A little bit of our history down at the Co-op

2d token issued by the R.A.C.S., date unknown

It’s so easy to lose so much of our history.

Now the big things like the homes of the great and good, as well as the not so good but still very powerful and rich usually survive, as do their possessions.

In the same way those important papers of State, the letters and records of government from Roman tax records to Magana Carta and much else have come down to us.

Although I do have to concede sometimes it is a dam close thing and often it is down to accident rather than design that these things are still around to tell us something of the past.

Of course in the great sweep of history more rather than less has gone forever.

1£ Co-op book of stamps circa 1970

And amongst all that lost material are the overwhelming majority of everyday objects each with their own unique story.

I could have picked almost anything to explore these vanished objects but in the end choose the humble trading token and its modern equivalent the trading stamp.

It began with a sheet of those Green Shield Stamps posted on facebook which if you are of a certain age will bring back vivid memories of collecting them, then sticking them in books and eventually exchanging shed loads of them for a range of goods.

Co-op stamps, circa 1970

And into the game came the Co-op which had been operating its own reward system since its inception.

This was the dividend which gave every member a share of the stores profits.  All you needed to do was quote your “divi number” and the amount you spent would be recorded.

Talk to many people and they can instantly remember their family number and even quote it back.

Sadly I was never one of them and so for me the introduction of the divi stamp was to be welcomed.  So instead of holding up a line of shoppers down at the Well Hall Co-op opposite the Pleasaunce I could now vanish with the groceries secure in the knowledge that all was well with our divi reward.

A token issued by  Bolden Industrial Co-op, date uknown

“Dividend Stamps were introduced in 1965. 

It was an alternative to the traditional methods of paying the 'divi', and as a response to the adoption of trading stamps by other food retailers like Tesco who adopted the Green Shield stamps scheme. 

Some individual Co-operative societies operated their own stamp schemes but the CWS National scheme was in use from 1969.”*

Running alongside the number and then later the stamps were the old tokens, made of very thin metal.

"Coop members would go into their local society shops to buy the tokens for bread, milk, coal etc. The amount they spent would then be registered for their dividend payments.  The members would then give the token to the milkman, bread man or coal roundsman etc in return for the items they wanted."**

Co-op stamps, circa 1970

In our house some at least never made it back to the Co-op and instead were used as toys and even took the place of playing cards.


So for those who remember them and a lot more who are totally baffled by them here is a selection taken from my friend Lawrence’s blog* and the Bolden History site.*

They were an important part of many peoples' way of budgeting and marked a commitment to a co-operative way of life which I still think is the way forward.

Pictures; Co-op trading stamps, courtesy of Lawrence Beedle, and trading tokens from Boldon History

*Hardy Lane Scrapbook, http://hardylane.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/co-op-stamps.html

**Boldon History, http://www.boldonhistory.co.uk/Boldon-Colliery-ID11/The%20Co-op-IDI141

This is how you honour a shop with history

Today over eighty people gathered on an indifferent morning to commemorate and indeed celebrate one of our local Co-ops.

Gathering for the event, 2026

What makes this Co-op as special is that it has retained its public hall which for nearly a century has acted as avenue for a variety of local community events.

So it was fitting that Chorlton Civic Society should erect a blue plaque to honour its place as a centre for education, social events and  home to the Co-operative and Labour Movement.

The plaque was unveiled by Kathy Lee who as a member of the Co-op Party was active in promoting the ideals of co-operation.

Kathy about to unveil the plaque, 2026

Unveiled, 2026

Many of those present will also remember that Kathy's husband, Lawrence Beedle played a unique role in recording the history  of all things co-op and retold the stories in his  blog.*

Sean, Cll Shilton-Goodwin

So much so that when Angela Downing began to explore the possibilities of a blue plaque it was to Lawrence that she first turned and much of what we now know about the hall and its activities is due in no small part to Lawrence's knowledge. 

Which leads me to thank Angela for liaising with Chorlton Civic Society's blue plaque committee and the Co-op who funded the plaque.

The shop was opened in 1929 to serve the new housing estates which were being built along and behind Barlow Moor Road.

Lord Bradley

At the time most of the shops had their own hall but sadly most have now gone and ours may indeed be the last in the Greater Manchester area.

Some of the Hall's friends

The Hardy Lane Co-op Rooms can boast a rich and diversified series of events which have taken place in its room.

