Twin tubs carry on

I'll draw your attention to a famous brand of washing powder and the words printed on the packet. The reference is to "twin tubs". Had I stepped into the past and not another shopping trip to the local Co-Op. Well apparently twin tub washing machines are still manufactured and presumably someone is buying them and Proctor & Gamble are marketing a washing powder to cater for that market. It is not widely promoted in the Daz range, it hardly gets a mention. What's the difference? This soap powder will make more suds so is unsuitable for an automatic washing machine.

Washing clothes that weekly chore that requires lots of hot water isn't the full drudge day of years ago. Well not when you have an automatic washing machine. So there must be some reasons why people still favour the machine of choice from the 1960's. Maybe it does a cleaner wash, or is eco-friendly besides being a cheaper capital purchase. The powder is also for handwash (not hand wash) and you can't go further back in history than laundry by hands.

Gramophone Music

The history of recorded music is how it has progressively become cheaper and more convenient. You  don't even have to possess the physical object that holds the sound just some electronic device that can play it.  Literally bushels of songs at the fingertip. The advert is from the 1930's and the M&SE are stocking the new Barrynola gramophone. Note it is being demonstrated at a concert in one of the more salubrious suburbs of Manchester. A night out listening to records - no mention if dancing was allowed.

Interesting class dimension in that the Co-Op was appealing to not just the weekly struggle working class customer but to customers who had regular income with savings.

They were an expensive purchase not one for a struggling working family. A small portable would cost just under £3 (3 GBP), a cabinet model from £7 to £10. Then there were the new electric models using mains electricity. The new radiograms were also coming on the market, a status piece of furniture that would be desired for living rooms for the next twenty years. This was an age of developments in reproducing sound. Just as today there is that newer and better model available after you've paid your hard earned cash and taken delivery. Last year I purchased an iPod Nano that also doubles as a wrist watch. That model has been superseded, and my Zen MP3 player is ancient. We've not even gone into the junk room to find museum pieces like the Walkman.

The co-op society did hire gramophones and the Womens' and Mixed Guilds made use of such facilities to have a meeting based around listening to recorded music. I had an earlier post, it was back in 2009, about 78 rpm records that were played at Hardy Lane. It is here.

So there you have it. I'm sat on the tram listening to my own personal playlist on little ear speakers and all those years ago it was a treat of an evening in a hall hearing gramophone records.

Defiant Radio Story #1

The Rochdale Pioneers Museum is having a 'Defiant Radios Fun Day'. That's Wednesday April 10th 2013 from 1100 - 1600h. A heady cocktail of vintage radio and co-operative history. Steady.

The Defiant radio story is one of co-operatives set against price fixing by a cartel of electrical manufacturers. At the time the Co-op wanted to sell radio sets but they could not "discount" and the "divi" was a form of discount. So the solution was to find a subcontractor to make their own brand. Eventually a deal was struck with Plessey to make the radios, with Mazda valves the brand name of BTH (British Thompson-Houston, I think it was a subsidiary of AEI then) and the wooden cases to enclose the receiver were supplied  by the CWS cabinet works. It's appropriate that they called their own brand of radio "Defiant".

The Resale Prices Act abolished price fixing in 1964. After that the retailer or chain store could decide their own price for goods . Ironically the end of retail price maintenance in Britain had a devastating affect on co-operative society sales especially food, and helped the rise of the multiples  .

The Defiant wireless sets were on sale from 1933 with the MSH 901 manufactured by GEC but they joined the Radio Manufacturers Association embargo of dealing with the CWS hence a 1934 deal with Plessey. Later radiograms, gramophones, record players, transistor radios and a television in the 1950's were available. At least 85 different models were put on sale until 1967. All now collectors'  items but affordable that is if you can obtain a working model. Why haven't I bought one?

Back in the 1930's a wireless would set you back two weeks average wages of work, there weren't many radio stations to tune into and you had to pay the annual licence fee of ten shillings (50p). But still a must have big ticket item of its day bringing music and talk into your home that we take for granted.

