Blowing in the wind

I do think there's something rather regal about windfarms. Out in the sea, on the hills, on the horizon, they always make me happy – whirling quietly, storing energy from nothing more complicated than air.

Before I had Eldest I worked as a journalist in a nice, windy northern area. It was during a story about a proposed new wind farm that I first heard about Baywind, the UK's first community owned wind farm.

Baywind Energy Co-operative was established in 1996, and favours investors from the area served by its wind turbines. It now generates enough energy per year to power around 30,000 homes, and every year its wind farm is visited by hundreds of school children.



Baywind - who had a loan from the Co-operative Bank and grants from the Co-operative Enterprise Hub – is one of the community success stories at the centre of a new campaign highlighting The Co-operative Bank's ethical credentials.

Every year The Co-operative supports thousands of initiatives both in the UK and the developing world, helping people to change the world around them.

A new TV commercial launched this week tells how the Rochdale Pioneers established the first successful co-operative in 1844, starting a revolution which continues today.

The Rochdale Pioneers was a group of 28 workers in Rochdale. Founded in 1844, as the Industrial Revolution was forcing workers into poverty, the Pioneers clubbed together to open a shop – and their principles provided the basis for the modern co-operative movement in Britain.

Today in the UK, as well as The Co-operative Group, there are thousands of other co-operators who share the same heritage.

There are more success stories on the Co-operative's Join the Revolution page, or you can visit the Co-operative on Facebook.

If you have an idea for your own area, you can tell the Co-operative about it – and the most popular revolution from each region will receive a £5,000 cash injection.

If you have an idea for your own area, you can tell the Co-operative about it – and the most popular revolution from each region will receive a £5,000 cash injection.

The Co-operative
Join the revolution
Get involved

Sponsored Post