They range from meetings of the Wood Craft Folk and Co-operative Guilds to pollical assemblies of the Labour and Co-operative Parties doubled up as election committee rooms and the venue for  heaps of social events from film nights to whist evenings.

All of which made today's unveiling very special, and so along with Kathy we had Lord Bradley who as Keith Bradley was elected in 1987 as the first Labour MP for Withington, and the present MP Jeff Smith, both of whom spoke of their vivid memories of the hall.  Cllr Mandie Shilton-Godwin and Shaun Fensom from the Co-op were also present and I think the ghosts of  all those who have in some ways been part of the hall over the last century.

Jeff Smith, MP

Shaun from the Co-op

The Friends gather

Location; Hardy Lane Co-op

Pictures: on the day from the collection of Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping, 2026

*Hardy Lane Scrapbook, https://hardylane.blogspot.com/

A tea trolley ….. the Chorlton and Manley Co-operative Women's Guild …. and that community venue

History comes in all shapes and sizes and none more so than the Hardy Lane Co-op store here in Chorlton which is just a tad short of celebrating its 100th birthday.

The Hardy Lane Co-op, 1966

That in itself would be worth commemorating, given that the Co-operative Movement was at the heart of providing good quality food and other products at affordable prices with the bonus that its members received a share of the profits in the form of a dividend on all their purchases.

It is a retail model which was already offering an excellent deal before the Rochdale Pioneers opened their successful shop.

At its zenith the movement had shops, factories, and ships providing families with all they could want from food, furniture, clothes and holidays as well as banking and a funeral service.  

It was organised through Co-operative Societies and for many households it was the place you went to for everything.

Household HintsCo-operative Wholesale Society, undated

And so embedded were the societies in the lives of working people that many can recall their “divi” number which customers proffered up every time they bought something.

R.A.C.S token, undated

We were in the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society which was a vast organization covering all of south London and into the Home Counties, and like other societies had both a political and educational wing through which it promoted the ideals of co-operation and a host of events designed to enhance cultural activities and international understanding.

And here in Manchester was the headquarters of the movement centred around Balloon Street.

What marked out the retail arm of most of the societies were the meeting rooms above the shops which could be hired for community use.

All of which brings me back to the Hardy Lane Co-op which is one of only a few shops which still have a functioning meeting space.

Over the last 97 years its room has hosted everything from the Chorlton and Manley Co-operative Women's Guild to the Woodcraft Folk, meetings of the Co-operative and Labour Parties to cinema nights and Whist events.  

Co-op products, undated

As such it has been at the centre of the community it was opened to serve.

Now I have already written about the Chorlton and Manley Co-operative Women's Guild.*

Yet to be written is the story of Barbara Castle’s visit.  She was a  British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1979, making her one of the longest-serving women MPs in British history.  

And with that story should be an account of the Woodcraft Folk’s activities and the many events held to promote Co-operative products and the underlying principles of the Co-operative Movement.

But I will close with the story of the tea trolley.  

It was an essential part of any meeting and would be trundled out at many of the meetings I attended there.  It was not as old as the tea urn or the big brown tea pot but old enough to have clocked up plenty of events.

That tea trolley, 2012

And I suppose in its way is a symbol of all those meetings going back almost a full century when the great business of the day stopped for light refreshments including Co-op tea and co-op biscuits.

Co-op tea, undated

Just leaving me to announce that Chorlton Civic Society in partnership with the Co-operative movement will be unveiling a plaque at the store to commemorate the historic role of the meeting room to the community.**

The ceremony will be on Saturday July 4th at 11 am.

Location;

Pictures; Barlow Moor Road, 1966, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, R.A.C.S., token undated from the collection of Andrew Simpson, remaining images from the collection of Lawrence Beedle http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

* On small things history turns …. commemorating the Hardy Lane Co-op https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2026/06/on-small-things-history-turns.html

** Blue Plaque for Hardy Lane Co-op Store https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Blue%20Plaque%20for%20Hardy%20Lane%20Co-op%20Store

Stories from our Co-operative past ………… no. 1 Chorlton and Manley Park Women’s Guild

1948

For years this banner took pride of place on a wall in the Committee Rooms above the Hardy Lane Co-op store on Barlow Moor Road.

