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March - June 2015

Welcome to your Spring Edition Features | Interviews | Tips | Networking | News | Development | Career | Inspiring | Role Models | Aspire | Respect

Don’t miss our double-

page spread on

International Women’s Day

2015 #IWD

16 pages of inspiring

interviews and special

features - including

interviews with senior

leader Steve Murrells

and Angela Latta

PLUS

Features about

This Girl Can and

Office Politics and

so much more!

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Welcome to your Aspire newsletter

An introduction

from Sharon Pegg

Chair of the

Aspire network

An introduction

from Sharon Pegg

Chair of the

Hi guys, we are delighted

to bring you this special

Spring issue of Aspire

Magazine! We hope you

enjoy reading it as much

as we’ve enjoyed creating

it!

Please feedback to us at

Aspire@cooperative.

coop

Production Editor: Lisa Loftus

Copy Editor: Amanda Dillon

Writers: Phaedra Patrick,

Emma Barrett, Sharon Pegg

Hello everyone,

Just as I’m starting to pen this intro, it strikes me we’re already a quar-

ter of the way through the year… Where does the time go?? Easter

holidays are just around the corner, so let me take this opportunity to

wish you all an ‘eggstra’ special Easter break with friends and family!

It’s been a very busy start to the year for Aspire. Network promotion is

taking place at Angel Square on a regular basis, our development

workshops are underway – the first focusing on ‘Self Belief’, not to

mention a packed week of events at the beginning of March showing

our support for International Women’s Day (IWD). For the first time, Re-

spect (our internal LGBT support network) hosted its own event IWD

event, inviting a couple of amazing speakers - Ruth Hunt and Jacqui

Gavin to speak from both ‘gay’ and transgender perspectives.

Aspire were supported by Sonia Bates - CEO of Edit and our very own

Fiona Linton-Forrest – Social Media Analyst. Both speakers received a

tremendous amount of positive feedback!

I’d like to thank our Aspire Steering Team for their continued, enthusi-

astic support planning and co-ordinating these events. Remember,

we are always looking for ideas for new events, so why not email us

direct at Aspire@Co-operative.coop with your suggestions.

We’ve had a great deal of support for this edition and I’d like to thank

Steve, Angela and Ed for taking the time out of their busy schedules

for talking to us.

Sharon

What’s

inside:

4-5: Making it happen at

The Co-operative

Celebrating #IWD 2015

6: Sharon speaks to Co-

operative News about

commitment to Women’s

voices

7: Aspire Woman of the

Year Revealed

9: This Girl Can

10: Exclusive interview

with Co-op Food CEO Steve

Murrells

11: Surviving the Jungle—

Office Politics

12-13: We meet Angela

Latta Head of Office at

GCA

15: Recipe from 2014

Great British Bake Off

finalist

A NOTE FROM

THE EDITING TEAM

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Celebrating International Women’s Day 2015In celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day , colleagues and members

were invited to The Aspire Career Network’s ‘Make It Happen’ networking event

held in at Angel Square, Manchester on Monday 2nd March. We were joined by

The Co-operative Choir who sung their hearts out as attendees arrived, Sarah Mason

from Barefoot Wines kindly sponsored the evening providing a selection of wines to

sample and we were privileged to have inspirational speaker Sonia Bate - founder of

EDIT Development, who lead an interactive discussion, exploring the power of

personal branding and how to package your authentic self. Our very own Fiona

Linton-Forrest who is Social Media Content and Planning Manager at The Co-

operative, who demystified social media terminology, telling us how to maximise the

impact of our own social media profiles and how to avoid standard pitfalls!

"Think about what you spotlight about yourself. Focus on your gifts and strengths."

Some photo’s from the evening

Above: The Co-op Choir kicking off

the event

Above: Sarah Mason greeting our

guests with wine

Above: Members networking with

each other

Above: Selection of tasty

Barefoot Wines

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Celebrating International Women’s Day 2015

Above: Sarah Wakefield who

was our Master of Ceremonies

"Think about what you spotlight about yourself. Focus on your gifts and strengths."

