Tea Trolley rolls in

On recent visit to a meeting at the Hardy Lane Co-op Rooms managed to photograph the old tea trolley. It is one of the relics that has survived all the refurbishments of the premises over the years. Can't put a date on it but don't expect it to fetch much money in an antique auction. Some things survive and this has probably because it is not a fixture or fitting. Next time I'll inspect the underside for clues about its manufacture.

Actually seen it many times but paid it no heed until someone regaled a story of how it would be wheeled into the main room bearing a big tea pot and white cups and thus uplifting a dull and ponderous meeting. A nice refreshing brew and a break. That trolley has a history.

Fortunately the meeting this time wasn't dull. It was a history presentation by local historian Andrew Simpson. It was under the auspices of Withington Co-Operative Party and so had a local political theme. Going back to the 1832 General Election and forward to the contemporary political landscape with a nod to Chartism, Clarion, Peterloo and the Moss Side bye election of 1973.

As a nice touch one lucky person in the room won a copy of "The Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy" written by the speaker. It has recently been published by The History Press. The rest of us had the opportunity to buy one and insist on a signed copy.

The tea trolley was rolled back into the kitchen, the post meeting social chatter followed and eventually everyone went home or to the pub.

Wartime bomb maps

The local Tv news recently reported that the maps of where the bombs fell on Manchester during WWII are now available online. There is hardly a day when there isn't a story about the war and those who lived through it, and never a day when some Tv channel isn't showing a drama or documentary about that conflict. However this was now new information readily accessible for everyone. It was a revelation especially when you discover a fire bomb fell in front of your own house, or a high explosive bomb landed on the next plot on the  allotments up the road. It accounts for why we have hideous cheap post-war buildings in streets of fine old properties. For example Chorlton Post Office a construction of no merit that replaced a Victorian building that was destroyed by enemy action.

The whole of the city is divided up into various pages, and an hour has gone by before you realise you've just been staring at red (incendiary bombs) and blue (high explosives) markings on 80 year old Ordnance Survey maps. The maps also reveal how much of Chorlton was still fields and how many allotment gardens and tennis courts there were.

To keep it relevant to the weblog the picture is of the corner of Hardy Lane, Mauldeth Road West and Barlow Moor Road had shews where an explosive device fell on the 12th March 1940 and exactly a year later several more nearby. Both dates outside the heavy blitz on Manchester 22nd and 23rd December 1940.

Links:
Wartime Bomb Maps of Manchester.
Further stories of wartime bomb damage at Chorlton History......

Tahini & falafel at the Co-op

Who would have thought that tahini, falafel mix, and harissa would appear on the shelves of the local Co-Op store? Well surprised! If you talk about these foods you usually have to explain what you mean to the majority with a limited palette.

Like the way the hot chilli harissa from north Africa is with items originating from a vast area called the Middle East. It's not the geography it's the ethnicity that comes to mainstream British shopping.

Tahini for me is one of the most versatile and healthy foods ever. You can make a sauce, you can add sugar or better still date syrup to make a dessert. For a local variation add yeast extract like Marmite or even miso to create a savoury cheese like topping.

When the za'atar and sumac spices appear I'll know there is a culinary revolution taking place at home. From the photo below you can see it's a regular on my table. Who needs the sunshine to go with a mezze of delights.

Link : www.alfez.com

Nearly A Century and a Half

2013 marks the 150th Anniversary of the CWS (now known as The Co-Operative Group). No doubt there will be some sort of event or at least a booklet to mark the occasion.

The picture shewn is from the centenary year of 1963 and depicts a gentle world of shopping. The lady is nicely dressed to collect a few groceries in her wicker gondola basket and the door is held open by possibly the manager of the shop attired in his white coat.

For the year the CWS adopted the word "Centurywise" and produced posters and badges announcing such. They also produced a film which was exhibited by the numerous retail societies. Obtaining a copy in a modern digital format might prove difficult.

Also celebrating 150 years is the Football Association and they have already announced their dinners and friendly international matches with Brazil, Scotland and Ireland to mark the year. But considering it is the national game you won't find an events in your town as they don't like to leave London.

The successors of the CWS may take a more countrywide view.

Previous related posts
Under A Railway Arch
150 Years in 2013

99 Tea Retro Offer

The "99 Tea" is one of the remaining own Co-Op brands when once there were once dozens. Personally I usually go for the other remaining blend called "Indian Prince".