In those quiet moments during meetings I would stare at the banner and ponder on its history.

I can’t date when the banner was made but according to Lawrence Beedle the photograph was taken during the Chorlton and Manley Park Women's Guild 25th Annual Party.

At the meeting the "Freedom of the Branch" was presented to Mrs. Lomas the Secretary and Mrs. Scott for being associated with the Guild for a quarter of a century.

The cake was presented by Mrs. Mayo who received a cake stand for her services.

And it is well worth remembering that that making the cake would have been a real challenge, given that in 1948 when the event happened, food was still being rationed.

Circa 1986

The banner which is blue is now held by the People's History Museum in their banner archive.

It has stitching on a royal blue background.

The Co-op Hall has since it was opened been a venue for meetings of the Labour Party, the Co-op Party, along with Chorlton and Manley Park Women's Guild, the Woodcraft Folk and has regularly been used as committee rooms.

And as ever, soon after the story went live, Dave King sent me these two certificates which belonged to Alice and William Lomas who were his grand parents, commenting, "Mrs. Lomas was my grandmother and she  lived at 21 Provis Road.  "She was something big in the Mothers Union and a Teetotalers organisation. 

Mrs. Lomas is awarded the Freedom of the Branch, 1947

Her husband was William (Bill) Lomas who was a builder/plumber. I have included his certification picture  .

Alice is the lady in your picture holding the knife, and the 1947 certificate was when the Co-op was on Beech Road and the one on Manchester Road next to the Royal Oak was relatively new".

And for now that is it, but given Mr. and Mrs. Lomas's involvement in the Co-operative and Labour Movements  I think with David's help there will be much more to come.

William Lomas, 1917

To which Lawrence has added, "Chorlton & Manley Park was a Women’s Co-Op Guild founded 1922 and Barlow Moor was a Mixed Guild founded 1931. Both had different banners and met in different co-op halls. The 1986 picture with you, Tom, Dave Black is at a Labour Party meeting- it might be a selection or shortlisting meeting.

I’ve not looked at the local Co-Op Guild history for years but am now inclined to write a small article about them with some photos for your blog.

I have a box of old 78 rpm records rescued from Hardy Lane before a refurbishment. They had gramophone nights and hired a record player from the Co-Op head office".

Research; Lawrence Beedle

Location; Chorlton

Picture; of the banner and the presentation, supplied by Lawrence Beedle the Manchester & Salford Herald Co-Operative Herald January 1948 page 21 and some of the Co-operative Party, circa 1986, and two certificates for Alice, and William Lomas, 1947 & 1917 courtesy of  Dave King

Lawrence Beedle ... my friend

 I have been thinking of my friend Lawrence who died recently, and as you do I have been reflecting on over 40 years of friendship.

Lawrence

We shared an interest in history and particularly the Labour Party and the Co-op movement which for Lawrence translated into a deep knowledge which was a product of years of research.

Co-op Spring fashions, 1939

I always remember the time he compiled a complete collection of local election results for Chorlton stretching back to 1904 which also included all the MPs elected for our bit of south Manchester charting the complicated journey of boundary changes. 

Nor was it just the obscure.  

His knowledge and understanding of Co-op history was so detailed he could talk with authority on the founding of Co-operation in Manchester, the advance of the Manchester and Salford Equitable Co-op Society not to be confused with Marks and Spencer’s which carried the same initials on their shop fronts.  

And Lawrence could offer up the dates for the opening of the stores and exactly which Co-op store was best for buying furniture. 

Lawrence recounting when the Co-op went Self service, undated

Equally Lawrence was his blog on just one Co-op store … the one on Hardy Lane.   *

The blog ranged over all sorts of history from food to retail stamps, old 78 gramophone records and the story of Sanatogen that “Tonic and Restorative Wine”.

As he once said “before Lucozade there was Sanatogen”.

Now that blog is still live and is well worth a visit.

And all of this was done with joy as if the discovery and retelling was the fun.

And the fun also came in testing the past like the time he announced he was going to recreate some now forgotten war time dishes using the same rationed ingredients.

Orange curd, 1940

He started with the National Loaf from 1941 and accompanied it with Woolton Pie which consisted of diced cooked potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and turnips to which were added rolled oats chopped spring onions and vegetable stock which formed the gravy.  

