Greetings from our team at Soresby street. We hope that this page finds you well. Here are a few updates and news that might be of interest to you.
How we got Here
Credit unions started in Germany as long ago as 1840. By the 1900s they were well established in America but they did not reach the UK until 1964 when the Hornsey Co-operative was established in North London to improve financial inclusion for Caribbean families. It still operates today as London Capital Credit Union.
The movement grew in the UK particularly in the 1980s and 90s and by 1995 the need was seen to improve financial inclusion for local people and so Chesterfield & North East Derbyshire Credit Union was formed.
Initial finance was provided by Chesterfield Borough and Derbyshire County Councils and at first it was just run by volunteers operating from temporary offices.
By the Millenium over 200 local people had joined and improved facilities were required so a permanent office was opened at Theatre Yard in Chesterfield and in 2009 Karen Peck was appointed as its first full time paid manager. The improved facilities led to further growth, word spread and in 2011 Anne Lunn who had up to then worked as a volunteer was appointed as the first paid employee. Anne still works for Chesterfield Credit Union today together with Janet Taylor who was one of the first members. Janet has now been a member for nearly thirty years and still volunteers every Tuesday to answer the telephone.
By 2014 the business had outgrown Theatre Yard and the move was made to the present shop premises on Soresby Street in Chesterfield town centre. In 2018 Karen retired and Alan Ward the present manager was appointed.
Since then Chesterfield Credit Union has grown steadily, added to its range of loan and saving products and is now lending over £1 million to local people.
Volunteering at the Credit Union
As you probably know Chesterfield Credit Union is run by a nucleus of professional paid staff but to keep operating cost as low as possible services are also partly delivered by volunteers.
Have you ever thought of volunteering?
It can be very rewarding to feel that you are helping to provide a service that is used and valued by other members of our community and it’s a way to meet interesting new people. For young people it’s also a way to gain work experience and something else to put on your CV and for older and retired people a way to learn some new skills and stay actively involved in the day to day world on your doorstep.
We are currently looking to recruit volunteers for our schools programme in Hasland, St Augustine’s, Boythorpe and Woodthorpe Schools and also for Saturday mornings at our Chesterfield town centre office.
For more information or an informal talk about possible opportunities telephone 01246 278833 and ask for our manager Alan Ward.
New Name & Logo change
Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire Credit Union is a bit of a mouthful by any standards so as part of our drive to run a smoother sharper organisation we have decided to work with a shorter version of our name. From January we will call ourselves just Chesterfield Credit Union as a day to day trading name. Apart from that everything else stays the same. It’s the same business, run by the same people delivering the same services.
The only other difference you will see is a new logo and colour scheme to go with the new name. We still like our old blue and yellow logo of the three figures but it was starting to look a bit dated so we have designed a more up to date version in some softer brighter colours. We hope you like our new look which you can see at the top of this newsletter.
It will slowly be introduced into other items as they come up for replacement or renewal.
The Annual General Meeting of Chesterfield Credit Union will take place online on Tuesday 25th March at 6.00pm.
Letters and emails have been sent out to members detailing how to join the meeting and the Minutes of last year’s meeting and our Financial Accounts for the 2023-24 financial year are attached here for your inspection.