But currently in the stores the "99" is on special offer and in what could be called an imaginary retro style package. I say imaginary because the past wasn't like this. A very early "99" is shewn below. Loose tea and with its original name of Prescription Tea No.99.

Original cost in the 1920's was 10 old pence for 4oz net weight, which in modern terms is about 4p for 11gms, and allowing for inflation is around 90p in today's values.

Whether they taste the same is probably something we'll never know unless an old packet is found in an hermetically sealed capsule somewhere. The modern tea is now Fairtrade, something that didn't exist in the age of Empire. Also it was from the Joint CWS & SCWS estates in India and Ceylon and didn't have the stronger East African teas in the mix.

I made an earlier post "Time For Tea" about "99 Tea" about the health connection..... "doctors in assessing vocal fremitus asked the patient to repeat the phrase 'ninety-nine' whilst placing the palm of the hand on the patient's chest. They probably still do."

Lots of foods and drinks claimed how easy it was to digest their wonderful product. Digestive problems, real or imaginary appear to have troubled the country from the days of first patent branded foods up until the 1940's. I'll be making a post on digestive biscuits soon to illustrate this point.

Owen, the North, the flame

Excellent post this week on The Northener Blog at The Guardian. It is entitled "When Manchester & Salford Lit The Co-op Flame".

"10,000 people gather in Manchester next week for Co-operatives United, the conference of the International Co-operative Alliance which is celebrating the UN International Year of the Co-operative. Michael Herbert looks back to the radical days of the movement in the city and neighbouring Salford."

Here is a fact from the post - the first Co-operative Congress was held in the Spread Eagle public houe on Chapel Street, Salford.

Link.

Relics from the 1970's

 Back to the 1970's. It's over 40 years ago, but sometimes when you listen to the radio it is like it never went away.

That old 45 rpm might have been digitized to mp3 so living on but other items from that era are now relics in cupboards.

The trading stamps in place of the dividend. If you asking are they worth anything? Only if someone wants to buy them, and in short no.

The little badges, about 3 cm in diameter were readily available for all sorts of advertising, propaganda and political campaigns from the 1960's onwards.

Not sure how many would have worn this old co-op badge. The cloverleaf design dates from 1968. The colour scheme doesn't make it the most attractive. It was probably given away free and some body's smart idea of low cost marketing. Again you may ask is it worth anything. Only if someone wants to buy them, and in short no.

Compare it to the iconic CND symbol available at the same time in badge form. One of the best known symbols and a design classic dating from 1958 by Gerald Holtom. It is still available to purchase.

If you have any of this ephemera don't throw it out. Fashions change, they don't make it anymore and values can go up.

Related post : Own Brand 1970's.

Pic-Nic 1934

There is something charming about the picnic. Been checking out what you would have had back in the 1920's and 1930's. The CWS advert here dates from 1934 and reads like a typical salad dinner you would eat in the summer months.

Not quite the Enid Blyton "Famous Five" (written between 1942 - 1962) who would have had lashings of hard boiled eggs, tomato sandwiches, lemonade, tinned sardines, melt-in-the-mouth shortbread, radishes, Nestlé milk, ginger beer, tins of pineapple chunks, squares of chocolate....

Modern times it could be olives, hummus, fresh peaches and chilled Prosecco from a cooler box. Your mileage may differ. Tupperware boxes of salad or those triangle sandwich packs sold at petrol stations. Maybe the invented traditional of the Ploughman's Lunch.

The advert has a quaint age of innocence. It is old style ready to eat food. If you wished to recreate a 1930's picnic using some of these products then it possible to find current brand equivalents. The fruit squash drink are not yet extinct. Spotted some of those meat paste items at the local co-op. Not a prominent item but still on the shelves. Tinned fruit is a relic when fresh strawberries, albeit not very tasty strawberries, are sold in January.

But the illustration makes it all look spiffing good fun. No wet grass then. Hey, ho we'll all off to scoff  'en plein air', and play some ball games or frisbie afterwards. That's the bit when people think it is pretty smart to do throw and catch.

But the romance of the picnic is still with us, even though the weather hasn't been clement this summer.

The photograph is a colour photograph of a picnic on Stanmore Common in London, taken by R E Owen, 20 May 1929. It's from the National Media Museum which is in Bradford...it looks just how a picnic should with the wicker basket, rugs on the ground and possibly proper glassware...

Further reading : A brief history of the picnic.