Of badges, other blogs and Co-op history

I am always drawn to that alternative history which is about telling the story of the past from the bottom up.

It was not very much the way history was taught or written about before the 1950s.  It draws on those everyday objects that professional historians would not have given any time to.

Of these one of my favourite sources is the old fashioned campaign badge.  Somewhere up stairs one of my lads has one for Obama during the last Presidential campaign and from time to time some of mine from the middle decades of the last century have crept into the blog.*

Back then every campaign, every issue and every march was supported by a badge.  Some like the CND symbol and the Anti Nazi League have become iconic, while others like the struggle they were made for are long forgotten.

So I was pleased when Lawrence posted Relics from the 1970s on his blog recently.  http://hardylane.blogspot.co.uk/

It is always a nice short and informative read and this one brought out of the shadows the old Co-op trading stamps which were an attempt to modernise the “divi.”

The dividend was an essential part of the Cooperative Movement which offered working class families a real way of boosting the family income by offering a share of the trading profits.

Now I can’t remember our "divi" number which had to be quoted when you bought items but many still can and just occasionally stumble across the old metal milk tokens.

Old fashioned, they may have been but the loyalty card, is only a modern day version of what the Co-op did. 

And so to end here from Lawrence’s blog post is a Co-op badge circa 1968.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson and Lawrence Beedle

*http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/alternative-histories.html

http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/dangerous-times-and-peaceful-protests.html