Tell Co-op what you couldn’t live without in your local community - £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[AmeliaMumsnet]

Whether it’s meeting new friends, amenities for the kids, or clubs and charities, it’s so important to make the most of the community you live in. Co-op want to know what you couldn’t live without where you live. Whether it’s where you are now, or the place that really feels like home, which clubs, activities, or services really make a difference to you in your local area?

Here’s what the Co-op have said: ‘Local community values are so important to us - that’s why we give 1% of everything our members spend on selected Co-op branded products and services from Co-op Group businesses, including food stores and funeral homes, to local initiatives in your community. So far, we’ve paid out £9 million to over 4,000 local causes! You can find out more, and sign up to become a member, here.’

You can read the Co-op’s membership T&Cs here.

Whether it’s a local event that brings everyone together, an after school sports club that gets your DC outdoors and active, or even just the beautiful natural scenery, Co-op want to know what really matters to you locally. So tell them about those local services, amenities or events that you just couldn't live without by posting in the thread below.

Every MNer who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

We're rural but we have easy train links to the midlands and the Welsh coast. My only gripe is that the last trains are too early.

We rely heavily on our local park in the summer and library in the winter. A lovely coffee shop always comes in handy too :)

I love Colmore Food Festival and Birmingham Beer Festival!

It's important to me to have a nice clean park, green areas for the children to play on and a corner shop close by.

My allotment. I live on a new build estate with a teeny garden. They opened up new allotments (subsidised rates for residents). It's been a great way to meet my neighbours and gives me the room I need to grow my own veg.

We live on the doorstep of a small nature reserve with hills, a spring to paddle in and wild ponies. The view from the top is beautiful and it makes us feel alive!

We have a free baby rhymetime every Monday at our local library and our 7 month old daughter loves it. I sing songs to her every day but to see the delight on her face when she's around other babies, and they're all enjoing the music too, well, it's just amazing.

Our library! We use it regularly and it brings people from our village together - baby group, knitting, book clubs, family history, health walks and so much more.

It kept me sane when I was a new mum and DD and I are often in there choosing books, doing crafts or a jigsaw.

It's such a shame that it will be closing next year as the council have pulled the budget

We are very lucky to live close to a lovely lake with a play park, a skate park and an ice cream van.
Dd 7mo loves going to feed the ducks and we photographed these little lovelies last week.
I love having somewhere so close wgeee we can get a bit of fresh air and burn off some energy.

we live on a very new build and I couldn't live without my local leisure centre as the community is quite fragmented

Our local park. The council refurbished the children's area last year. They consulted the local Mums and it is now brilliant for a wide age of children. A good place for meeting other Mums.

The village shop - it's the only shop in the village so a vital facility. Essential for shopping but also as a hub for relaying village news - events, supporting fundraising, supporting local producers etc..

Local shops, cafes, library, community centre and church hall (where loads goes on) park and beach within walking distance. Although I'd love to live in the country, I would miss those things so much!

Tennis lessons in the park - a great idea to use an underutilised resource!

I like having a good local park. It's also useful that we have a reasonably sized Co-op, a GP surgery, library and post office within 10 minutes' walk. There are a few toddler groups too (although we've now outgrown those) and various extracurricular activities that are easy to get to.

Our local valley park, which follows the route of our brook for many miles, with paths and cyclepaths and playgrounds scattered along its length. It's an oasis of calm in London, and I love, love, love it.

I couldnt live without the green space in my area. I live on a new development where there are buildings going up every day so it is lovely to eascape the huge park we live by and lots of green fields as a calm place or a chilling place with the kids xx

Good neighbours, worth more than their weight in gold

This! Neighbours are a huge part of our small community. We all try to help each other as much as we can.

We also have an open gardens event annually which is a really great way to get to know other neighbours, but is also a great incentive for everyone to keep their gardens neat, tidy and pretty, which makes for a much more enjoyable village for us all.

It's hard to choose where we live in Tavistock but I'd have to say the Tavistock Lions are a great benefit to our community , they help local projects and schools and also run a low cost brilliant fire work display every year

I can't do without my weekly fix of a good pub quiz at a lovely pub nearby. Also, lots of greenery to look out at from my house and countryside nearby to walk in.

When the children were younger I would have said library but now I think the outstanding schools we have in our area. Such as huge part of childrens lives, it is great we have such good ones where we live

The village hall where I play table tennis every week. We have bowls there and run lunch clubs. The Flower arranging club meets there and the latest club is computers, aimed at getting older residents using the internet.

A play park, a duck pond ... we always manage to see someone we know

I would say - either our wonderful neighbours (who have all welcomed us so kindly since we moved in a year ago) or the village pub! It really feels very friendly and is a lovely, cosy spot throughout the year x

The community spirit in my village is priceless and we have regular Farmer's markets, kids and adults clubs and exercise classes, a weekly walking club, an active Parish Council and even an annual musical festival.