Looking back on 2021

Posted on Dec 17, 2021

As 2021 reaches its concluding days, it’s the perfect opportunity to look back on 2021, our 25th Anniversary year.

The global pandemic has affected us all this year, but it didn’t stop our anniversary celebrations, starting with the special 25th Anniversary Members’ Draw with a fantastic £3,500 prize fund up for grabs. Emily Buckley from Shrewsbury was the lucky £1,000 winner, whilst the 25 runners up each won £100. What a great way to start the year!

Next, we launched our special 25th Anniversary eBook for members, reflecting on the first 25 years of Penny Post. February was also the month we said farewell to long-time Finance Officer, Jayne Walker, who moved on to pastures new.

Many members benefited from our Anniversary Loan Offer during March, but the month’s highlight was the fantastic results from our Members’ Survey. We were delighted that 97.9% of members were either very satisfied or satisfied with our overall service and 99.8% of members would recommend a Penny Post loan to a friend or colleague.

Team member Charissa Roswess started her 5k run fundraising challenge in March, raising over £500 for the charity Centrepoint. Congratulations Charissa and thank you to everyone who sponsored her.

In April we celebrated another successful Penny Post year, at our virtual Annual General Meeting. Congratulations to member Mark Holt from Gloucestershire, the lucky winner of a £250 One4All Gift Card in our AGM Prize Draw.

We launched our Greenfingers Giveaways in April, with £250 in vouchers up for grabs to help members get ‘garden ready’ as lockdown eased. We definitely have many very green-fingered members, and really enjoyed seeing pictures of members’ wonderful gardens! Congratulations to Sandra from Stoke-on-Trent, the overall winner of our Bumper Green Fingers Giveaway, as selected by members.

In April we welcomed Rav Chahal to our Customer Service team as the Customer Service Apprentice; a role he has happily settled into.

Penny Post Pioneer, original board member and long-time employee, Vera Kelsey, retired in May after more than 25 years of involvement with Penny Post.

June was Refer-a-Colleague month, and it was great to welcome lots of new members! It was also a great month for team member Charissa Roswess, who was the latest member of our team to be selected for the CU Futures programme.

July saw the launch of our Summer Holiday Festival, the next part of our 25th Anniversary celebrations! Cornwall was your favourite UK destination whilst the USA was revealed as members top worldwide destinations! We so enjoyed sharing your fantastic Top Holiday Tips! Congratulations to Stuart Platt from Wolverhampton, who won the £250 Summer Holiday Festival prize.

Penny Post gained its Cyber Essentials certificate in July, giving us and our members peace of mind that our defences will protect against the vast majority of common cyber attacks.

At the end of July we were pleased to join other credit unions across the world in the ‘I love my credit union’ campaign, to raise credit union awareness across the world.

August was Young Savers month, and it was great to welcome many new Young Savers!

In August we were thrilled to learn we were a finalist in the national Consumer Credit Awards, in 2 categories. Being a finalist was a great honour, especially as the awards are voted-for entirely by UK customers. And it got even better when Penny Post was crowned the Best Credit Union South, having won the award in the national Consumer Credit Awards 2021. A massive thank you to every member who took time to vote for us – we couldn’t have done it without you!

In September we launched our new website, the first stage on our online improvement plan, and joined other credit unions across the UK to offer members the chance to win £5,000 with a PrizeSaver account. We also became the first UK credit union to sign up to the Debt Code and launched our free Car Buyers Guide to help members navigate their next vehicle purchase.

October was another busy month! For the second year running, Penny Post was awarded ‘Highly Commended‘ for the West Midlands Regional Finals in the 2021 National Apprenticeship Awards. We were also shortlisted in 3 categories at the Black Country Chamber Business Awards 2021. What a great achievement!

In October, some of the Penny Post team took part in the Cancer Research 5K Race for Life at West Park raising over £900 for this great cause. Team member Helen Nuttall also walked Hadrian’s Wall in October to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

On International Credit Union Day we launched our new international partnership with Community First Credit Union of Jacksonville, Florida, USA to share ideas and experiences for the benefit of members on both sides of the Atlantic.

Congratulations to member Chevaunne from Wolverhampton, the lucky winner of the £250 prize in our Autumn Competition! As part of the competition, we asked members for feedback on our new website. We were thrilled that members gave it an average score of 90 out of 100!

At the SGM in November, members passed both motions by a large majority. The formal registration process for the Transfer of Engagements from Voyager Alliance Credit Union is expected to be completed in 2-3 months time. This is a great opportunity for Penny Post, and fits with our strategy to grow membership, our loan book and offer a wider range of products and services to members.

In November, we increased the Member Bonus paid for recommending Penny Post membership to colleagues. You’ll now receive a £10 Member Bonus to say ‘thank you’, when you recommend Penny Post membership to a work colleague.

Finally, to December and our final 25th Anniversary celebration, with £250 to be won in our 25th Anniversary Christmas Quiz. Entries close on 3rd January 2022, so make sure you don’t miss out!

Congratulations to Penny Post Chief Operations Officer, Jas Kaur, and her fiancé Happy Ghag, on announcing their engagement in December!

Christmas is a time to remember those less fortunate, so the Team were pleased to partake in Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Save the Children, and donate to The Well, Wolverhampton’s Foodbank.

2021, our 25th anniversary year, has been another busy year for Penny Post. 25 years serving the Royal Mail family is a great achievement, only made possible by the support of you, our members. Thank you.

Wishing all our members, colleagues and friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Stay save everyone.