Above: Sonia Bate—Founder of EDIT

Development giving a talk on personal

branding

Above: Fiona Linton-Forrest Social

Media Content & Planning Manager

giving tips on social media

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An initiative designed to empower women working in the co-op movement is going from strength to strength

The Aspire network was launched in 2012 as a result of a pilot consultation in Manchester to find out if there was a need for a women’s career network to empower more female employees in the Co-operative Group.

Aspire is run by a team of seven volunteers led by Sharon Pegg, who has worked in learning and development and HR. She headed up the equality department within the banking group at Bradford and Bingley, before moving to Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, achieving recognition from the Times Top 50 Employers for Women and a number of LGBT awards, as well as an acknowledgment of achievement under the Equality Framework for Local Government.

Ms Pegg now leads the Co-operative Group’s diversity and inclusion strategy and represents the organisation on the board of inclusive employers.

The initial consultation ahead of Aspire’s launch, she says, wanted to “find out what barriers women perceived there were in the workplace [...] and how a network could help females within The Co-operative Group.”

The results of the findings from focus groups highlighted three main areas of concern for women: support; confidence; and work-life balance. Initially, the research was aimed at lower role band employees – but it found that barriers were much the same for women at all levels.

“In my own personal experience, after I had my son I did not seem to have time for anything else other than my day job and home life,” says Ms Pegg. “When I was ready to kick start my career, my confidence

seemed to have disappeared and I did not know how to get my career moving again. I was very lucky that somebody identified the talent I had and supported my development.”

Aspire now aims to provide a safe space where women can talk through concerns with other colleagues within the Co-operative Group or with other groups it is linked with. It also organises regular events for members to support their development as well as a chance to dip in to other resources within the Group.

The steering group produces the quarterly Aspire Magazine, which has diverse editorial content ranging from role model features to articles about employees and key dates on the calendar. It also co-ordinates membership and online activity, with a growing presence on Twitter.

According to Ms Pegg, one of the major challenges is the fact most networking events are still held in the capital. “Outside London there are fewer events and one of the ways we are looking to overcome this is by working more closely with other networks to offer a wider choice.”

Aspire is also committed to hosting a number of learning events designed to enhance members’ personal professional development. The majority of these are ‘lunch and crunch’ sessions – held at a time during the day which fits in around members’ work commitments.

Topics have ranged from developing communication and presentation skills to discussion forums about managing power and politics in the workplace.

One of the main channels for communication is the internal intranet site where Aspire has its own pages where employees can find out

more about the network. There are also regular emails about news and events.

In the year ahead, Aspire’s team aims to expand the network across the UK and grow its membership.

“We have looked at how we can make our communication more accessible,” says Ms Pegg. “For the first time the next edition of the magazine will be available to all to download.”

“Everyone involved in coordinating the network is a volunteer who believes in what the network is all about. They all have an input into the strategy and moving the network forward.”

Aspire works closely with the Group’s LGBT network, Respect and REACH – a new race, ethnicity and cultural heritage network.

“The Group’s new purpose – championing a better way of doing business for you and your communities – reflects that, for the Co-operative Group, how we run our business is more important than merely maximising our profits,” adds Ms Pegg.

“It takes us back to our roots, and the very reason we developed our co-operative approach. It encapsulates our aims to be commercially successful while continuing to implement our commitment to the communities in which we operate.

“Equal rights for women have been part of our foundation. As a co-operative movement we need to ensure that women are heard. Aspire empowers women with that belief that they can achieve that. Aspire not only provides that voice for women but also empowers women to be the best they can be.”

Group’s

commitment

to women’s

voices By Susan Press

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Aspire Woman Of The

Year

Emma Barrett

Planning & Consents Officer

The Co-operative Group

Are you on Twitter? Why not follow us @aspire_co_op

and keep up to date with events, networking and

career tips. We would love to hear from you!

Aspire Woman Of The Year 2015

Being part of Aspire has

provided inspiration to many

and without Steering Group

members Aspire would not be

here. Well done to Emma and

the team for their continued

commitment.

