Branches and Party Councils should be considering their activities for 2022 starting with organising their AGM’s.

We encourage branches to hold theirs early in the year, so they can send delegates to other bodies like the Party Council.

Then Party and or Regional Party Councils to hold theirs later. Almost all Party Councils delegate the Branches to choose CLP delegates, but Party Councils should still approve the members named.

At the AGM tell members about the rest of the year. When your meetings will be; the opportunity to join in the policy process that determines our direction for the coming years; informing members of Co-op Party Regional and National Conferences and encouraging delegates to attend.

Whilst much time will be spent on whether activities should be held in person or on line, there are some dates that are fixed in stone and the Party has always encouraged members to engage with those activities whether on line or in person.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2022 will begin Monday 21st February to Sunday 6th March 2022. At time of writing the theme will be Choose the World you Want Festival. The link to the details and useful information is below. https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get-involved/current-campaigns/fairtrade-fortnight/

The Co-operative Party was instrumental in the creation of the Fairtrade Foundation. The majority of businesses involved in the growing of Fairtrade goods are Co-operatives. The challenges caused by Climate Change are faced by Fairtrade farmers, and the solutions to Climate change are better delivered by Co-operatives. So plan an event, a talk or a campaign and do something during FT14! Oh and prepare to take pictures and send lots out on social media.

Local Elections Local elections in the United Kingdom will be held on 5 May 2022. These will include elections for all London borough councils, and for all local authorities in Wales and Scotland. There are fewer elections in the rest of England, but there are hot spots in the West Midlands and North West as well as many councils with 1/3 rd of seats up for election. Can you support our Co-operative Candidates? Let us know and we can help you help them. Oh and prepare to take pictures and send lots out on social media.

Co-operatives Fortnight is an important period of activity for the Party. We support Co-operatives UK the umbrella body for Co-operatives. Saturday 18^th June to Saturday 2^nd July 2022, which is International Co-operatives Day. Co-ops UK will be announcing the theme of the Fortnight soon. So visit https://www.uk.coop/ for details in 2022. But put the dates in your calendars now 😊 Oh and prepare to take pictures and send lots out on social media.