Lincolnshire Co-op celebrate the best in the business with awards for Gainsborough branches

Pharmacies, post offices, travel branches, funeral homes and food stores have been selected as bronze, silver, and gold Branches of the Year, alongside awards for individuals and teams under three categories; trustworthy, inspiring, and helpful.

Gainsborough Post Office won the silver honour as the team made a great effort to engage with their community and provide exceptional customer service.

Lynzey Warburton, manager at Gainsborough Post Office, said: “It has been a year full of challenges so we are delighted with the award.

“Our team has high standards of service. And we pride ourselves on being helpful and knowledgeable – between us we have a lot of experience and we work together as a team to find solutions.

“Banking is more and more of a focus and we’re keen to promote what we can offer the community.”

And Gainsborough Funeral Home also won silver, as they managed any challenges while maintaining high standards of service.

Louise Coggle-Smith, Funeral Services Manager, said: “They have been super-responsive to feedback, and have such a ‘can do’ attitude.

“Gainsborough are a tight-knit team and they have really pulled together during some challenging times this year. Everyone supports each other.”

And Claire Moore, checking technician at Market Street Pharmacy in Gainsborough, was awarded Helpful Colleagues of the Year.

Claire provided important support to the local crisis action team.

The team has called upon Claire on numerous occasions to ensure vulnerable clients were able to receive replacements for stolen or misplaced medication. Each time, she is happy to help.

For patients with substance misuse issues, being properly medicated is essential to their stability. As these are often controlled drugs, reissuing medications is complex.

This colleague carefully monitored this and even went to collect the prescriptions on occasion, all to ensure the wellbeing of their patients.

The crisis team got in touch to praise this colleague, describing the critical role they played in resolving urgent situations.