Emma said "Being awarded

Woman of the Year was a

huge honour... and a lovely

surprise! Being part of the team

has been, and continues to

be, hugely rewarding in itself

so an award is the cherry on

top!"

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H ave you seen the adverts? The ones

with women and girls getting active,

getting sweaty, beating their PBs all

while Missy Elliot advocates getting

your freak on in the background? It’s great, isn’t it?

It made even a dedicated gym-dodger like myself

want to get my trainers on and get moving, which is

no mean feat!

This Girl Can is an initiative from Sport England, “it’s

a celebration of active women up and down the

country who are doing their thing no matter how

well they do it, how they look or even how red their

face gets”. We all know the benefits of regular

exercise – it can reduce your risk of illnesses such as

heart disease, diabetes and cancer, as well as

boost your mood and self-esteem – but more and

more reports show that physical activity is dropping,

with activities levels dropping in women far more

than in their male counterparts. A 2012 study by the

Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) found

that girls generally want to be active and 76% of 15

year old girls wanted to do more physical activity,

however only 15% of girls aged 11 to 15

participated in the recommended levels of physical

activity. There are a number of possible reasons for

this – there’s the idea that being sporty is seen as

‘unfeminine’, continued poor media coverage of

female sports means there are few female role

models for teenage girls to look up to, and body

image issues can result in girls not wanting to look

sweaty or red-faced in front of their male

classmates.

This Girl Can seeks to encourage women and girls to

get active for themselves, and not to let the fear of

judgement stop them from doing something they

may love – one of their print adverts features the

awesome line “sweating like a pig, feeling like a

fox”. Their website highlights the different activities

women and girls can get involved in (the WSFF

study showed a lack of choice can also impact a

girl’s participation in physical activities) and they

encourage women and girls on social media to get

involved, their tweets and Instagram pictures being

featured on a dedicated section of the website.

The adverts, and the posts submitted via social

media, highlight that sports and physical activities

are for women of all shapes and sizes and

encouraging them to take pictures of themselves is,

I believe, going someway to remove that

‘unfeminine’ label – these women all look

awesome, no matter how red or sweaty they are!

Of course, it shouldn’t be about appearance. We

should all be doing what we love, whether it’s

running, swimming or shimmying at Zumba, without

worrying about our appearance, but it’s sadly a

fact that this is holding some women and girls back.

Hopefully this campaign will encourage us all to get

active and “prove that judgement is a barrier that

can be overcome”.

THIS GIRL CAN

To learn more about This Girl Can,

visit their website

www.thisgirlcan.co.uk - be sure to

check out the ‘Feel Inspired’ tab to

see what people have been up to

and use the #thisgirlcan hashtag if

you want to connect with the

initiative on social media.

Written by Emma Barrett

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F irst of all Steve,

thank you for

taking time out of

your busy schedule

to be interviewed by

Aspire Magazine.

Steve, can you tell us a little about

you, in particular how your career

started. What was your earliest

school age ambition?

Retailing was clearly in my blood

from an early age and whilst

taking my ‘A’ levels I loved

working as a student in my local

store. My parents always had a

wish I’d pursue a banking career,

but I was fascinated by the

dynamism and speed of retailing. I

decided it had large opportunities

as a professional career.

Who have been your strongest

influences in your life?

Personally, my parents, wife Nicola

and my children have always

been an important influence in my

life. From a work perspective, I’ve

been influenced and supported

by many extraordinary leaders

such as John Sainsbury, Terry

Leahy and John Gildersleeve.

You’ve been with the Co-op since

2012, but can you tell us about

your earliest Co-op memory or

story?

My mother used to collect Co-op

stamps and I always remember

having to lick them and fill up her

stamp book!

Has your career path to Chief

Executive – Food Retail for the Co-

operative Group been direct or

have any challenging obstacles

popped up along the way?

Of course there have been many

bumps along the road. These are the

moments when you see how resilient

you are and how able you are to learn

new skills. It’s during those challenging

times you are truly able to develop the

skills to lead!

“Championing a better way of doing

business for you and your communities”.

