Mutual Societies – What makes us different?
A feature of traditional mutual societies is that we care for our Members beyond simply fulfilling the terms of a Members contract. We also demonstrate our caring ethos by supporting the local community and charities close to our core principles and the heart of our Members.
In 2008, we established a Charity Committee consisting of six members of staff who are responsible for donations from the Society’s “Benevolent Fund”. Over the years Cirencester friendly has made donations to a wide range of charities both locally and nationally. If you are a Member and would like to nominate a charity contact us.
Cirencester Friendly Society’s Benevolent Fund
We have a “Benevolent Fund” which is contributed to regularly by the following means:
- Donations from Members
- Donation for every Proxy Voting Form returned at the Annual General Meeting
- Annual donation of 0.05% of premiums earned by the Society
The Society’s Charity Committee and staff also arrange and take part in events to help raise money to contribute to this fund. Below are some of the more recent donations made by the Society:
Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre
Maggie’s have established cancer care centres across the UK and they are able to support our Members who are living with cancer and their families when they need them most. The Centres provide practical, emotional and psychological support to people living with cancer as well as their families, friends and carers and can form a vital support network. The Society donated £2500 to help with the opening of a Centre at Cheltenham Hospital.
Coast to Coast Bike Ride
Head of Field Sales, Mike Eden, completed the Coast to Coast bike ride in aid of Ovarian Cancer Action. He raised £626 from sponsorship by staff, friends and family. The Society matched this bringing the total donation to £1,252.
The Churn Project
The Churn Project is a locally based charity that provides a befriending scheme for older people living in Cirencester. Volunteers visit elderly people who live on their own and who may not be able to get out and about by themselves. Cirencester friendly donated £420 to make up 40 hampers to support its Good Neighbours Scheme. Many of these elderly people have lived in Cirencester all their lives and will have grown up alongside the Society. It is an important part of our core values to encourage the support of others and a sense of mutual community spirit.
The Salvation Army
The Society donated £700 to the Salvation Army to support them in providing food to local vulnerable people over the Christmas holidays. All members of staff also donated goods to The Salvation Army Christmas Present Appeal to provide gifts to people who otherwise would not have received anything again supporting help and assistance in times of need for those less fortunate.
Cirencester Friendly in the Community
As a friendly society that has been based in Cirencester for over 120 years, playing an active role in our local community is very important to us. We have worked with Cirencester College, Cirencester Chamber of Commerce, and local historian and former curator of the Corinium Museum, David Viner to support and develop many projects.
Cirencester College
Career Academies UK Programme
Our CEO Paul Hudson sits on Cirencester College Career Academies Advisory Board. The role of the Advisory Board Members is to set the direction of the Career Academies, using their skills and expertise drawn from their position.
In 2010 Paul also presented a ‘Guru’ lecture for the Academy. Approximately 30 of the Academy’s students attended. The session focused on mutuality, using well known brands like the Co-operative and John Lewis as examples, he engaged them in a lively debate around mutuality in financial services.
Our Marketing Department ran a workshop on how to choose the right jobs based on your experience. Demonstrating the concept with a giant snakes and ladders game participants moved around the board based on the decisions they made. They also gave CV writing and interview skill sessions and ran practice interviews for candidates.
As a company Cirencester friendly has taken on interns from the Career Academy every year for the past three years. They work within the Society for 6 weeks on a paid basis, giving them an opportunity to experience working life first hand. This raises the profile of the Society in the area as employers and several interns have been taken on as a result.
Recruitment, Training and Career Fair
Cirencester College organised a free event for the local community in Cirencester. We hosted a table where we provided a ‘Top Tips’ guide to CV writing, letter writing and job applications, providing advice based on our own experiences. As an employer in the town our employees had a wealth of experience and knowledge as both applicants and potential employees which we were keen to share with our local community.
Many of our own staff have also undertaken NVQs at the college itself as part of our ongoing commitment to Development and Training.
Local Initiatives
I Love Cirencester
The Cirencester Chamber of Commerce held an ‘I Love Cirencester’ day to encourage local people to use the town centre rather than travel to the large out of town stores. Although we do not open on a Saturday or deal directly with customers in a retail sense, our 120 year history meant that it was entirely appropriate to support the festivities. Staff gave up their own time to attend and be a part the event.
A Long Standing History
Established in 1890, Cirencester friendly has remained in Cirencester throughout our existence. We have one of the most comprehensive library of documents relating to the Friendly Societies movement dating right back to our very first year of business that form an important part in the social history of the town. Working with local historian, David Viner we plan to move these to the local records office in Gloucester where they can be stored safely and enjoyed by others.
David Viner commented that ‘the run of ledgers, account books, minutes etc (many finely bound) totals well over fifty volumes, and must therefore represent a rare survival of such a continuous set of records for a friendly society.’
He went on to say that ‘as a piece of Cirencester history, the archive contains fascinating material about local families, their links with the Society, and the business and economic structure of the town.’ Cirencester friendly’s records are a valuable source of information for family and local historians and students of economics; by moving them to the Gloucester Records Office they will now be accessible to these professionals.
‘Making freely available useful historical information for the benefit of a variety of local historians, Cirencester friendly are enhancing interest in and enjoyment of Cirencester’s economic and community history.’