Pictures : Dial of the Defiant MSH902 from 1934; Defiant MSH914 from 1935-1938,

Link :Rochdale Pioneers Museum Defiant Radio Day
Links for more

Co-Op Fashion

Was very taken with this old advert for the latest spring fashions for 1939. Surprisingly it is in colour rather than the black & white line drawings I've usually discovered. It deserves a reprise.

So what does the advertisement say. It speaks aspirational, you could be in a P.G.Wodehouse novel with your pipe, matching handkerchief in the top pocket and a modern camera. Personally I wouldn't be my choice of a check jacket going with baggy stripped trousers. I'm no fashion expert but that looks like a windowpane check which you don't see much of these days clashing with a chalk stripe trousers.  The lady looks jolly sporty as well. Stood next to the daffodils for the spring connection in a dashing hat and a lovely coat again in a check. It has an interesting four button arrangement.

No doubt if you could afford a new spring outfit you'd have looked pretty spiffy in this. There is a whole area to explore in suits, class and downright snobbery but I will leave that to others.

So did people go down to the shops or the local co-op store in outfits like this? Err..maybe or maybe not? It's just that photographs from this period of people going about their everyday chores look pretty dreary.

However the photo on the left is historian and curator Lucy Worsley dressed up like 1934. If you've seen any of her BBC Tv programmes you'll know she likes getting into character by wearing outfits relating to the age she's presenting. So there is possibly one from the 1930's coming on schedule as this was published this month.

Recommended viewing and better check Lucy Worsley on the web. Enjoyable history not just entertainment but you get facts even a jaded viewer will find riveting.

The next picture is a section of a poster from around 1935 by F.C. Harrison (that's Frederick Clifford, painter and illustrator 1901 - 1984).

He worked freelance, and this is one for the Empire Marketing Board currently on display at Manchester Art Gallery. The lady has bought a pineapple which was a luxury. So back from the shops on a winter's day dressed in a very long scarf, large possibly fleece lined gloves, and the snug hat. Not very colour co-ordinated but maybe that's the illustrator trying to attract our attention.

Further reading : Empire Marketing Board posters on Flickr thanks to Manchester City Galleries.

Co-Op Check Tin

So you stumble over some item for sale, puzzled by the object and curiosity wants answers. Said item is a co-operative check tin possibly from the 1920's. It's not made by a co-operative but is made for co-operative shoppers to keep little slips of paper safe. On paying for their purchases customers were given a small paper receipt with the amount spent and their membership number.

I suppose some would keep these safe and calculate if their dividend on purchases had been tallied correctly. I suspect not many could be that bothered and accepted the dividend listed by the co-op head office.

Nostalgic history forums always quote people who can still remember their divi number of the family. It was ingrained into memory at an early age, for ever, and is recited for life.

Metal boxes were given away to promote a company's products. Who doesn't like a bright useful tin to keep safe items and make homes tidy. This one came compliments of Hargreaves Brothers & Co. and maybe dates from the 1920's. It's four sides announced that you must remember to buy the following :- Linoleo Floor Polish, Gipsy Black Lead, Ocean Blue in squares & Bags, and Glosso Metal Polish. An age of coal powered grime and relentless cleaning. Note those brand names they end in the letter "O". As in Brasso, Silvo, Zeppo and so on.

Hargreaves Brothers and Co started as makers of black lead and metal polish in Gipsyville which is in Hull way back in 1868. When this tin was issued the company may have been taken over by Reckitts & Son in 1922. An even older Hull company, founded in 1840 that also made starch and cleaning products.

Whether any of these products were sold alongside the CWS own brand, can't say. You get the impression from co-op histories that only CWS goods were sold but that wasn't the case. Leading brands and own brands did stack side by side in the stores. It's that co-operative magazines and advertising promoted CWS products. Very likely Glosso was available at your local co-op.

Co-Op Matchbox Labels

A whole series of pictures of matchbox labels was recently uploaded to Flickr by coophistorian as a contribution to Co-Ops Fortnight 2012.

