South Manchester Credit Union Celebrates the Outstanding Service of its Pioneers

Friday 1 March 2024

On Thursday 29 February, members, credit union professionals and friends of South Manchester Credit Union (SMCU) attended its Annual General Meeting.

The AGM was conducted smoothly, and members voted in favour of items like the credit union’s common bond expansion and election and re-election of Directors.

A special focus of the AGM, was to thank two pioneering members for their service as they retire from the credit union’s board. Paul Murphy, a founding member of SMCU, recently, Paul celebrated the milestone of surpassing £30m in all-time member lending since its inception in 2000 with the member whose loan achieved this goal.

Furthermore, attendees gathered to pay tribute to the lifetime of dedication served by now-retired SMCU Board member, Martin Logan. Martin was a founding director of Voyager Alliance Credit Union (now within the Penny Post Group) in the early 1990s and an active member of St Catherines Credit Union which started in 1980 making it one of the earliest credit unions in Greater Manchester. St Catherines Credit Union merged with SMCU in 2005 and Martin has served as a Director there since 2011.

“Martin is a pioneer of the credit union movement in Greater Manchester,” said SMCU CEO, Sheenagh Young. “His warm enthusiasm and dedication continue to motivate and inspire investment of time and energy into growing our sector.

“Martin loves taking photos and collecting information to add to his archive of local credit union development. He reminds us that we there is ongoing value in understanding our roots and the people who got us up off the ground.”

Martin said: “When I first joined a credit union in the 1970s and started saving, a bond and trust was established. For the first time in my life, this working class lad from Dublin had savings and that bond between myself and the credit union has carried me through my credit union career to this day”.

Sheenagh continued: “Here at SMCU Martin has served faithfully as a director for 13 years. I will miss his listening and encouragement as well as that big smile and deep laugh – it’s for good reason that he was our very own Santa at the Christmas do this year! Credit unions are in Martin’s DNA and I am sure he will carry on telling the whole world about how great we are for many years to come”.

Commenting on Paul and Martin’s contribution to the movement, ABCUL CEO, Robert Kelly said: “Understandably, we spend a lot of time thinking about the future of credit unions and our aspirations for the sector. But, if it wasn’t for trailblazers like Paul and Martin and their unwavering commitment to their community, we would not be able to celebrate such amazing milestones like £30m lent to help local people”.