Both the loaf and the pie were met with derision and even hostility during the war and so Lawrence just wanted to taste them himself and see what the fuss was all about.

I brought to the table a bowl of orange curd made from a 1940 recipe.  

We sat back and reflected that as vegetarians all three dishes were pretty dammed good, and the project was the perfect example of reenacting history.

And along the way we had touched a bit of the past even if it was a tad silly.

That silliness could also be the academic challenge, like the day he found a card of fuse wire, and challenged me to turn it into a history story, commenting,  “We’ve all got things at the back of a drawer. This must be 40 or 50 years old. Fuse wire in three different amperages. When did you last use fuse wire?

Winfield was the brand name for own label goods from Woolworths”. 

The Lawrence fuse wire challege

Of course there was so much more to him, from his days with Rabid Records, his fascination with the possibilities of the early internet, his contribution to the Unicorn Food Co-op, along with his impish sense of humour, his rabbit hole interests and much more.

So there you have it, my friend Lawrence.

Pictures; Lawrence, courtesy of Kathy his wife, and other images drawn from his blog, Hardy Lane Scrapbook

*Hardy Lane Scrapbook, https://hardylane.blogspot.com/

Collecting Co-op Societies ..... no. 7....... The Failsworth Industrial Society

Now I have just added another co-op society to my Co-op Hall of Fame.

Failsworth Industrial Society Limited, 2022

It is The Failsworth Industrial Society which was formed in 1859, with a co-operative grocery shop opening in Dob Lane on 28th March 1859. 

“Its first members were William Fletcher, James Taylor, Jock Whitehead, William Barlow, Charles Cordow, James Robinson, Robert Barlow, Thomas Hayes, Tom Taylor, Jonathan Taylor, Josiah Etchells, Ben Aldred, James Winterbotton and James Smith. Thomas Hayes played a prominent part in the establishment of the Failsworth Industrial Society and became the first Secretary of the Society. 

He drew up the rules for the Society based on those of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society”*

The Graver Lane store, 2022

And in the fullness of time I think I will go looking for these fourteen co-op pioneers.  

For now I shall just reflect that “it set up a laundry business in 1908, which would join with 10 other local societies in 1913 and this federal enterprise would grow to be the United Co-operative Laundries. 

The Society was also a partner in the formation of the Manchester and District Funeral Association and in 1932 joined forces with four other retail societies and the CWS in establishing the United Co-operative Dairies”.*

Our shop was opened in the Society's Golden Jubilee in 1909 when it had nearly 10,000 members and operated 43 shops. 

And it easy to forget that co-op societies were not just trading organizations, but had a wide range of cultural activities, including its own political party. 

The Failsworth Society had opened a library in 1873 and in 1909 it's valuable collection of 20,000 books was passed to the local Council as a nucleus to the first public library.

All of which has come from a most interesting history of the society produced by Jisc Archives Hub, which offers up the full history of the society, along with links to where its archives can be found and a select bibliography.

The Graver Lane store, 1960

Leaving me just to thank Andy Robertson who took these two pictures of the Graver Lane branch as was in Newton Heath.

Location; Failsworth

Pictures; former Graver Lane Co-op store, Newton Heath, 2022, from the collection of Andy Robertson, and in 1960, T Brooks, m35568, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

* The Failsworth Industrial Society,  Jisc Archives Hub https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/e6180c09-f6ab-3211-9c51-d688f328f48f

A “divi number” …..and a lost shop …….. in Droylsden ……. with a bit of our Co-op history

Now, like many of my generation, I grew up with the Co-op.

It was a movement which offered good quality food, clothing, and a heap of other services at affordable prices and gave its members a “dividend”. 

So, you might well be kitted out in your first baby clothes from one of their stores, later hold your wedding reception in one of its halls, and finally be buried by its funeral department, which plays on that phrase from “cradle to the grave”.

In the early years there were shedloads of small local co-operative societies, catering for a clutch of villages, a small town, or parts of our big cities.

Ours was the Royal Arsenal Co-operative, which operated on the south side of the Thames.

And while many people can still remember their “divi” number, which had to be offered up with any purchase, I long ago forgot ours.  

That said we still have a few odd bits which were bought from the RACS store on Well Hall Road, and I loved the way that on a Saturday in the 1970s I could cash a cheque from my Co-op Bank account at the Arcadia store in Ashton-Under-Lyne.

