Several West Dorset residents received early Christmas presents when Gillian Summers, Chairman of West Dorset District Council, drew the winning tickets for the Friends of First Dorset Credit Union Christmas Raffle at the FDCU Service Point on High East Street, in December.
Prizes included a mountain bike, luxury Christmas hamper, and items kindly donated by various local businesses including Margaret Balfour Beauty Salon, Home Sweet Home, Marsh's and Castle Gardens.
Richard Thorley, President of the Credit Union, said 'We are delighted that the raffle has raised £1,046, which will be used by the Friends to support our fantastic group of hard-working volunteers in operating our service points and promoting the Credit Union across West Dorset.
Award for FDCU Loans Team
A total of 170 guests attended theVolunteer Centre Dorset awards in Dorchester in the first week of November. The loans team from FDCU received recognition as Volunteer Group of the year. The team of 15 volunteers assess all loan applications and determine whether or not to make loans to members. This involves a great commitment of time but is fundamental to the successful operation of the Credit Union.
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Bridport Volunteers Contribution Recognised
New Service Points
New service points have opened in Sturminster Newton and Lyme Regis continuing the expansion in coverage across Dorset of First Dorset Credit Union.
Sturminster Newton - Mondays 10.30 - 12.30 from 28 February 2011. The Council Offices, Old Market Hill, Sturminster Newton, DT10 1FH.
Lyme Regis - Tuesdays 10.00 - 12.00. St Michael's Business Centre, Church Street, Lyme Regis, DT7 3DB.
Annual General Meeting
The 2011 AGM was held at 6.30pm on Wednesday 2nd February at the Holy Trinity Parish Centre, Culliford Road North, Dorchester, DT1 1QG. The AGM included brief updates on the events of the past year from the President, Treasurer, Credit Committee and Supervisory Committee. The audited accounts were presented at the meeting. For those who could not attend the accounts can be viewed through this link:
FDCU audited accounts for the year ended 30 September 2010
Prince Charles meets FDCU volunteers - November 2010
On 16th November, 2010 HRH the Prince of Wales met a group of volunteers from First Dorset Credit Union. This formed part of one of the Prince's regular visits to Poundbury. He talked to them about the valuable work they perform in providing an affordable source of loans to the community. He thanked them for all of their efforts. The meeting was held on the day of the announcement of the engagement of Prince William to Kate Middleton which made for a happy atmosphere.
Oliver Letwin Visits FDCU - July 2010
West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin heard how people’s banks are fighting the loan sharks.
He was told of some of the worst excesses of unscrupulous lenders when he visited the First Dorset Credit Union.
FDCU offers affordable financial services, such as savings accounts and insurance and is also attractive to many for its low interest loans.
Mr Letwin called in to see how FDCU was faring and heard how credit unions were hoping to persuade the Government to target lenders preying on the poorest people. He said: “I’ve been associated with the credit union since its foundation over ten years ago and I’m also an active member of it. I’ve frequently found it’s enormously useful when people arrive at my surgeries with problems. Sometimes they just can’t get hold of money or they’re going through a bad patch and normally the credit union can help them. It’s a wonderful institution, I’ve been working with them the last two or three years through the banking crisis and they’ve come out of that in very good shape.”
He added: “On my latest visit we talked about general issues they’ve been seeing as they go about business, which includes people paying 2,000 per cent to loan sharks.
“So I’ve taken that up now with the Treasury, it seems to me we need to do something about it".