Wooldale Co-op axe Chief Executive to cut costs

THE small independent Wooldale Co-op based in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, has made Chief Executive and Secretary Fergie Cowan redundant as a means of reducing costs and has also axed the society's online operation aimed at supplying favourite food products to ex-pat Britons. Mr Cowan left the society at the end of last month following a structural review initiated by the board in the wake of a failed attempt to persuade members to agree to a merger with United Co-operatives last May. New Chairman Mark Lewis, who took over when Malcolm O'Grady resigned after the majority of Wooldale members rejected his advice on the proposed merger, said that the society was going through a period of reorganisation and would be "moving to a different structure" in the next five or six months. * Further coverage in the next edition of Co-op News available from Tuesday February 19th.