Guild Purchases Competition

The photograph is of a handsome cup and it is going to awarded to the co-operative guild that has made the most purchases over the last six months. Twenty four out of the thirty three guilds entered in 1949, that would include women's and mixed guilds. Maybe three of the men's guilds did too.

There was a meeting in the large hall at the Downing Street, Ardwick to announce the winners. Well Barlow Moor Mixed Guild nor Chorlton Women's Guild receive a prize. That was claimed by Yew Tree Women's Guild with an average purchase of £53 13s 10¾d. In modern decimal money that's about £53.68p, not sure about those three farthings. If use the National Currency Currency Converter has the spending power of £1,223 today. No respresentitive from the Yew Tree Guild was present that Friday 2nd December 1949 so arrangements had to be made to pass it on.

Suppose you want to know who came second, well that was Cornbrook Mixed Guild, and third was the previous year's winner Greenheys Mixed Guild. "Trade continues to move forward and at the present time the Society was recording no less than £13,000 per week increase" said Mr. J. Clarke JP who announced the winners.

Reference : Manchester & Salford Co-operative Herald January 1950, page 26.

Road or is that Lane Closure

I haven't taken this photograph. There is a good snapper out there recording the real world, doing a better job than myself, and there is a great website where you can upload images for every square on the OS grid map.

Hardy Lane is behind those red and white barriers. It's one of those cold but bright winter's day that we photographers love 'cos the sharp contrast and long shadows. You may want to compare this to all of thirty six years ago in an earlier post.

Photo credit : © Copyright Phil Champion and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. Thank you for your comments and your photos, much appreciated.

Links :
http://www.geograph.org.uk/gridref/SJ8293 covers this area, 113 photographs to date...I live in a nearby grid square and no one has uploaded yet, looks like I've got another task to do.

Cocoa of Empire

This is the second in the series of "Food of Empire". The co-operative societies fully participated in importing and promoting victuals from the distant colonies and dominions. Not only that they owned the plantations, had depots and agents in the cities of the Empire.

The English and the Scottish CWS opened a cocoa factory in Dallow Road, Luton, in 1902. Like the British Empire it is gone now, demolished early in 1970. It is now a site of the Guardian Business Park, near the junction with Vernon Road. The poster dates from 1906 and is a contrast between an idealised view of work in West Africa and the impressive building with smoking chimney to demonstarte a hive of industry in Luton.

Nowadays the cocoa and chocolate is advertised as a Fairtrade product, the workers in West Africa have their own co-operative, but no sign of any factories in the UK, or wherever it is processed in the EU.

Links :
Divine Chocolate
Teas of Empire - previous post

150 years in 2013

Co-operation can always celebrate an anniversary, and 2013 will be the 150th Anniversary of The Co-Operative, or as it used to be known the Co-Operative Wholesale Society dating from the 10th October 1863 in Manchester.

Work is already under way by some professional historians at Universities in Liverpool to produce a book. Another book? Well as they point out in this initial article co-operation has been ignored for too long in the media, and in the school curriculum....

Link - you can also download a PDF from here.

First lorry

This is the first M&S Co-op lorry purchased in 1909. It's a Pagefield two-ton truck which was manufactured by Walker Brothers in Wigan. The story reads "The Society's first motor and its first load. This will as be seen a precious cargo of the celebrated and unequalled Crumpsall Cream Crackers......At the head of the motor is Mr. Brierley, the society's stable superintendent. He has a great admiration for horses, but he speaks very highly of the motor and its work."

To me it looks like a flat bed lorry and I'm thinking all that work needed to load it and then handball all those boxes off into the warehouse. No pallets and forklift trucks back then.

Horse Transport

We're back here in 1929 when the Hardy Lane store opened. There was a small stable block at the back of the shop completed over 18 months the shop opened. It's a familiar story of having to get the builder back to complete the job after promising to finish the construction. It was still standing until the recent re-modelling of the premises though the couple of horses that would have stabled had been long been put out to pasture.