They are a history of an everyday that barely exists in 2012. People don't need matches like they used to, and cheap disposable lighters came along for those who do need a flame.

In the recent past nearly everyone would have needed matches. Not just cigarette smokers, and pipe smokers needed more of them, but to start coal burning fires and ignite gas rings on the stove top. Plus you could do lots of puzzles and tedious party tricks with them.

Hence the marketing opportunity, and they didn't use terms like that, to advertise to your customers. Most of the matchboxes are for the CWS and the matches British Made. But there is a selection from long gone famous Co-Op Societies - e.g. Barnsley British, Brighton, Yorkshire, even Normid. Often these were made in Belgium. Products promoted include Federation Flour, Lutona Cocoa, Prescription Tea (forerunner of 99 tea) and some I'd never heard of like Purple Seal Margarine, Golden Ball Marmalade and Laundene that whisks the dirt away.

So the next time I went into the Co-Op shop I added a box to my purchases. Not that I needed any. But just to see what was was still available.  Price 18p for over 40 brown tipped safety matches in the traditional cardboard box. Made in EU by the Swedish Match Company (they merged with Bryant & May way back in 1926) to form the world's biggest match company. You get a nice illustration of the Ark though matches would have been hard to strike in the deluge. Bit disappointed they didn't say Co-Op.


Matchbox labels from coophistorian on Flickr as a Slideshow, or as a Set (there are some pictures of co-op stores that have snuck in).
Related earlier post Co-Op Matches

Refreshing Soap

A continuation of cleaning with something from the personal hygiene archive. The line drawing is from 1930 and features some young chap getting his hands clean at the sink. It reminds me of the illustrations for Just William, a series of children's stories by Richmal Crompton which started in 1922. They get a revival for Tv, radio & etc every few years.
In the 21st Century soap is sold on its soft fragrances. Jasmine, rosemary, geranium and primrose. In an earlier age there was a market for almost medicinal, disinfectant soaps. The carbolic, which was made with the particular pungent phenol C₆H₅OH.
A scent for ever associated with schools, hospitals and other institutions up until the 1970's. Then there was the legendary Wright's Coal Tar Soap (from 1860 onwards), and if that didn't get you clean then nothing would. Don't forget the Lifeboy soap (Lever Brothers 1895) that claimed it would remove any traces of body odour. Apart from the later the others are hard to find these days. Not the products to find in a shop that sells all manner of gentle, kind to your skin, soaps.

Pictures of the Carbolic Soap: left, one spotted in Gallery Oldham the other day. A museum exhibit of how we used to bathe. Right side is from Cooperative Stores on Flickr, your daily fix of co-operative pictures both past and present. Related Post : Soap Bar

Paddy Soap Powder

Sometime ago I made a posting about Spel Washing Powder. I was taken aback how many views it has received. There you go publishing a detailed piece of research about some historical footnote, nobody is interested. But a pack shot of a long gone washing powder gets the hits.

Spotted this old packet in a glass case in Gallery Oldham. It is not often I venture to an old mill town. But there is a new direct tram route and there was an exhibition of Liam Spencer paintings. Combine it into an adventure on light rails. It rained all day.

Paddy washing powder I don't know much about. It was around in the 1930's and definitely into the 1960's. Made in Irlam and other CWS soap works, and sold in your local co-op store.

There was also a bar of carbolic soap and some dolly blue which you added to your wash for whiter whites in a small cabinet by the stairs on the first floor. Funny what gets curated and displayed and what doesn't.

Previous : Spel Washes Everything.

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.

New Deansgate House Co-Operative Emporium

A little diversion into the centre of Manchester. Prompted by a question posed underneath a photograph I uploaded to Flickr. Where was Deansgate House? So a little story about New Deansgate House, a co-operative venture about few buildings north of the famous Kendal Milne building. It was at 84 Deansgate, Manchester.

The building is still there, and it's an architectural gem if you haven't set your head against the modernist style.