All of which is an introduction to these two pictures of No. 6 Branch of the Droylsden Industrial Cooperative Society, Moorside Street, Droylsden, taken by Andy Robertson on a day out last week.

If I have this right the Droylsden Co-op was started in 1872, although I have seen an early date of 1861, and it  ran till 1963 when it merged with the Ashton Society.

This will explain why its records were “Placed on permanent loan by Mr. G.R. Bennett, Vice President of the Ashton-under-Lyne and District Co-operative Society Limited, Registered Office, 'Arcadia', Stamford Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, OL6 7NH. (October 1984).”*

On one level there is nothing exceptional about No 6, other that it has survived, and still carries a reminder of its origins which are there picked out in brick.

And here I cannot claim this short reference to the society is the first.  Others like Stephen Marland and Wikipedia have gone before me.**

Location; Droylsden

Pictures; No. 6 Branch of the Droylsden Industrial Cooperative Society, Moorside Street, Droylsden, 2022, from the collection of Andy Robertson

* Droylsden Industrial Co-operative Society Minutes and Reports. The records are held by Tameside Local Studies and Archives,  DD264, National Archives, https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/4fb568b3-f861-4359-9755-b61acbe5e585

** Ravensbury Street – Droylsden Cooperative Society Store, MOOCH, https://modernmooch.com/2020/05/07/ravensbury-street-droylsden-cooperative-store/ & Droylsden Industrial Co-operative Society, Wikipedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Droylsden_Industrial_Co-operative_Society

A little bit of Co-op history rediscovered in that Chorlton cinema ……………… 80 years on

Now I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that tucked away and pretty much forgotten in the old Gaumont cinema on Manchester Road is a reminder of the history of the Co-op movement.

After all, for over 50 years, this former picture house has been home to the Co-op’s Funeral Care Service.

But just how this framed picture ended up, discarded and looking very sorry for itself is a mystery.

The Co-op maintained a library and collection of resources covering its history in the building, but I am saddened that the picture got detached from the rest and sat gathering dust for decades.

There will be other copies I know, but it would be a shame, and a loss.

I went looking for a report on the “Grand Pageant” at Bell Vue on June 10th 1930, commemorating 80 years of “Glorious Co-operative Achievement”, but a trawl of the Guardian proved a dead end, but I am convinced that my friend Lawrence will have chapter and verse.

For now, I hope that this framed bit of history can be retrieved.

It was part of a collection of pictures taken by Chris Peacock, during a survey of the former cinema on behalf of the Chorlton Community Land Trust. *

Location; Chorlton

Pictures; framed photograph, commemorating 80 years of Co-op Achievement", 2019, from the collection of Chris Peacock, 2019

* Chorlton Community Land Trust,
https://chorltonclt.org/index.php/2019/10/02/staying-alive-2019-09-26/?fbclid=IwAR2EmkOwVXnwSNTgfeCbhlAgHfAMJPpiLlQ4Q8XC3-oKYlRwXUpEAEzvbFU

The story of that other Co-op ………….. Hulme 1840

Now there were plenty of people attempting to follow the Rochdale Pioneers and set up local co-operative societies which aimed to offer good quality food and goods at a decent price with the added benefit of a loyalty dividend from the profits to be shared out amongst the members.  

And one of those groups which did not make it long past their brave start was the Hume and Chorlton Joint Stock Provision Company founded in the October of 1840 with one shop on Clarendon Street Chorlton on Medlock.

The Chartist paper the Northern Star covered their launch and early expansion in 1840 and for me it sums up exactly what these early co-operators wanted to do.

“Hulme And Chorlton. – At a meeting of the Committee of management of the Hulme and Chorlton Joint Stock Provision Company, October 22nd it was unanimously resolved, in consequence of the increase in business, and for accommodation of shareholders and other, that we open another shop in the township of Hulme.  

The above resolution has been carried into effect, and we have opened a shop at 10 Melbourne-street, Bradshaw-street, Hulme.  We are determined to make the shopkeepers of the above township sell their bread at the same price we have made them in Chorlton, that is, the 4lb. Loaf for 7d.  On opening our shop in Hulme, several customers, on calling for a 4lb. Loaf, tendered 8d. For it; and when the shopman returned them one penny they seemed surprised.  