This quote signifies the strategic approach

to be taken by The Co-operative Group

during the ‘rebuild’ phase. How will Food

practically bring this quotation to ‘life’?

Our Food business is the ‘window’ into

every community and therefore delivering

our purpose through the ‘lens’ of our

shops is vital. We’re currently working

through how we do this and at the same

time explaining to customers what we

stand for.

How important do you believe it is for an

organisation to stand by its values and

principles when building trust and

confidence within our local communities?

It’s paramount. Living our values is what

sets us apart from our competitors and is

part of our compelling difference.

Where do you see Diversity fitting into the

Food strategy?

I think by the very structure of the business

Food will play a central role in support of

the overall diversity agenda – simply

because we have the largest number of

people employed by the business working

for us. In five years’ time, we want to see

that in our actions and deeds we faced

into diversity matters. We must be able to

see a representative spread of good

people in the business and many in senior

roles, that reflects the cultural makeup of

this country and the local communities in

which we serve. This should qualify our

standing as an ‘employer of choice’ and

ensure that we appeal to all differing

ethnic and religious groups.

From an executive leader’s perspective,

how do you believe The Co-operative

Group can contribute to resolving gender

disparity for future generations?

As leaders in the business, we need to set

an example and promote talented

women into senior roles. Through pro-

active ‘talent spotting’ I’m confident

the Executive will be able to deliver on

this. We need to aim for as many

female leaders in the business as we

have male leaders and set the ‘tone’

from the top.

At Food executive level, we now have

three senior female leaders – Helen

Webb, Cheryl Marshall and Jane

McCall when I joined the business 3

years ago we had one on the

Executive. So, we made progress. I find

outstanding women to be better than

outstanding men because they work

harder. The next natural step for us will

be to review how many of our store

managers are female.

What are your views about the promotion

of female talent from within our business

as opposed to external appointments?

There needs to be a balanced approach

to this issue. People within the business

need to see that if they work hard their

leaders will spot them and pull them

through the promotional path. A good

example of this approach would be

Cheryl Marshall. Cheryl played a key role

during the ‘Unity’ project, undertaking a

number of prominent financial positions in

Group. I recognised she was an

outstanding talented individual and

invited her to take up a position on the

Food Executive.

As a business, Food are now very

conscious they need to be spotting talent

within the organisation. Adopting this

approach is very positive from a symbolic

perspective. Our people want to know

that if you work for this business you can

get on, grow and develop.

As we have gone through rescue we

have needed to bring in new talent from

outside. As we move into build we need

to build home grown talent. There is an

absolute desire to get the balance right

and you’ll see more activity to support

that in the pipeline, not only pulling

individuals through, but actually starting

to carve out peoples careers across

Group. For example a colleague may

start in the Commercial team but then

take a move to run one of our depots.

Having outstanding ‘general’ managers

who have come through the organisation

and have experience is a model I

personally champion – and you will see

more of that happening.

What favourite Co-operative Food

product graced your Christmas table this

year Steve?

The Snowman Cake!

The Co-operative Group has 150 years of

history. How would you like to be seen in

The Group’s history books?

To be part of an Executive team that

Steve Murrells The Co-operative Group Chief Executive of Retail

REAL LIFE

Written by Sharon Pegg and

Amanda Dillon

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N ovember saw Oliver James, Occupational

Psychologist and author of Office Politics: How to

Thrive in a World of Lying, Backstabbing and Dirty

Tricks, visit Angel Square to deliver a thought-provoking

workshop, organised for members of Aspire and Forward

Ladies.

Over 75 attendees enjoyed the workshop, as well as

sampling a delicious range of wines from Co-operative

Food supplier, Barefoot.

Oliver identifies, via his research, that UK feminism is

currently mirroring that in the USA – a Sex in the City type

mentality. Women often think they need to be more like

men; swearing, smoking, more casual sex and aggression:

a case of wanting to be top dog for the sake of it.

