Local Members Meeting

Just to prove there were Members Meetings at Hardy Lane I found a notice in a Norwest Co-Op magazine from 1987. I might even been to it. We used to drift along to take a seat. Immediately the big concern was would the meeting be quorate. Can't remember what the quorum was but it might have been twenty members. Failure to obtain a quorum could result in the hall upstairs being removed from the schedule next time around.

At the top table would be the men and women from the various committees. You'd get a finance report which could either be brief and informative, or tedious references for you to look at the figures on page 23, page 29, page 36 & etc.

Then came the voting by either a show of a card, or a secret ballot into a sealed black box. All above board democratic stuff. Even at the time they were not very memorable but there used to be a sprinkling of older members who no doubt had been trooping down here for thirty odd years. Most of the others were involved with Woodcraft Folk who wanted repairs or a new coat of paint for the Hardy Lane Co-Operative Hall. I think there was a free raffle, and it was a prize of groceries or a voucher which made it a good evening when you won.

Socialism & Co-Operation

Are yes the bloated, fat cat capitalist. Substitute the frock coat, spats and top hat for the pin stripe suit and it could be 2012 not recession in the 1930's.

This was an Independent Labour Party pamphlet and they produced many of them. There was one about Socialism and the Co-Operative Movement but it doesn't have an interesting cover - just a plain title.

So what did they have to say...
"Collective ownership, democratic control, the abolition of profit, production for use - these are the fundamental principles of Socialism as well as Co-Operation. Both Movements look to their universal application as the necessary foundation for the social system they desire. While Socialism is not yet a reality, the Co-Operative Movement already has done much to translate Socialist principles into practise, and where gaps exist between Socialist theory and Co-Operative practise their causes must be looked for, not in difference of principle, but in the circumstances which inevitably surround ant practical living experiment in the making of a new world."

Well it is still capitalist economics, there are still co-operatives, and then there is still the ILP publications. Discuss?

Lump Salt

Old style provisions I find a fascinating field of discovery. When soap literally came in long bars and the shop keeper cut off a slice for the customer, and sugar came in a big cone. Those two ways of selling still exist. The soap store chain called Lush sells cut and weighed soap. The loaf sugar I've not seen in the UK but is still available in Germany. Cut cheese at the deli counter is one of the last items that is still sold to a customer from a larger block.

In the days before sliced bread there was also salt sold in lumps. We're back in the years pre-1930. You sometimes see in antique shops tiny spoons referred to as salt spoons. Not that I've ever questioned why there was ever a need for a salt spoon. Apparently it was for distribution of the broken up lump salt at the dining table.

You can see the irreversible trend since the Hardy Lane store opened in 1929. Provisions, both food and non-food, have become sliced, diced, packaged and ready for use. Who is going to crush salt and pass the spoon these days. It has actually gone beyond that. Today you see chopped vegetables in plastic on sale in the chiller cabinet, and frozen roasted potatoes and the Yorkshire puddings to go with them.

Ryvita the original

Ryvita has been on the shelves for as long as anyone can remember. It was first baked in 1927. One of those compound names taking the word rye with an etymology going back to Germanic and Nordic roots, and joining it a Latin or Italian word vita meaning life. Whilst pursueing through old British magazines of the 20th Century looking for anything but Ryvita I've noticed it is often there in print. Old co-op publications, back copies of Punch, and even early Vegetarian monthlies. That advertising budget was being spent to make it a popular brand. It is a dry, very dry but versatile cracker. Used to be promoted as an aid to slimming, at 35 calories a cracker it is true. But some of those toppings in the advert could pile on the weight.



The ingredients are good essentially just rye and water. As it has the royal appointment then the company can justify the Union Jack wrapper to gain some jubilee sales.

 

Original Silk Cut pre-WWII

Silk Cut as you will know is a best selling brand of cigarette for the last twenty or more years. A 75-25 mixture of blonde tobacco and cytrel. It was made by Gallaghers which was bought by Japan Tobacco. So was a little puzzled by this CWS display advert from the 1920's.

Oh how times have changed. The co-operatives took a temperance line over alcohol and manufactured acceptable tobacco products. But alcohol now is faced up on whole isles in the stores, the CWS tobacco factory in Manchester was converted to appartments whilst the evil tobacco is disappearing behind closed cupboard doors. Already been to a few shops like The Co-Operative in Holmfirth, and Waitrose in Cheadle were the hidden policy is in effect.

