Today we visited Rochdale and resisted the temptation to sing the Rochdale Cowboy by Mike Harding, the only song he was ever asked to sing on Top of the Pops. The main reason for the trip was to visit the Pioneer Museum which is all about the first successful Co-op organisation. During the 1830's there was a great deal of unemployment / poverty so many people could not afford food and to exacerbate the problem shopkeepers fiddled the weights and measures and sold substandard goods.

So in 1844 twenty eight Rochdale people set up a Co-operative shop to supply good quality food at a fair price. Of course the local shopkeepers and suppliers were as difficult as possible but in a surprisingly short time the business grew to become one of the largest companies in the country with over 11 million shareholders who looked forward to their "Divi" (dividend based on how much they purchased).

Previous attempts at setting up Co-ops had failed mostly because they offered credit and then had difficulty getting the money repaid, this organisation kept tight control of income and expenditure. We were very surprised to discover how much manufacturing they did. Shoes, bicycles, clothes and even radios were designed and built in Co-op factories.