A Teaching Resource Pack About the Rochdale Pioneers and the Origins of the Modern Co-Operative Movement

Pioneers magical mystery game

rules printing guide

A teaching resource pack about the Rochdale Pioneers and the origins of the modern co-operative movement. © The Co-operative College 2012 Printing Guide

Facilitator guide Answer sheet Player sheet

Posters Ideally to be printed in A2

Square boards Print in A3, cut and laminate

Counters A4, 2 for page. Cut out and build

A teaching resource pack about the Rochdale Pioneers and the origins of the modern co-operative movement. © The Co-operative College 2012 rules

1. Choose a partner and pick a counter (there are 12 different counters) to form a team. 2. Each team will take turns to throw the dice and move the number of places shown on the dice up the board. If you reach the end then you turn around and work your way back down again. 3. When you land on a number you should go and find the poster with the same number. This will be somewhere around the room. 4. Read the information on the poster and look out for any: NAMES, PLACES, NUMBERS, FOOD or DATES. 5. Write these in the spaces on your clue sheet. 6. Tick off the number of the poster below so that you know which you have visited. 7. Now return to the board, throw the dice again, and move to another number and visit that poster. 8. Keep going until you have been to all the posters. 9. Now return to the start and collect your Story Sheet. Fill in the blanks to complete the story. You should have collected all the information you need on your clue sheet. Not all the clues fit into the story so you must be careful to choose the right ones.

A teaching resource pack about the Rochdale Pioneers and the origins of the modern co-operative movement. © The Co-operative College 2012 Pioneers Magical Mystery Game – how to play –

(facilitator copy with answers)

elcome to the Rochdale Pioneers Magical Mystery Game. The game unwraps the story of the Rochdale Pioneers, setting the players in the background of the late 1800s. Discover how a Wgroup of ordinary people set up a different kind of business, with principles which have been followed across the world and continue to be used by co-operatives today. Equipment for the game: - 12 numbered panels (A2 sized) where the story of the Rochdale pioneers is displayed. - 12 numbered squares and start and finish squares to be displayed along the floor. These squares will form the board to play with. - 12 different colour counters representing aspects of the life in Rochdale in the late 1800s. - We suggest playing this game with 2 giant foam dices. If these are not available, 2 usual size dices can be used. - Answer sheets where the players will fill in the gaps with their final answers. - Clue booklet where the players will write down all the possible answers, divided in the following categories: names, places, numbers, foods, dates. Instructions for the facilitator: 1. Set out the start square, finish square and the 12 numbered squares in the centre of the room, creating the playing board. 2. Set out the panels around the room/rooms. To make the game more fun you might like to put them in hidden places far from the central playing board, so players will have to have a little walk to find where the panels are displayed. 3. Get the counters ready (you can have them ready beforehand or make every team pick and build one). 4. Explain the rules to the participants. Rules: 1. Choose a partner and pick a counter (there are 12 different counters) to form a team. 2. Each team will take turns to throw the dice and move the number of places shown on the dice up the board. If you reach the end then you turn around and work your way back down again. 3. When you land on a number you should go and find the poster with the same number. This will be somewhere around the room. 4. Read the information on the poster and look out for any: NAMES, PLACES, NUMBERS, FOOD or DATES. 5. Write these in the spaces on your clue sheet. 6. Tick off the number of the poster below so that you know which you have visited. 7. Now return to the board, throw the dice again, and move to another number and visit that poster. 8. Keep going until you have been to all the posters. 9. Now return to the start and collect your Story Sheet. Fill in the blanks to complete the story. You should have collected all the information you need on your clue sheet. Not all the clues fit into the story so you must be careful to choose the right ones.

Correct answers All the possible answers are listed below and the right ones are highlighted in bold. The answer sheet showing the correct answers can be found on the next pate of this booklet for your guidance.

names places James Manock Manchester numbers John Hill Germany 6 (six) 28 Charles Howarth France 11 8 James Smithies America 1 21 Samuel Ashworth London 12 Forty James Standring Russia 31 Five William Cooper Italy Eliza Brierley Austria John Bent Argentina food Rochdale Flour Bread dates Milk Butter Oats Oatmeal 11 August 1844 1846 1862 Cocoa Sugar 21 December 1844 1881 The story of the Rochdale Pioneers

he 1840s was a horrible time for people living in Lancashire towns like Rochdale, Twhere the Pioneers lived. Many adults and children worked in the noisy, dangerous cotton mills. Children started work at the age of six.

Living conditions were bad. Wages were low and there were few jobs.

The food in shops was poor quality and over-priced. Shopkeepers sold food that had been mixed with other things you wouldn’t want to eat. Chalk was added to flour, dirt was mixed with cocoa and water was added to milk!

Shopkeepers used scales to weigh out goods, but often cheated customers by saying they were getting more for their money than they were.

Many people were in debt and only rich people were allowed to vote. Lots of people were very unhappy with this.

What were they going to do? The people of Rochdale met on 11 August 1844 to discuss their problems.

They decided to open their own grocery store – by co-operating!

28 people wanted to be involved and each person saved up until they had got 1 pound. James Manock collected the subscriptions.

After six months, they collected it all together and they had 28 pounds, a lot of money in those days!

When the Rochdale Pioneers had enough money to start their society, they decided to write some rules about how their co-operative would be run. Charles Howarth wrote the rules and they are called the Rochdale Principles. These rules are still followed by co‑operatives across the world today!

However, no-one in Rochdale would sell the Rochdale Pioneers food to stock their shop.