Advert is from the People's Year Book 1926 published by the CWS, Manchester.

Withington Road

It's been a long time to actually get down to Withington Road, Whalley Range, Manchester to see this revealed sign of the old Manchester & Salford Equitable Co-operative. Well yesterday I incorporated it into a trip to Alexandra Park nearby. That was to see a tree sculpture depicting Votes For Women and the WSPU. Around the corner on Deerpark Road is an apartment block called Roy Grainger Court. I'm presuming this is named after the late Roy who was active for many years in the Labour Party, West Didsbury Residents Association and a member of the Co-Operative Party. Another photo opportunity.

Back to the subject of the photo. The building dates from around 1928, and the shop has been restored and the old sign across the top revealed and protected by a transparent plastic sheet. Close up you can see the green tile work, and the black and white chess board tile flooring. The shop had an hall above being the meeting room for the Women's Guild, Co-Operative Party and other auxiliary organisations.

Hardy Lane store built a year later was to a lower budget construction. It omitted the lovely glazed green tile work, and ornate details of this solid building.

Should you wish for a closer inspection than visit this collection of eight photos on Flickr

Earlier post when the sign was revealed, it was back in 2009 - here.

Royal Biscuit Tins

Whenever you have a royal event then biscuit manufacturers get the tins painted up for the occasion. The Diamond Jubilee follows in this tradition. Advertisement (left) is from this week's glossy leaflet from The Co-operative that arrived with the free newspaper. Sure enough they were on the shelves in the shop. Bit tempted by a McVities. Oh how we like McVities. I wonder if they were made at their factory over in Levenshulme?

Wind the clock back 59 years to the Coronation and you have CWS biscuits manufactured at both their Cardiff or Crumpsall works. A collectors item and that's without you seeing the reverse side with an image of a dashing Duke of Edinburgh.

Royal biscuits date back to at least Queen Victoria with Huntley & Palmer making the Osborne in 1860 named after the big royal house on the Isle of Wight. There may have been Jubilee biscuit tins in her time.

Carr's made "Coronation Biscuits" with a vanilla flavour for Edward VII in 1902, and Huntley & Palmer produced "Royal Sovereign" filled with apricot jam for George V in 1912.

Note the decent interval of a year from the death of the last monarch to baking biscuits for the new one. When it came to Edward VIII the souvenirs for the forthcoming Coronation were in the shops in 1936. As we know it didn't take place, and George VI got the crowning in 1937, and the biscuit tins were in the stores. The CWS got the production lines rolling for commemoratives too.

There was a Silver Jubilee for George V in 1935. Those on unemployment benefit, and there would be many without a job received a little extra shilling, and 2/6d for under 14 dependents to mark the occasion. There has been no mention of a little extra for this year's event. However biscuits featured in the parties. "A gift of 30,500 caskets of biscuits has been made by Sir Alexander Grant for distribution at Jubille celebrations throughout Edinburgh" - Manchester Guardian 20th April 1935.

From the Coronation in 1953 the souvenir bandwagon has increased for each wedding, and now the third jubilee even more....

Now if heritage biscuit tins are for you then may I suggest you check out British Biscuit Tins with a searchable database and colour photographs.

The other good link is the Facebook page of the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising. It is a trove of nostalgia. They have an exhibition ‘Jubilee, Jubilee’ which runs to 31st August 2012. Should you be in Notting Hill, London I recommend a visit, you won't be disappointed seeing the cornucopia of artifacts.

Tram Bridge over the Mersey

Let's see how the new tram route to Manchester Airport is progressing. These photographs were taken on Friday 1st of June, 2012. Seen many wagons and other vehicles going down Hardy Lane to the site where the bridge over the River Mersey is going to be constructed. It's higher than I anticipated. You could easily get a small boat or yacht with a mast underneath. Not that I have ever seen any navigation this high up the river. The occasional canoe but never a sailing craft. It's going to be another four years before the whole route is completed.

The bottom picture is at the Jackson's Boat end of Hardy Lane. An elder tree is in bloom, the old bridge to the pub is on the left. It makes for a pretty country scene. You'd never guess that suburbia is on the doorstep.

So despite all the disruptions and digging up the little bit of countryside there are still tranquil places.