There are those who are still with us who can still remember horse drawn transport of food, fuel and sundries. Not just home deliveries of bread, coal and milk but the transportation of supplies from depots to the shops.


In these photographs the M&SE Co-op are shewing off just a few of their working horses, and they had over seventy, for a May Day parade. There was a large procession under grey skies and the threat of rain. It assembled at Ardwick Green and went to Belle Vue to hear the speeches.

Wish I knew more about horses, you know breeds, hands height, and all that harness work. However you can still appreciate that attraction of looking at and being near horses. They add to any parade.

The M&SE founded in 1859 adopted home deliveries within their first year of existence. It was free of charge which has never been the norm in grocery retail. At first it was just a handvan, but several months later this was supplemented with a horse and cart.

"It was soon seen that if the business was to be substantially expanded then some means must be found to save members the inconvenience of carrying their purchasing any distance, and when this was obviated by buying a horse and van the further need arose of establishing branches nearer to cater for members as near to their homes as possible."

Home delivery wasn't a luxury for the carriage trade and the well healed middle classes it was used by working class customers. The first M&SE Co-op was in the densely populated area of terraced houses, mills and foundries of Ancoats.

When this co-op society expanded onto the new housing estates the delivery service came too. Also another branch at the south of the estate, on Merseybank Avenue was established. Same as back in 1859-60.

References : Manchester & Salford Herald 1909 page 150. The Manchester Guardian January 8th 1909. These are articles at the time the Society's Golden Jubilee.

Trip to the Co-op Archives

Photograph is of what I believe is the first edition of the Manchester & Salford Co-operative Monthly Herald. This was the longest running of all members monthly magazines by any co-operative society. It was given free to customers. I understand it ceased around 1960. It is the source of much research, and fortunately a whole year's worth were bound into volumes which makes trawling for information easier.

Had a trip into town, and booked a slot to visit the Co-operative archives. Oh I miss the old days of when you could just wander around a basement of old co-operative material, make a few photocopies and go home. Now you have request material in advance. That's the way archives have gone. No more stumbling over some publication that takes your eye.

As you can see the front page is a little torn and held together with yellowing sellotape. The other copies for that year have had the pictures cut out. But you get to touch history and not a facsimile. That ephemera has survived is chance. Meanwhile outside the new Co-operative HQ is being built over the way. Took some photographs. It is going to be impressive building.

Related link : Co-operative Archives

Politics and Publicity

I've done two previous posts on the Co-operative Rose Queen and the magnificent landau, now I've found another. It is from 1936, and yet another Chorlton girl Hilda Omerod is the "Queen".

"Politics and publicity were oddly mixed in the mile-long procession of decorated cars and gaily dressed children which wound its way from Ardwick Green to Platt Fields in a mass demonstration for Co-operators' Day on Saturday."

The event was organised jointly by the M&S Co-op Society's Co-operative Party and the Manchester and District Co-operative Party. It took place on the first Saturday of July which is International Co-operative Day. It still is, the first one was in 1923.

The two-horse landau gets a mention...."once the carriage of the Lord Mayors of Manchester. The horses still wore the city arms in their harness, and 'they do enjoy following a good band,' said J. Railton, their coachman...

Besides the floats and the bands there were some political speeches, and two resolutions passed by the crowds listening. Once of them condemned the National Government for abandoning sanctions against Italy. These had been announced during the Second Italo-Abyssian War. That's one Mussolini had won in May, and Emperor Haile Selassie went into exile in Britain with the gold reserves. The National Government had a policy of appeasement of fascist dictators Mussolini, Hitler and later Franco.

Source : Manchester Guardian Monday July 6th 1936.
Picture : Eccles Co-operative Record August 1935 page 183. A horse drawn float from a previous International Co-operative Day pageant.

Related Posts :
Queen For The Season
Longford Park