyone, we do have some limitations and there will be occasions when we won’t be able to accommodate requests for booking. If this is the case we encourage you to have a look at the other ways we might be able to support you  more details about our other community programmes can be found on our website. Ideally, you’ll contact us at least one month in advance to allow us time to co-ordinate the booking.

As a member owned business it’s important to us to make sure that our support benefits our members which is why we only support activities which support our local communities and can meet certain requirements to minimise any risk to our customers, members and community. 

What sort of charitable organisations do we support? 

We can support your charity if you're running services or activities to address local needs where the East of England Co-op trades. 

Who can apply?  

• Your group must have a registration number, charity, CIC, CIO, CLG  or be a public service (e.g. NHS or police).
• You must be over 18 years of age.
• Your attendees must be able to present with ID or other identifiable documentation on the day authorising you to collect donations for the group.
• The work the group is delivering must benefit people from all faiths and political associations and is not purely intended to further religious or political beliefs.

What type of activities can we support?

• Charity In-Branch Hosting - including awareness/fundraising campaigns, volunteer recruitment and signposting individuals to support services
• Friendship/support groups - including coffee mornings, book clubs, bereavement support, befriending services
• Information workshops - including education support, healthier living
• Charity workspace - for meetings or administrative work
• Personal support services - including advice centres, mentoring, advocacy support, counselling sessions, health reviews (including audiology, health clinics
• Relaxed activity classes - including seated exercise, mindfulness, yoga, sessions for those with sensory impairment
• Craft and tabletop game events - including tabletop board games , group craft sessions
• Singing groups

We can’t support

• The running of a raffle (there are fundraising regulations about this, and you may need a licence). Other fundraising activities unless they’re compliant with fundraising regulations and relevant legislation
• Third-party marketing companies or requesting for sign ups
• Accommodating cake, bake or food sales or open food events or food giveaways (due to allergen risk)
• The selling of any goods unless it is your charity merchandise
• Individual challenges or requests, including medical funding, research, treks or similar requesting scholarships, entry fees into charity races or sponsorships 
• Individuals for study, research or travel grants  
• Individuals for personal situations e.g. medical treatments 

What else will you need?

• You will be asked to provide a risk assessment for the relevant activity
• You will be asked to provide public liability insurance

What can you do for us?

We’d really appreciate feedback of your experience on the day. This helps us to analyse the support that we’re providing and report back on the difference we’re making.

What locations can you book?

• West Mersea, CO5 8RA

What do you need to be aware of?

In order for us to process your application you’ll need to read and agree to our hirer agreement and to share your data with the East of England Co-op, as per our privacy policy, so that it can be stored, processed, shared with colleagues, audited and used for reporting purposes. You may also be contacted for publicity purposes.

Apply for a space

If you're looking to book our Community Hub, please reach out to community@eastofengland.coop, and a member of our team will be happy to assist with your request.