Four New Board Members appointed to help steer CounterCoin

CounterCoin Community Club Limited appoints four board members from North Staffordshire…

The Board of Directors of CounterCoin Community Club Limited (“CCCL”), the company responsible for the operation of the ground breaking volunteer reward scheme “CounterCoin”, is delighted to announce that four new members have been appointed to the Board. Each is from an organisation which has been working alongside the founder of CounterCoin – Hometown Plus Limited (the Founder) – in launching the scheme and their appointment represents another major staging point in the evolution of CounterCoin.

The four new appointees are:

Sonya Farrall, Creative Director at promotional hub BabaBaboon, Newcastle-under-Lyme

Steve Terry, Regional Manager, Beacon Vision for the Blind

Monica Cru-Hall, Co-op Member Pioneer for Newcastle under Lyme

Narina Stead, Director of Cultural Squatters Limited, Community Café in Newcastle under Lyme

They join existing directors Mike Riddell and Brian Leyland, who are also directors of the Founder which is in the process of entering into a licence agreement enabling CCCL to operate the CounterCoin reward scheme.

CCCL is a company limited by guarantee which is owned by its members. These members comprise all the volunteers who earn CounterCoin for their contribution to community, all the social enterprises and charities which issue CounterCoin to their volunteers, all business which redeem CounterCoin in exchange for goods and services, all supporters and sponsors and the Founder. CCCL’s Objects are:

a) to help increase the sense of self worth, self esteem and self confidence of those who have been left behind by changes in society in recent years;

b) to reduce loneliness by providing an opportunity for individuals to engage and work with others in a constructive manner;

c) to provide a pathway to employment for those who are currently unable to secure permanent jobs;

d) to help revive the sense of community by rewarding collective effort whist at the same time developing individual skills and potential;

e) to promote good citizenship by encouraging the local population to take a pride in their community and to want to make a difference;

f) to enable businesses to make a contribution to community at little or no cost to themselves;

g) supporting charities and social enterprises by making it easier to attract volunteers and thereby help them achieve the objectives for which they were created;

h) to create a more efficient local economy by utilising spare capacity and goods, which might otherwise go to waste, as rewards for making a contribution to the community; and

i) to help struggling communities become more inclusive, sustainable and resilient in the face of the challenges presented by the economic and political crises that confront our society.

The appointment of the new directors, all of whom are independent of the Founder, will enable CCCL to start the process of applying for registration as a Community Capacity Building Charity.

Mike Riddell commented: “We’re absolutely delighted to welcome the new directors onto the Board. We’ve worked extensively alongside each of them in getting to where we are now and we know how committed they are to making CounterCoin work. This is a really exciting time and we would love to hear from any other social enterprises, charities or businesses who would like to get involved in whatever capacity. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone with whom we have worked with so far – it’s amazing what can be achieved when everyone pulls in the same direction and we are really excited for the future.”

In November 2018 the CounterCoin Challenge took place across Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. The awareness raising event saw members of the public and volunteers from several organisations take part at venues in Fenton, Burslem, Tunstall, Hanley, Stoke, Longton and Newcastle-under-Lyme. You can read more here.

**Find out more about CounterCoin here.