At Seaton Nub News, we aim to support our community. We promote shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups.

We will be profiling some of these businesses and organisations as well as the personalities who do their best to help others in a feature called 'Up Close in Seaton'.

Here, we catch up with Sally-Anne Tommy, one of Co-op's Member Pioneer Co-ordinators. Sally-Anne works with Local Member Pioneers at Co-op stores across the Exeter and East Devon area, including in Seaton, to help them carry out work in the community.

Member Pioneers can be colleagues or members of the community. They create local action plans that mean Co-op can provide support at a local level. They work very closely with the Local Community Fund recipients which are local causes that are supported by the local Co-op Members. They can be charities, local community groups or food banks.

Having previously worked in the social care and education sector, Sally-Anne became a Member Pioneer Co-ordinator with Co-op about 18 months ago, having been attracted to the community aspect of the role.

She commented: "I have always loved community related work and projects, it's very unusual to find a role based exclusively in those areas.

"This is the first time I have been close to the retail sector. I've learnt a lot and now have a massive respect for it. Co-op colleagues do a huge amount of community work themselves as part of their day-to-day roles as well.

"My role is to work with fellow Member Pioneer Co-ordinators to build a team of Member Pioneers that work in the South West team. Each of us are building a team of about 10 Local Member Pioneers, recruiting them and then working alongside them to help them carry out their work in the community.

"It's great because you're working with a really diverse group of people, great people, and once they're settled in they help each other as well. They are all different ages, different backgrounds and have different interests but at the heart of what they do it's all about making a difference."

Sally-Anne said one of the things she likes about Co-op's approach to community work is that it understands "communities are very local and very different".

"You can have one community here and another five miles down the road but they're completely different, their rhythm is different, the way they do things is different. It's really interesting to learn about them," she said.

"Co-op really get what community means. They understand that it's local and you can't use a broad-brush approach for everything, they really do care.

"Local Member Pioneers get involved in their community and slot in to how the people work; that's really important because they understand that local is local.

"It's about trying to make a difference and measuring the impact of the differences that are made.

"I really enjoy sharing stories from our Local Member Pioneers – it's them that do the really great work. What they do gives me the biggest buzz and I learn a lot from them."

Sally-Anne is now looking forward to a new Local Member Pioneer starting in Seaton in the New Year. Having gone through the recruitment process, she says her new team member "speaks very highly of the area and is keen to give something back."

Speaking about working in the East Devon area, Sally-Anne said: "I love the area, I was born and bred down in the South West, I moved away but came back in the last couple of years. It's a beautiful place – it's the geography but also the people that make it so great. It's so welcoming and people are happy to share ideas and work together."

She added that community spirit had really shone during the COVID-19 pandemic this year, commenting: "There's an awful lot of work that's been done with food banks, food share schemes and helping families in need. That's one of the things I'm really proud of."

To find out more about Co-op's Member Pioneers and how you can cooperate with them in your community, follow the link here coop.co.uk/member-pioneers.

When Co-op Members buy own-brand products and services, 2p for every £1 spent goes to support local causes and community organisations. To find out more about Membership, follow the link here coop.co.uk/membership.