Every year the Co-op Group chooses a new list of local causes and this year, the great news is the East Chevington based project is set to receive member funds until October 2021 from shoppers at the Hadston and Amble stores.

Each time a member shops at their local Co-op store throughout the UK, 1% of what they spend on selected own-brand products and service goes to the Local Community Fund. Once they’ve unpacked their shopping, they can then go online and select which cause they want their own 1% to go to, with the money raised together with money from carrier bag sales helping local projects.

The three year Catch My Drift project, is working towards protecting and reviving threatened habitats and providing refuge for different species on the wildlife charity’s 185-hectare East Chevington reserve. It will also make access improvements to give everyone the opportunity to experience nature.

Since it started in April 2019, the project team has liaised with 11 local organisations including care homes, women’s institutes and Hadston House Youth and Community Projects, recruited 57 volunteers who completed 1,331 hours of wildlife surveys recording 438 species including 276 new records and welcomed 10,000 visitors to the Druridge Bay site.

Speaking about the Catch My Drift project being one of the local causes, Project Officer Sophie Webster said: “This is wonderful news and for us to be supported by not one but two Co-op stores really has brightened up what would otherwise have been a very drab, locked down January.

“The Hadston and Amble Co-ops are real hubs of the community and vital to people living in the area, now, more so than ever. So, come on shoppers, help us to bring our work in the community back to life once it’s safe to do so by logging on www.coop.co.uk/membership and making us your cause next time you do your shopping.”