For those who reach the top of their profession, Oliver

identified that there are three main character traits:

Narcissism

Machiavellism

Psychopathy

He states that CEOs are four times more likely to be

psychopaths than anyone else! Lawyers are in second

place, closely followed by broadcasters. The vocation with

the least psychopathic tendencies are care workers.

If you’re not inclined to act this way then it can be difficult

to get your head around. However you can learn from

these types of people – they are superb actors and

confident. Watch how they operate and self-promote.

In the past, a few decades ago, jobs used to be definable

within manufacturing and production. Measures might be

the number of units made or number of sales. However

roles in the service industry are more difficult to define –

how can we measure the impact of office workers?

Therefore this has led to an increase in blame culture and

the opportunity to take credit for other people’s work!

We should be honest and admit that we all participate in

office politics. In fact, we started it young – stealing

chocolate from a sibling or fighting for the attention of our

parents. It’s the same in the workplace.

Although people strive hard to pass exams, they’re not a

good measure of intelligence. Just because you have a

degree doesn’t mean you will succeed. A lot of success is

due to being good at office politics.

Those adept at

office politics

usually have four

traits:

Astuteness – reading themselves and others

Effectiveness - deciding what tactics to use and on who

Networking

Appearance of sincerity

Other tactics (though these can backfire!) include:

Ingratiation with bosses

Flattery (works with narcissists)

Chameleonism (mirror tactics of others)

Conscientiousness (though this is useless unless others

perceive this)

The key is to act with an authentic persona. Find this part

of you and work on developing it. You may have to put on

a front, but this is what you do at the pub when you tell a

joke or entertain a friend, or what shop-workers might do

when greeting customers all day. It might be a front that

you leave behind at work – but if you can find your

persona and act it, it can reduce your emotional labour.

Office politics and your emotional health sit together.

There are six key things you should aim to do:-

Live in the present

Have fluid 2-way conversation – both speak and listen

Be insightful – look at your early childhood behaviour and

behaviour patterns

Be playful – the most important. Have joy in your life. See

the world as a child does

Be vivacious – do things that make you feel alive

Be authentic – this is not about sincerity, but about self-

determination, solidness and being real. It also has an

ethical dimension

If you can relate these six key emotional health points to

the four office politics traits then you have great tools in

place to be a success.

Also, there is nothing wrong with being a silver-tongued

devil.

And a final observation from Oliver: “Remember it’s not

what you do, it’s the way that you do it – and who you

make sure knows about it!”

Office Politics – Surviving in the Jungle

Office Politics – Surviving in the Jungle Written by Phaedra Patrick

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Read our interview with Head of Office at Groceries Code Adjudicator

Angela Latta Angela Latta

The GCA was set up fairly recently (June

2013), what do you think has been your

greatest achievement?

As a new organisation there was an

incredible amount to do when we

started. There were minimal facilities –

accommodation and IT – but no

procedures on how the office would be

run. And, anyone who is familiar with the

mystifying workings of the civil service will

know, there is a rule for just about

everything you should do but finding it is

not always easy and nor is doing it all!

There were only 3 of us at the beginning

of the GCA.

As well as setting up the office, the

biggest part of the real work of the GCA

was preparing to consult on our legal

guidance within 4 weeks of opening the

office. This was probably my biggest

achievement in managing the

consultation (which included becoming

an ‘expert’ on web publishing) working

closely with our head of legal who drew

up the guidance.

So my job title is Head of Policy and

Operations but that really means almost

everything from working out how the

office will run, how we will approach the

issues suppliers bring to the GCA, as well

as acting as secretary to the

Adjudicator. (Which I have to say is a

hugely complicated role as many PAs

will already know!)

What do you think will be the GCA’s

biggest challenge in 2015?

Well, on 5 February 2015 we announced

our first investigation. That will be the

main challenge for the team as we

really start work on our main way of

ensuring that the Groceries Supply Code

of Practice is followed by the large

retailers.

As well as supporting the Adjudicator in

her investigations, it will be important to

make sure we continue to deal with our

other issues. This will include continuing

to make progress on The Adjudicator’s

Top 5 Issues and making sure we remain

open for business and available to

suppliers who believe that retailers are

not following the Code.

