Northern Community Bank announces 1.5% dividend and makes charitable donations to support a variety of organisations, with two large donations in memory of late Board member Peter Pike at 40th Annual General Meeting.
Northern Community Bank account holders attended the first hybrid AGM, which allowed account holders to participate virtually or in-person at Burnley Football Club’s 1882 lounge to vote in favour of providing the charitable donations to much-needed organisations still struggling with raising funds due to coronavirus restrictions over the last two years.
The not-for-profit community bank, which operates from three branches in Nelson, Colne and Burnley donated £2,500 to both Building Bridges and St Peter’s Church Burnley in memory of Peter Pike. The former Burnley MP was a longstanding Board member of the community bank, first pioneering the formation of the Burnley Area Community Bank and then being instrumental in the merger with the Pendle Community Bank to offer more services to residents in the local community in 2013 when Northern Community Bank was formed.
The Leader of Burnley Council and Chair of Building Bridges Burnley, Councillor Afrasiab Anwar gave a well-received keynote speech explaining the work the organisation does and the involvement of Peter Pike
Building Bridge Burnley operates to bring the community together, to learn from each other, especially through faith and interfaith activities. It allows people to learn about other cultures and be comfortable within their own culture. I met Peter Pike through community groups like Building Bridges, he became a colleague, friend and confidant. Peter was committed to organisations like Northern Community Bank and Building Bridges but importantly to the communities we operate in. It is an honour to continue working with organisations that he supported. I’d like to congratulate Northern Community Bank for operating for over 40 years but also to thank you for the service you have provided to our communities. The work that you do is invaluable.
Northern Community Bank recently expanded to provide ethical savings accounts and affordable loans to communities across East Lancashire and Cumbria. Those in attendance heard how the community bank proposed to support 16 organisations across the areas it provides services including Pendle Samaritans, Colne Youth Action Group, Thomas rehabilitation Blackburn, The St Vincent de Paul Society, The Good Life Project, Georgia Fourie Butterfly Fund, Pendle Voice, Colne under 13’s Football Team, Barnoldswick and Earby Bosom Friends Cancer Support Group, Pendle Dogs in Need, The Food Pantry in Cleator Moor and The Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association.
Emma Ibbetson from Elisha House, Colne explained how the £1000 donation would assist the recovery programme for their residents with a history of substance abuse
Thank you Northern Community Bank for the very generous donation. As a community interest company, we are a not-for-profit and every penny goes back into the project to help as many people as possible. This donation will be used to buy recording equipment to document the resident’s journeys, offering testimonials and hope for those waiting to join the programme.
Whilst Christina Cope, Development Officer at Gawthorpe Textiles Collection, founded by Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth in 1959, highlighted how the donation would be used by their charity
On behalf of everyone at GTC and the participants of our Community Outreach projects I would like to thank the members of Northern Community Bank for their very generous donation of £1000. I really enjoyed attending the AGM and it was a great opportunity for me to explain about our charity and how we use the collection through exhibitions, artist collaborations, workshops, talks, tours, research, and study visits. We offer activities at Gawthorpe Hall and community outreach through Valley Street Textiles Studio, Burnley (which is a joint initiative with Calico Homes). Donations such as this enable us to continue caring for the collection for future generations
It was also announced at the AGM that savers would benefit from a 1.5% dividend on savings due to another year of growth, whilst borrowers would be rewarded with a loan rebate of 10%. Over the past year, the community bank had increased savings from £9.9m to £12.7m, whilst the number of affordable loans provided to members of the community had also increased by 21%.
Northern Community Bank President, Gerard Spain was enthusiastic about the performance of the community bank over the last year and optimistic about the future
It has been another successful year for Northern Community Bank. The growth we have seen shows that there is a real need for credit union services in the communities we serve. As we enter our 40th year we will be giving our account holders back £340,000 in dividends and loan rebate. The 1.5% compares very favourably with any instant access savings accounts on the market. As well as the increased dividend, the £19,000 charitable donations re-enforces our commitment to benefit not only our account holders but the wider communities we operates in.
