Store manager is off to help out in Tanzania (From Swindon Advertiser)

Store manager is off to help out in Tanzania

4:30pm Friday 3rd February 2012 in Local By Emma Dunn

A STORE manager is off to Tanzania on Sunday to help improve a rundown village primary school.

Gordon Monahan, manager of the Co-op in Old Town, won the trip to East Africa after being voted colleague member of the year in the society’s first awards.

He will fly to Mount Kilimanjaro Airport before travelling overland to camp just outside Magara, a village at the base of the Great Rift Valley and close to the Ngorongoro Crater.

There he will join others making desks, painting the school and carrying out repairs. If there is time he will help smarten up a doctor’s house, which doubles as a hospital.

The 42-year-old, who has been manager of the store for nearly five years, said: “I’ve travelled quite a bit but never left the normal tourist trail, so this will be a great adventure.

“Through my work in Old Town, and that of my store colleagues, I’m involved in spreading the word about co-operation and this is an opportunity to put it into action in a different continent.”

The awards were created to recognise previously unsung heroes who, by their community work or support for the environment or ethical trading, embody the ideas of the Co-operative Movement.

Gordon was named colleague member of the year for leading the store’s fundraising and community work and his active involvement with local organisations.

Under his leadership the supermarket has become what he called ‘a hub of co-operation’, with colleagues taking part in challenges in the community and other co-operatives, such as the Swindon Music Co-operative and Co-operative Ladies Choir, holding awareness-raising events in the store.

The store has also hosted a Co-op historian and supported schools, sea cadets and other youth organisations. Gordon is also a trustee of Swindon Samaritans.

Di Bateman, head of member engagement for the Midcounties Co-operative, said: “Gordon is an inspirational person who has made a positive difference to his local community.

“The volunteer trip to Tanzania will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a prime example of co-operation in action.”