Co-operative Adventures in Oldham!

Co-operative (ad)Venture is a course for people aged 16-30 with a learning disability or autism that we run with Co-operative College in Oldham. The course helps people to develop their skills and make connections with local businesses.

The college had started working with a small group of young people who wanted to form their own co-operative. 

We looked at how this could be done, by getting to know and understand the Co-operative values and how we could use them. 

The group worked really hard on developing their own co-operative and had a vote on who they would choose as their charity. They decided that they would like to support The Bread and Butter Thing, a charity that makes life more affordable for people on a low income. The group made contact to see what items The Bread and Butter Thing needed. 

The group decided to make care packages and contacted several companies to see if they would like to be involved and make some donations. 

The group also decided that it would be nice to send a letter with the care packages to let people know that there are people out there who are thinking of them. 

We then collected the items and divided them up into six care packages and delivered them to The Bread and Butter Thing, who explained that they were going to go to the elderly who were on their own at Christmas and would be delivered via Age UK.

Find out more about the Co-operative (ad)Venture course and how you can join the next course.