What does success look like for the

GCA? And on a personal level?

Success for the GCA will mean that the

behaviour of retailers and suppliers will

have changed to create a stronger and

more collaborative groceries supply

chain. And that is the outcome that the

GCA herself has said on which she

would like to be judged. So not just on

investigations or fines, which are pretty

blunt ways of measuring success.

On a personal level:

I want to make sure we are thorough

and fair and objective and fearless.

Supermarkets are such an important part

of our lives and if I can help improve the

way they deal with suppliers for the

better – which will be better for all of us

as consumers - then I hope I’ll have

made a difference.

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Read our interview with Head of Office at Groceries Code Adjudicator

Angela Latta Angela Latta The GCA is supportive of supermarkets

but seeks to ensure fairness to suppliers,

do you see any difference between

mainstream supermarkets and co-

operatives in how they treat suppliers?

Sadly not really. It is interesting that we

have 10 regulated retailers with

different business models. So we have

public listed companies, co-operatives

and private businesses. Our way of

forming a view on how retailers follow

the Code comes directly from

information provided by suppliers,

trade bodies and others. I’m sure

you’d want to read that there is a

difference and that co-operatives are

fairer in dealing with suppliers but, from

what we hear from suppliers, there’s no

s igni f icant d i f ference in thei r

experience. But remember that I only

hear about the problems and so I’m

sure there are lots of good things

happening across the many, many

relationships the Co-operative Group

has with suppliers.

The GCA found that the majority (58%)

of suppliers would be reluctant to raise

issues or breaches of the Code with the

GCA for fear of retribution, do you see

any difference between mainstream

supermarkets and co-operatives in this

regard?

The fear of retribution is one of our

major challenges. The Adjudicator has

spent a huge amount of time seeking

to reassure suppliers that she has a

legal duty to maintain their anonymity.

A lot of suppliers we hear from supply

more than one of the retailers covered

by the Code and so I would expect

that they would know the answer. But

that doesn’t come through in the

information we hear about. So, I think

the reasons behind the fear are more

about the suppliers’ concerns about

possible consequences, rather than

any particular type of retailer.

H o w i m p o r t a n t i s p e r s o n a l

development to you?

It’s really important and I’ve not always

taken the easy route. Starting with my

early career, I chose not to go straight

to University. And so I joined the civil

service for a year to decide what I

wanted to study. Several years

later...and still in the Civil Service...I

decided to study part-time with the

Open University and worked through a

degree to an MBA. It wasn’t easy to fit

in the additional study time with work

and life, but it was enormously

rewarding, personally. It helped me

develop as a person in many different

ways through subjects I never thought I

would study such as IT and Society and

Creativity, Innovation and Change to

teaching me new ways to deal with

problems. It also helped me in the roles

I had at the time as I was able to apply

at work what I had been learning with

the OU. So it had professional and

personal benefits.

The civil service is very encouraging of

development, both formally and

through on-the-job training. The

biggest challenge is believing in the

importance of development and

making time. Some of you will know

Tracy Vegro who is a secondee to the

Co-operative Group Director of

External Policy and a former colleague

of mine. She is part of a senior-level

programme to ensure that leaders of

the future have plenty of real

experience of how businesses really

work. I view the work I’m doing with

the Co-operative Group and the other

retailers as part of that programme.

Who are your role models?

I’ve got 3 from different areas of life: a

civil servant; a politician; and a

businessman.

My old boss at the Department for

Business is one, a lady called Philippa

Lloyd. She is always calm, never rushes

to a decision but always makes one

that is respected, has a great sense of

humour and is a brill iant and

inspirational leader. She is a real

people person.

I have also been really impressed by

Peter Mandelson (yes really!) who was

quite different to work for than his

public image. He has real vision and

understanding for business and for the

priorities for BIS.

And, Sir Ian Wood formerly of the Wood

Group. He has a stern image and is a

tough Aberdonian. But he built his

family engineering business into a multi-

million pound business and was

instrumental in transforming the oil and

gas sector supply chain during the last

oil price slump. I see the work that I did

with Sir Ian (and many others of

course!) in the 1990s as a model for

how collaboration can truly work to

help suppliers understand their

customers and provide more efficient

products and services. It saved many

companies from going out of business.

