We are MIDDLETON CO-OPERATING.
We're committed to Middleton and the people who live and work and study here.
We aim to bring people together across our town to improve the affordability and the quality of the things that have the biggest impact on our lives - for example, housing, energy, child care, social care, food, transport.
We believe that by working together - co-operating - we can achieve positive lasting change for Middleton. It will take hard work, time, and patience. But together we can build a stronger local community that has a sense of ownership and responsibility for what happens in our town, and how things are done - supporting each other to improve all our lives.
MIDDLETON COOPERATING has been developed so far by a number of people who live and work locally, but membership is open to everybody. If you support our principles and our vision, we'd love you to join in our work in whatever way suits you.
The current management committee consists of:
Mark Fraser - a Middleton resident who volunteers at the Lighthouse Project, having taken early retirement after working in adult care for Bolton Council.
Donna Williams - a Middleton resident who works at the Lighthouse Project. Donna is a carer and a former councillor representing Middleton on Rochdale Council.
James Luckham - a Middleton resident and local science teacher who has been part of Middleton Community Power group and is really passionate about shifting current education systems
Kerry Edwards - a Middleton resident, and the manager of Burnside Community Centre in Middleton. Kerry is a HRM expert and an Associate member of the CIPD. She is committed to inspiring and meaningful professional development and community engagement.
Phill Worthington - with 15 years experience working with communities to create a fairer and more equal society, Phill is currently developing cross-sector partnerships to deliver world class facilities for young people up and down the country.
They are supported by 7 "expert advisers":
Cliff Mills - a lawyer at Anthony Collins Solicitors who specialises in co-operative law. Cliff is committed to the promotion of co-operative principles and co-operating for the common good.
Gareth Nash - is a founder member of Co-operative and Mutual Solutions, a worker co-op based in Lancashire but which works nationally and internationally. He has experience of working with groups of people to help them develop their collective ideas and bring them to fruition. Gareth has worked in renewable energy, community asset transfer, food and criminal justice. He is society secretary of Preston Co-operative Development Network and active in Climate Action Preston.
Kallum Nolan - a Middleton resident, formerly a councillor representing Middleton on Rochdale Council, and the landlord of the Crown Inn on Rochdale Road.
Kath Bromfield - a Middleton resident who has been part of Middleton Community Power and a wealth of experitise in work with families and children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) on inter/national level.
Kerry Tottingham - until recently also one of the directors and before that responsible for co-ordinating the voluntary/community sector across Middleton and Rochdale. Kerry runs her own social enterprise and is passionate about co-creating communities with charities, social enterprises and local people alongside public sector partners and businesses.
Marianne Sensier - an economist at Manchester Business School. Marianne is currently researching regional economic resilience, strategic public procurement and community wealth building.
Mark Bramah - the Climate Change and Sustainability Manager at Rochdale Council.
Nicola Hine - Corporate Policy Adviser for Rochdale Council, who helps connect Middleton Co-operating with the local Council's staff who can help us progress our work.
We're very grateful to Lankelly Chase who are keen to support our work, and who have given us funding that's enabling us have our first paid role of Development Lead.
On our journey so far we've had brilliant support from people across the North West and the UK, who've been happy to share their time and resources and expertise with us, including:
- Equal Care
- Greater Manchester Law Centre
- Unlimited Potential
- Co-operative and Mutual Solutions (CMS)
- Greater Manchester Tenants Union (GMTU)
- Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES)
- Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisations (GMCVO)
- People Support Co-op
- Community Broadband Network (CBN)
- Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)
- Co-ops UK
- Indycube
- Stitched Up
- Greater Manchester Mutual Bank
- Ex-Cell
