Actor Michael Sheen backs Social Saturday
Actor Michael Sheen visited London’s Borough Market at the weekend to publicise Social Saturday, the annual UK campaign to encourage people to buy from social enterprises.
Sheen spoke to several social entrepreneurs who were taking part in a social enterprise pop-up stall at the London market. Earlier in October, Sheen visited Spain’s Basque country to learn more about the Mondragon co-operative movement.
At Social Saturday, Sheen said: “Recently I’ve been visiting social enterprises in the UK and Spain to learn more about how they’re helping to regenerate communities and change people’s lives for the better.”
On the same day, more than 20 MPs visited social enterprises across the country, including co-leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas, Conservative MP for Didcot and Wantage, Ed Vaisey, and Cat Smith, Labour MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood.
Around 60 events took place to highlight the work of social enterprise. Peter Holbrook, CEO of Social Enterprise UK, appeared on Sky TV news in the morning. The hashtag #SocialSaturday2016 also trended on Twitter, with Michael Sheen and comedian Chris Addison among others tweeting about the subject.
Michael Sheen, who is from Port Talbot in Wales where the steelworks is under threat of closure, has been discovering more about social enterprises with the aim of helping Port Talbot to regenerate itself.
He added: “I’m keen to understand how I can help bring some of the strengths of this alternative business movement back to Wales.”
Header image: Michael Sheen (centre) with Peter Holbrook of Social Enterprise UK and other representatives of social enterprises at Borough Market on Saturday 15 October.