How important is it to you to get the

right work-life balance? How do you do

it?

It is really important to me to have a

healthy work-life balance. I really

believe that having proper down-time

makes you able to do your job better.

I’d like to say I go wind surfing and

skydiving or something similarly exciting

in my spare time but the truth is I walk

my badly behaved dogs – gorgeous

but very naughty Tibetan Terriers – lots

of cooking and a massive amount of

gardening. We have a pretty big

garden which we’re landscaping.

Even more occasionally we visit the

Highlands of Scotland for holidays and

Glasgow/Edinburgh for family and

friends. I used to travel on the back of

my partner’s motorbike but have

managed to avoid this more recently

(he’s a bit of a hairy driver being an ex-

racer!) as the doggies make the

perfect reason for a more comfortable

car.

“It is really

important to

me to have

a healthy

work-life

balance.”

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Join The Co-operettes Singing in a choir… Is good aerobic exercise

Releases endorphins, lifting your mood and making your whole body feel good

Builds confidence

Improves your memory and your concentration

Is a great way to meet new people, AND… You can do it in your lunch break!

The Co-operettes are the Co-op’s workplace choir and meet every Wednesday at Lifeshare on

Dantzic Street between 1.05 p.m. and 1.55 p.m.

Open rehearsal Join us for an open rehearsal on Wednesday 29 April for more information about the

choir. There will be singing and cake!

If you have to miss a rehearsal, we send out recordings and music so you can catch up. There

are no auditions and you don’t need to be able to read music.

Past performances have included International Women’s Day events, Hallé Corporate Choir

Competition and Hallé Corporate Choir Festival, also performances in the Atrium at Angel

Square. We are now working towards a concert for Lifeshare’s summer event in June, and the

Hallé Corporate Choir competition in December.

For more information, contact Karen.dyson@creditunionfoundation.org.uk or nancy.wilson@co-

operative.coop.

We hope to see you there!

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Method:

Luis Troyano’s new book ‘Bake It

Great’ is out 20th August 2015

For the bread dough:

500g strong white flour 320ml warm water 10g fine salt 10g fast action yeast 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika

For the filling:

100g thinly sliced Spanish Serrano ham

130g roasted red pepper cut into 1cm wide strips (the type that comes ready to use in a jar in oil or brine)

160g pitted green olives coarsely chopped

100g Spanish Manchego cheese cut into fine 3mm strips

Coarsely ground black pepper Extra Virgin Olive oil for drizzling Rice flour for sprinkling on

worktop to roll out dough

Ingredients

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1. Make the bread dough first. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and 3/4 of the water. Start to bring the mixture together with your hands or a dough hook. Add more water as required until all the dry ingredients are absorbed. You may not need all the water.

2. You don’t want a dough that’s too wet. Knead for around 8 minutes until smooth and elastic.

3. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to prove for one hour or overnight in the fridge.

4. Preheat the oven to 200c fan. 5. When the dough is proved tip it

out on a well-floured surface (use rice flour to prevent sticking) and knock it back slightly.

6. Using a rolling pin roll out the dough to a rectangle approx 60cm x 25cm.

7. Tear the Serrano ham into strips and place on the dough in 2 stripes on the dough.

8. Place the red pepper strips onto the ham stripes followed by the Manchego cheese.

9. Sprinkle the chopped olives even-

ly all over the dough followed by a sprinkle of black pepper.

10. Starting along one long edge roll the dough into a giant Swiss roll.

11. Cut the roll into 12 rounds and place each one with into a tulip muffin case with the spiral visi-ble.

12. Prove for about 50 minutes until puffed up.

13. Place in the centre of the preheat-ed oven for around 20 – 25 minutes until golden.

14. Drizzle each muffin lightly with extra virgin olive oil.

Serrano ham &

manchego cheese spiral

bread muffins Baker and Great British Bake Off Finalist 2014

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