Co-operative Society   

Toad Lane, Rochdale is widely regarded as the home of the worldwide co-operative movement. The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society was not the first co-operative society, but the Pioneers put together the ideas and practices that led to the Co-operative Principles. These were adopted by people forming co-operative societies throughout Britain and abroad, setting the pattern for successful consumer co-operatives.

In 1863 - twenty years after the founding of the first successful retail co-operative in Rochdale. A group of retail societies  registered the North of England co-operative Society with the aim of supporting the growing retail consumer co-operative movement. The 300 co-ops that make up the society traded predominantly in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

In 1872 - the group became the Co-operative Wholesale Society and served its member societies by purchasing goods in bulk, enabling the hundreds of co-operatives across the country to take advantage of their collective strength. It opened factories to provide the co-ops with goods and developed services like banking and insurance to support their operations. Co-operation flourished. C.W.S. entered more and more sectors of the economy; never losing sight of the fact it existed to serve the needs of its ordinary members.

.. Our local Pontnewydd Branch Co-op store (now closed) ..

... dated circa 1930`s ..

The Cwmbran and Pontnewydd Working Men's Co-operative Industrial Society Ltd. was registered in the 1890. In  the early editions of the Co-operative Directory which was published every few years the address is given  as Commercial Street, Pontnewydd. This address appears in the 1910 Directory but the 1916 Directory gives the Head Office address as Chapel Street, Pontnewydd.

The Cwmbran & Pontnewydd Society in 1929 became part of the Abersychan & Talywain Society, in 1936 this became the Abersychan and Pontypool Co-operative Society, in 1965 this Society in turn became part of Co-operative Retail Services.

The store in Chapel Street, Pontnewydd still appears in the 1979 Co-operative Directory as a branch of the South Wales Region of Co-operative Retail Services.

Bread and Milk tokens were used extensively in co-operative  societies for milk and bread deliveries. Members bought the tokens in the stores, then exchanged them with the delivery men, rather than using money.

This system made it easier for the Society to calculate the dividend for members and simplified transactions at the doorstep.

... An example of how the interior of the shop, may have looked ...

Colin Bowen (formerly of Chapel Street - Pontnewydd) recalls :-

In the 1940`s, dances were held in the hall above the Co-Op, my mother used to cut sandwiches for the dance. We also held the Chapel Street Christmas parties in the hall; and I recall at one time they had an evangelist come to the Co-Op hall, I did not know  what one was, so I went to have a look; I do recall their was loads of food there.

The manager of the Co-Op, was Mr. Thomas, a few others on the staff I recall were; Syd Hobbs and Lyn Carr; Miss Jones worked on the  cash desk and there was a Mr. Mason who used to drive the bread van for the Co-Op.

In the field behind the Co-Op, before the houses were built, there were some air raid shelters up near the canal.

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