IN the year the United Nations has designated the International Year of Co-operatives, the history of the Manx Co-operative Society comes under the spotlight in an event at the Manx Museum in Douglas on Thursday.
Organised by The Co-operative membership in the Isle of Man, the evening – dubbed Celebrating Our Heritage – will feature a talk from historian Dr Tony Webster from Liverpool University, who will discuss the Isle of Man and the wider co-operative movement.
By way of a preview, a glance at John Belchem’s book, A New History of The Isle of Man, The Modern Period 1830-1999, reveals something of the origins of the movement in the island.
He describes the Isle of Man in the early 1920s as a place of low wages and inflating prices, bringing labour unrest as teachers, gas, harbour and highway workers each became involved in disputes.
The Workers’ Union worked to raise Manx wages, though as high food prices remained an issue 500 members met in Douglas market place in 1920, from which the Manx Co-operative Society was formed.
One of the society’s first moves was to buy the redundant bakers’ ovens from the Knockaloe internment camp, which was being dismantled at the time.
Further initiatives included the union buying farm produce direct from the farmers and selling them to customers at a low price, to undercut what they saw as profiteering on the part of shopkeepers.
The Manx Co-op is now an arm of the Manchester-based The Co-operative Group, run and owned by its six million members who have a say in how the business is operated and how its social goals are achieved. As the British Isles’s fifth biggest food retailer the group has an annual turnover of more than £13 billion.
In 2012 the United Nations has thrown its weight behind the movement, as it seeks to highlight how through co-operative values and principles, ‘enterprises can build a better world’.
Celebrating Our Heritage at the Manx Museum starts at 6.30pm, with tea and coffee served from 6pm, and wine and canapes served later.
Tickets are free, and are available by phoning 02893 357509 or emailing kim.morrow@co-operative.coop