This shews that the working classes are not alive to their own interest, or else they would have known the advantage of co-operation.  If they will only pay us a visit, we will assure them they will lose nothing by it; but on the contrary, gain.  

We likewise call on all Corn Law repealers to visit our shops, and we will give them what they have been fighting for a long time-namely, cheap bread.  Working men, come forward and assist us in keeping down the profitmongers.  Shares, 5s each may be paid in instalments of 6d per week.  The Committee meet every Thursday evening, at eight o’clock, at their rooms, over the shop, No 26, Clarendon Street, Chorlton.”*

Sadly it seems they fell by the wayside.  A trawl of the directories for 1841 and 1850 show no listings for the Hulme and Chorlton Joint Stock Provision Company, and they are not mentioned again in the Northern Star for 1840.

It may be that like many of these early societies they lacked sufficient resources.  Certainly the price of their shares at 5s [25p] was far less than the Rochdale Pioneers who just four years later set their shares at £1.  And the 1840s were a hard time.

Location; Hulme

Picture; Co-Operative Union Plaque, Erected in 1911, M Luft, 1990, m09363, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*The Northern Star November 7th 1840

One for the diary, the History of the Coop, the talk at Furness Vale on May 6

Now there was a time when most places had their own Co-op shop and until the mergers of the middle and late 20^th centuries there were plenty of different societies, some larger than other others but all committed to the concept of co-operation.

In Chorlton there was one on Beech Road, two at various times near to the Four Banks and up by Hardy Lane another.

And in Furness Vale until it was merged with Whaley Bridge Co-op, they had their own society in with just one shop.

The original store which closed in the 1970's is now the Imperial Palace Chinese Restaurant.

So given that Furness could offer its own little bit of cooperation, the local history society is telling the story of the movement with guest speaker Gillian Lonergan of the National Co-operative Archives.

I freely admit that Furness Vale is tad far from Chorlton, but that has not stopped me from heading out there.  There is after all a good train connection and the Community Centre is not far from the station. 

And if like me you have a tendency to misread the timetable and arrive early there is a choice of pubs and that Chinese Restaurant which just happens to be beside the Community Centre and was once he Co-op.

Furness Vale Local History Society, http://furnesshistory.blogspot.co.uk/

In a field on a pic-nic with fish paste sandwiches, now that's an inticing invite

I just couldn’t resist sharing another of my friend Lawrence’s blog posts.  

This one is on the Co-op and the Pic-Nic circa 1934, http://hardylane.blogspot.co.uk/ and while you are at it scroll down for a day on the meadows with water every where and not a sandwich in sight

Picture; from the collection of Lawrence Beedle.

The Chorlton and Manley Park Women’s Guild.

Well today there is another milestone in the blog, with the publication of this story on the Chorlton and Manley Park Women’s Guild.  It was researched and written by Lawrence Beedle who has agreed to post a series of stories over the next few months on the blog.  His own excellent site on local co-operative history can be reached from the link below.

A photograph of the Manchester & Salford Equitable Co-Operative store on Beech Road has yet to be discovered. Considering it was there from 1915 until 1967 at the corner with Stockton Road it was surely captured by a camera at least once.

Anyway this is an interior shot of the meeting rooms over the shop. It features the Chorlton and Manley Park Women's Guild holding their 25th Annual Party on Thursday 4th December 4th. "Freedom of the Branch" was presented to Mrs. Lomas the Secretary and Mrs. Scott for being associated with the Guild for all this time.

The cake was presented by Mrs. Mayo who received a cake stand for her services. Presumably all these ladies are surrounding the three tier cake which wasn't bad considering post-war rationing.

That fine banner which is blue is now held by the People's History Museum in thir banner archive. It has stitching on a royal blue background. Probably last seen in an exhibition of banners in Rochdale. That was way back in 1994 a part of the Rochdale Pioneers celebration of 150 years.

By modern fashion standards the people look and dress to appear older than their years? Also notice the chain of office around the lady in the centre. The Manley Park in the title of this organisation is at the north east end of Chorlton. There was once a co-op store in that area on Clarendon Road at it was here that the Guild met before WWII.

Picture; from the collection of Lawrence Beedle

Credits : Manchester & Salford Herald Co-Opertive Herald January 1948 page 21.

For more about local co-operative history visit www.hardylane.blogspot.com