Staff at Lincolnshire Co-op stores in Grantham have been awarded for admirable actions

Staff at a food store have been given awards after helping members of the community affected by dementia.

Lincolnshire Co-op has been celebrating colleagues all over its business, selecting bronze, silver, and gold branches of the year, alongside awarding individuals and teams under three categories; trustworthy, inspiring, and helpful.

The team at Springfield Road Food Store and Anita Gowers from Barrowby Gate Pharmacy, both based in Grantham, were named as 'Trustworthy Colleagues of the Year'.

Staff at the Springfield Road Food Store were nominated by a customer, whose father is a regular customer at the store and has a variety of health conditions that make it difficult for him to cross the road.

The team regularly help him cross the road to ensure that he got home safely and then informed the man’s wife of their concerns when she visited the store with him.

In their nomination, the customer described the team as "warm, caring, and a credit to Lincolnshire Co-op".

Kieran Hitch-Mountain, manager at the Springfield Road store, said: “Springfield Road was the first Lincolnshire Co-op food store in Grantham, and it first opened during the pandemic, so the local community has always been really important to us.

“Caring for the community comes naturally to the whole team, and I feel really lucky to work with such selfless and kind people.”

Dispensing technician Anita serves several patients with dementia and spends time talking to them and their carers.

She soon realised that the town was lacking a proper support group or dementia café, and many carers were struggling with their responsibilities.

Anita gathered the contact details for these carers and got in touch to see if they were happy to share their information with one another.

This enabled carers to form their own support group and they can now contact each other when they are struggling.

Anita said: “My job gives me the perfect opportunity to really get to know my customers, so when they do come in and they’re feeling a bit down, I can tell straight away.

“It’s really important that we do our best for each other and take opportunities to talk if someone’s struggling.”

Anita’s place of work, Barrowby Gate Pharmacy in Grantham, also won Silver Pharmacy Branch of the Year.

Heather Lee, head of people and performance, said: “These awards are a fantastic demonstration of our colleagues going above and beyond for their communities.

“It’s great to have an opportunity to celebrate these colleagues, as they definitely deserve recognition for their inspiring actions. Congratulations to all of our winners!”