Our group still continues to meet at the Into Newcastle Cafe which is not only a pleasant venue but the hot drinks and meals are very reasonably priced. Unfortunately I am a little bit behind with the blog as I can not attend the meetings at the moment due to treatment which I am having. The group still continues with discussions on local history with many projects being talked about. One of the things that we mention in the past was recording some of recollections of recent local history and I encourage you to submit your impressions and memories for all of our benefit.. To continue on our little journey here  are some impressions and memories about the Co-op.

In Wallsend Reflections by Jean and Ken Smith they describe the Wallsend Industrial Co-op as one of the towns largest businesses. Originally (1862) converted from two rooms into a shop in Carville Road.  It had a large window and a door big enough to allow a cask of sugar to be rolled in. It continued to expand both sides of Carville road until it met Frank Street and Warwick Street. On Warwick street there was an arch that led to the stables; remembered by Joan Smart who recalls seeing horse and carts going in and out. She also remembers that you could buy almost anything there, it had quite a few departments, hardware, confectionery, a fruit shop, a dairy, a Taylor, dressmaking, millinery and a cobblers. On the rear end of Warwick Street it had its own slaughterhouse. Marion Coulson remembers after the second world war a furniture and Jewellers was added. She also recalls  her mother saying 'Don't forget to bring my cheque back' , meaning the dividend record which took in  account of your purchases and could be used to redeem a quarterly share of the Society's profits.

 An interesting article on English co-operative society movement to improve education can be found here

Wallsend's Co-operative School

Event date(s)

1 November 1871 to 6 August 1875

From <http://radicaltyneside.org/events/wallsends-co-operative-school>

I remember the Co-op at the Stamfordham road junction  with Springfield road and Silver Lonnen. The building which is still there was an odd shaped octagonal  like structure of two floors. The ground floor  reflected the octagonal structure by enabling all of the various vendors, Butchers, bakers, grocers, fish mongers etc to be in presented in a semicircle fashion. I seem to remember sawdust being on the floor. Everyone had their own unique dividend number and book. Many people now can even remember their number.

Ian remembers the Co-op:

From a personal view, I remember that as a youngster we used to buy stuff from the Co-op. As a result, I have a memory of our Co-op divi number being 247777 which was the number you quoted whenever you bought things from the Co-op.  I also remember going upstairs in  the Co-op in Newgate Street, to have your Divi book updated. Because we had our milk delivered by the Co-op dairies you used to buy plastic milk tokens from the coop that you placed in a metal container

that was then attached to your empty milk bottles.

Another piece of social history that you do not see nowadays, is the use of shop produced currency.

Specifically, I can remember that there was a chain of shops in the North East that included such shops as Parrish's in Byker, Joplings of Sunderland and Shepherds of Gateshead. They produced their own currency that you could use in their stores.

I suspect it was an early implementation of Hire Purchase as you could get cheques and coins from the store and I was aware that some people would sell them at discounted prices to convert them back into cash.

Iris also remembers her local Co-op:

Haven’t many memories of it other than it being perhaps a bit bigger than ordinary shops a precursor to supermarkets perhaps. Ours was in Sandyford and died a bit when the Hadrian came to Sandyford. Now there’s an old shop name eh?

Mam didn’t send me messages because even before the brain damage my memory was  crossed with a colander anyway.  She’d send me up the very steep hill from Jesmond Vale, down by the Blue Bell (not so steep in a car, but try walking it) to buy sugar and I’d come back with lucknow sauce, or a loaf of bread freshly baked and with corner crusts nibbled off before I got home. (another clip along the ear).

She sent me more after she forgot my baby brother and left him in the spuds.  Remember when they were in a wooden sloped container, or at least the sides were cut that way and heaped with veg. The spuds in this case and my 0bviously tired mam had laid my very small baby brother in amongst them to pay for her groceries and pack her bag which of course, we all had to queue for and then gone home leaving by very tiny baby in the spuds. When she realised a good few minutes after getting home and dashed back up the very steep bank (particularly when you had a bad hip as mam had and walked with a limp) she was greeted by very straight faced, baby consoling assistant who obviously didn’t know the depth of exhaustion broken nights can bring. She claimed her son and red faced returned home. Too mortified to go there much any more.

You used to buy the sugar in blue bags didn’t you? And the butter in big chopped off bits from a barrel which left the butter in a barrel shape.  We all knew the divi number. My mams being 26868 Bob knew half a dozen old byker grannies divi numbers due to going messages. Probably in the hopes of a 2p tip. Lol. He always was a good shopper.   I remember mam used to go yearly to join an enormous crush at the Co-op building next to St Andrews church, to get her divi? It was a way of saving up really and women seemed to get much more than the pittance Morrisons and these likes give you nowadays.

All I will say is the staff were friendly and attentive unlike today’s where they finish their chat about the night out with their fellow assistants, no matter how long the queue waiting to be served and there appears to be a really poor set up in my local Co-op, so bad that I never go there.

My mam was a hard woman but she never made me do shopping other than out of necessity nor chores around the home, saying she was used as a slave and wouldn’t make me be one, though mind, I had to do my own washing by the time I was 14.   Mam couldn’t cook so I don’t think she was used as a slave that much. Dad who was loyal to a fault would only  raise an eyebrow my way when she did the “poor me” thing.

She was the last of 11 children and always said “I wasn’t wanted”… well Aye! Not a lot of folk are thrilled with child no.11 I imagine. Perhaps she was requested to help her mum out a bit.

I wish I could think of something re Co-op, sadly, nothing.  I think mam only went if stuck for food, considering the local greengrocers cheaper and better.  No unnecessary plastic wrapping though, everything loose into your net bag which stretched to hold everything.  I often wonder why they have not come back into fashion because they were light and held a copious amount. I mean it could be work for foreign nations making net bags couldn’t it and they can be scrunched into your pocket and take less room that the hession affairs we now use or the nylon ones. The nylon ones fold small but don’t stretch to hold anything like the net bags.   I remember you got a little bus ticket affair divi ticket. No idea whether these were to be saved to prove your dividend, have you? Can you remember YOUR mams divi no?

 Our Next Meeting will be on May 8 At the Into Newcastle Cafe at 10:30