Briefing:2021 Calendar for Officers of the Co-operative Party to use From: John Boyle For attention of: Published: 28th January 2021 Last updated: 28th January 2021 Printed: 30th April 2024 Other formats: Print Holding your AGM in good time, makes planning the rest of the year so much easier Predicting anything in the current situation is difficult. So disclaimer first. Every date suggested in this calendar is subject to change. But they are given in good faith on the basis of many years activities. Do consider a tweet, Facebook or Instagram before during or after any event Use the @coopparty and the party.coop/join logo’s and a relevant hash tag. The intention of this is to help promote the work of the Party and hopefully to make the work simple and less time consuming. Look at this year’s calendar; chat to your fellow officers about setting a calendar for the coming year. Review last year, were there dates or activities that you might have changed or done differently? Are there dates that must be maintained or should be changed, (do you hold a meeting on a day that one group of members can attend, but very few other members do?) Get dates in the calendar for this year now Rule Book, is very useful, you can find it on our website ……https://party.coop/members/rule-book/ Strongly recommend you visit https://party.coop/members/ there’s an awful lot of content and ideas for campaigns, activities and such. This briefing will be updated throughout the year. January/February Excellent time to hold a branch AGM, so that you can delegate people to other co-op bodies that have their AGM’s in March/April/May. Take the opportunity to encourage members who might stand as Labour and Co-op Candidates in local elections, Scottish Parliament, Assemblies Welsh and London, PPC’s local Councillors, even Parish Councils* If they register early your Party Council or Branch can set a budget better. Go to https://party.coop/briefing/holding-online-agms/ for advice on holding an AGM on line. At the AGM consider setting out the dates of the rest of the years’ events. We recommend you try to organise branch and Party Council activities around Fairtrade Fortnight 22nd February to the 8th March ,theme of Climate Change. May elections (obvs) Co-operatives Fortnight 21st June to Saturday 4th July 2021 theme of #JoinACoop Campaigns: – Could your next meeting discuss one of the Party’s current campaigns? Visit https://party.coop/campaign/food-justice/ to get the latest on our Food Justice Campaign March/April/ May March is a good time for Party Councils to hold their AGM’s. Officers, get your plans for 2021 out before those months though , say at your January/February meeting. Inform your delegates to Constituency Labour Party CLP’s. If your Labour Party CLP’s hold their AGM’s in June, as many do, consider a delegating meeting on zoom of the branch or Party Council in April/May. Make an event of it. What Co-op Policies are your delegates going to promote in their CLP ? Policy events Could you make your first meeting after the AGM a Policy meeting? Visit https://party.coop/policy/2021 for details of our policy areas for 2021 Member Co-operative Societies. The majority of our member Societies hold their AGM’s in April or May. They support us, we should support them. Encourage members of the Party to engage with their local Co-operative. And not just our member Societies. Vote in their elections, attend their AGM’s, listen to their reports and share their successes to a wider audience. Our member Co-ops are The Co-operative Group, Central England Co-operative, Midcounties Co-op, Scotmid, East of England and Chelmsford Star. We also have in membership smaller Co-ops, Revolver Co-op, Co-operative and Mutual Solutions, Enabled Works. Local Elections There are local elections across the whole country, and we have a bumper number of Co-operative Candidates. The Party is working with Labour to hold telephone canvassing. Check the website and your inbox for details. Can you support your candidates with suggestions for items to go in their manifestos? And encourage people to stand as Labour and Co-operative, but be quick we ideally need the names in before end of February.* June/July/August After local elections branches, Party Councils may want a break. Consider a branch meeting in June that looks at the fall out from the elections, while its still fresh in the minds. What can be learned from the experience. Then Get ready for Co-operatives Fortnight 2021 Monday 21st June to Saturday 4th July 2021. See the briefing on Co-ops Fortnight. Or ask your Principle Six Officer j.boyle@party.coop for info. Most branches and Party Councils never hold a meeting in August, but could the Officers have a little catch up and plan for the Autumn? Given everything is rather busy the first half of the year, could you consider a branch meeting with a guest speaker on a topic of the day. Has an issue come up? Have members been asking about a subject they want to learn about or discuss. We have officers for campaigns, local authorities, Co-operation, Policy, Communications, Equalities and yes even politics!. Or could you get one of our elected politicians to speak at your branch? And there’s more Make sure your members are delegated to Party Conference, its on line, so no travel and accommodation to work out, but there’s organisational motions, policy debates and campaigning issues to decide. Could you hold a workshop for your delegates and interested members September/October September/October Members should be having the opportunity to look at the Conference timetable and agenda. As conference is online, all members are invited to join in. But there are just a few things delegates will need to do. The Annual General meeting of the Co-operative Party Society. Certain rules and procedures need to be voted on, and not least the Party’s Annual Report to be received and questioned, before being put to delegates for a vote. Societies Most Co-op Retail Societies hold half yearly meetings or join in activities across October and November. Encourage members to “join in” support their Co-op. For details ask the Principle Six Officer. November/December I would hope all meetings are enjoyable, informative and progressive. But this time of the year, you might want to hold a less formal event? A Co-operative Quiz, on politics, on Co-ops, on a bit of both? In December, round up the year, good time for Councillor reports, or other political representatives if available. Plan for next year. Can you tell members the expected dates of meetings? Especially the AGM’s Branch, Party Council. Could you run a workshop in January to explain the role of officers, candidates, delegates, encourage people to stand next year. Action Points Give members dates earlyPrepare to plan for known events. Encourage ideas and activities Get the Buzz? Do all your Officers get the Buzz. Let us know if one or more of your officers do not. And let members know they can ask for the Buzz to be sent to them. We use the Buzz to tell you what’s going on, so you can share with members and interested parties about what’s going on. It will also tell you of dates of important events, meetings or campaigns. PS Use social media to promote Co-operative Party activity. The more tweets, the more it gets picked up. The more it gets picked up, the more it appears in search engines, reminders and suggested links.