Though Manchester was the headquarters of the co-operative movement it never had a department store in the city centre. In 1945 six local co-operative societies and the wholesale society formed the Co-Operative Emporium Limited. Beswick, Blackley, Failsworth, Manchester & Salford, Pendleton, and Prestwich joined with the CWS. The following year the CWS acquired the Deansgate Arcade. One of the those fine Victorian versions of shopping under one roof with small upmarket shops fronting a passageway that ran from Deansgate to Parsonage Gardens. There are some fine examples in Leeds.

But it wasn't until 1955 that last tenants left and the old building was demolished for a bright vision of the future.The architect was George S. Hay of the CWS. He later went to design with Gordon Tait the prestigious CIS Tower & New Century House on Miller Street opened in 1962.


Essentially New Century House is a steel frame constructed by Edward Wood & Co at the Ocean Ironworks in Trafford Park and lots of glass was put around it. This was new for Manchester. The cost is reported as £500,000. It opened on the first day of spring, that'll be Saturday 21st March 1958 by  Leonard Cooke the chairman of Co-Operative Emporium Ltd.

A whole five floors, no food department, but furnishings, fashion, gramophone records, and a cafteria. The Co-Op Bank then a small banking operation of the CWS with no branches opened its first mini bank here on Monday 20th October 1969. An early example of in-store franchise.

But the venture was not a massive success that the co-operative hoped and planned for. Whatever the reasons for its slow decline - wrong stock, unfashionable image or prices - I will have to investigate.

There is a lot to discover and the Co-operative Emporium Limited archives are kept at the Greater Manchester Records Office. The company ceased and was de-listed as an IPS in July 1973. At least we still have the building which is a miracle for a city that is always being re-built.

Saturated Fats

This looks like an unhealthy set of rendered and processed fats from a 1930 advertisement. The food your ancestors lived on and purchased weekly at your local co-operative store. All unfashionable these days. However the problem of obesity was not an issue. Now you can quote official figures of one third of the population being seriously overweight....and rising.

The Irlam factory was demolished long ago. It also made soaps because both cooking fats and soap share the same ingredients - fat. Palm oil which was brought up the Manchester Ship Canal to the works or tallow from animal carcass.

Little Shop Memories

Takes you back fifty years

Re-creating the past isn't just about authentification, if it is in the recent past it's about jogging people's memories. So by chance spotted this story from the Ilford Recorder when I was looking for information on Spel washing powder. Oh, the things you do on Thursday afternoon when you should be doing something more tedious.

Spel Washes Everything

Spel was a detergent powder that was sold in Co-operative stores across the UK in the 1950's & 1960's. Essentially the C.W.S. own brand but instead of calling the product after the name of the factory - Pelaw Shoe Polish, Crumpsall Cream Crackers, Luton Cocoa they chose a snappier name. In fact just like the other short names as used by the big players Proctor and Gamble or Unilver. Such classics as Daz, Omo, Surf, Tide, Persil. Up until the 1950's soap and soap flakes had been the product of choice to wash and clean though detergents had been around for a long time - Oxydol 1914, and Persil 1907 a name derived from two of its original ingredients, perborate and silicate.

The artwork for the advert is a take on a popular televison series from the USA called Bewitched that was made from 1964 thru 1972, the early seasons were in black and white. It starred Elizabeth Montgomery who played a character with magical powers just by wiggling her nose. The magic was always played for laughs. There was no dark menacing stuff in these programs.

So you could now magic that dirt away with this wonderful product, that is you could clean with very little effort. Click the picture to get a bigger view and discover some other CWS adverts from this era.

Links : Bewitched at IMDB

Co-Op Matches

That e-Bay always has interesting things for sale. How about these old match boxes, current bid over 11 GBP. These look like south of England matches, the box from Enfield Highway Co-op may the give away. In the north we've always preferred red top strike anywhere matches over the dark blue safety match. But they no longer manufacture matches in Britain. The factory in Bow, London where the famous match girls strike took place in 1888 has been converted to apartments.