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| A CWS jam advert circa 1930s |
Whenever you bought anything at the local store you had to quote it, to earn the dividend.
Sadly I am not one of them and try as I might it has been forgotten.
But I can remember quoting it when I was sent to the shop and came across some of those blue stamps which took the divi number’s place.
Later I went to work for the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich and later still joined the Co-op bank when we lived in Ashton.
That bank account in the 1970s was quite a life line, for in a time when there were no holes in the wall to dispense money, the Co-op would cash cheques at the weekend at the big Arcadia store.
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| Co-op cocoa made at the CWS & SCWS-factory,1902 |
“For 150 years The Co-operative has grown to first manufacture and then to sell products. Its services continue to support the families and communities of Great Britain and the world ‘from the cradle to the grave’.
This people’s business began its humble origins as the Co-operative Wholesale Society in Greater Manchester in 1863. The exhibition explores the story and values behind the ‘caring sharing co-op’ and offer a unique insight into the way we shop and live.”
So along with my friend Tommy and a group of fellow co-operators we were taken around the exhibition which includes a number of interactive displays along with plenty of posters and other things to see.
There was a guided tour and the staff opened up some of the archive material for us to handle.
So I shall be going again, taking the family and anyone else who wants to come.
And it is an important exhibition celebrating as it does the idea that people can co-operate to make a better world and that profit is not the only means by which products can be produced and traded.
In an age of banker’s bonuses and that much peddled idea that the markets determine all it is worth reflecting on the Co-op which “is the UK’s largest mutual business, owned not by private shareholders but by over seven million consumers.
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| Bus advertisement for The Co-operative Bank circa 1970s |
They also operate a funeral services, the third largest pharmacy chain and one of Britain’s largest farming operations. The Group operates 4,800 retail trading outlets, employs more than 100,000 people and has an annual turnover of more than £13bn.
Their members are their owners; members tell them what is important to them and they listen and act on it.
Its part of their model: as a consumer co-operative, they run their business for the benefit of members. That means members are involved in democratic decision-making and profits are shared with the members.
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| Dividend stamps introduced nationally by CWS in 1969 |
They have become pioneers in areas such as Fairtrade and combating climate change. The more commercially successful they are, the more they can do to give back to the communities they serve and to influence the wider world.”
So even despite its current embarrassment with its banking arm and faces challenging from the big companies
I think the Co-op is still worth considering and certainly visiting its history.
*The People’s History Museum, Manchester, http://www.phm.org.uk/
Follow @PHMMcr on twitter to keep up to date with the exhibition #coop150ex
Pictures; A CWS jam advert c1930s, National Co-operative Archive, © The Co-operative Group,
Advertisement-for-co-operative-cocoa-made-at-a-joint-CWS-and-SCWS-factory-in-Luton-from-1902-National-Co-operative-Archive-© -The-Co-operative-Group, Bus advertisement for The Co-operative Bank circa 1970s, National Co-operative Archive, © The Co-operative Group, Dividend stamps introduced nationally by CWS in 1969, National Co-operative Archive, ©The Co-operative Group
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