So they walked 12 miles to Manchester with a wheelbarrow borrowed by Pioneer John Hill and bought ...

Butter, sugar, oatmeal, a sack of flour and some candles. They rented No 31 Toad lane in Rochdale. Because the Rochdale Pioneers didn’t have much money, they used wooden planks and barrels to make a counter.

Nobody had electric lighting in 1844 and the gas company wouldn’t supply the Rochdale Pioneers with gas for lighting because they thought they wouldn’t pay. So the Pioneers used the candles they had bought to light the shop.

James Smithies took the shutters down and the shop opened for the first time at 8pm on 21 December 1844. The shop opened two nights a week. Samuel Ashworth was the first salesman when the shop opened and James Standring weighed out the flour for customers.

William Cooper was the cashier. He would write down what each customer bought and count up what was spent.

Some of the profits of the shop were given back to the members as their Dividend. The money was distributed on what became known as “Divi Day”.

This allowed the people of Rochdale to save up and pay off their debts. There was a sense of community. People helped each other and were responsible for their own future. The Pioneers’ store became a success. More and more people became members, owning the shop together.

In 1846, The Rochdale Pioneers’ first female member,Eliza Brierley, joined!

Eventually The Rochdale Pioneers Society was able to sell more things and open more shops. They also used some of the profits to provide education for their members. John Bent taught maths at the Pioneers’ Sunday school.

Other people saw what the Rochdale Pioneers Society was doing and felt inspired. Co‑operative stores spread across the country. People even came to visit the Rochdale Pioneers from overseas! The Pioneers’ first foreign visitor came from Russia!

You can still see co-operative stores on high streets across the country today.

So, when you buy something from the Co-op, now you know it all started in the town of Rochdale!

It is all thanks to 28 ordinary people who had an idea and changed the world for the better! Pioneers Magical Mystery Game (player booklet)

Rules: 1. Choose a partner and pick a counter (there are 12 different counters) to form a team. 2. Each team will take turns to throw the dice and move the number of places shown on the dice up the board. If you reach the end then you turn around and work your way back down again. 3. When you land on a number you should go and find the poster with the same number. This will be somewhere around the room. 4. Read the information on the poster and look out for any: NAMES, PLACES, NUMBERS, FOOD or DATES. 5. Write these in the spaces on your clue sheet. 6. Tick off the number of the poster below so that you know which you have visited. 7. Now return to the board, throw the dice again, and move to another number and visit that poster. 8. Keep going until you have been to all the posters. 9. Now return to the start and collect your Story Sheet. Fill in the blanks to complete the story. You should have collected all the information you need on your clue sheet. Not all the clues fit into the story so you must be careful to choose the right ones. Posters visited:

Why were people Living and working in Shopping and food in unhappy and what Rochdale in the 1840s the 1840s could they do?

The wheelbarrow Saving up Writing the rules journey

Setting up shop The grand opening Success!

Inspiring other Education Co-operatives today co‑operatives clues Write below all the possible answers you find in the posters.

______

names ______

______

______Places (towns and countries) (towns ______

______

______food ______

______

dates ______

______

______numbers The story of the Rochdale Pioneers

Living conditions were bad. Wages were low and there were few jobs.

The food in shops was poor quality and over-priced. Shopkeepers sold food that had been mixed with other things you wouldn’t want to eat. Chalk was added to_____, dirt was mixed with cocoa and water was added to milk!

Shopkeepers used scales to weigh out goods, but often cheated customers by saying they were getting more for their money than they were.

Many people were in debt and only rich people were allowed to vote. Lots of people were very unhappy with this.

What were they going to do? The people of Rochdale met on______to discuss their problems.

They decided to open their own grocery store – by co-operating!

28 people wanted to be involved and each person saved up until they had got___ pound. ______collected the subscriptions.

After six months, they collected it all together and they had 28 pounds, a lot of money in those days!

When the Rochdale Pioneers had enough money to start their society, they decided to write some rules about how their co-operative would be run. ______wrote the rules and they are called the Rochdale Principles. These rules are still followed by co- operatives across the world today!

However, no-one in Rochdale would sell the Rochdale Pioneers food to stock their shop.

So they walked______miles to______with a wheelbarrow borrowed by Pioneer John Hill and bought ...

______, sugar, oatmeal, a sack of flour and some candles. They rented No______Toad lane in Rochdale. Because the Rochdale Pioneers didn’t have much money, they used wooden planks and barrels to make a counter.

______took the shutters down and the shop opened for the first time at 8pm on______. The shop opened two nights a week. ______was the first salesman when the shop opened and______weighed out the flour for customers.

______was the cashier. He would write down what each customer bought and count up what was spent.

Some of the profits of the shop were given back to the members as their Dividend. The money was distributed on what became known as “Divi Day”.

In 1846, The Rochdale Pioneers’ first female member, ______, joined!

Eventually The Rochdale Pioneers Society was able to sell more things and open more shops. They also used some of the profits to provide education for their members. ______taught maths at the Pioneers’ Sunday school.

You can still see co-operative stores on high streets across the country today.

So, when you buy something from the Co-op, now you know it all started in the town of______!

It is all thanks to______ordinary people who had an idea and changed the world for the better!

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any women and children worked in mills. Children Mstarted work when they were six and were o en taken out of school early to earn money for their families. They were punished if they fell asleep over their work, which was hot, noisy, dirty, dusty, ring and dangerous. 1

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T Io en added to oats and dirt was mixed with cocoa. A lot of bread contained a substance called alum which stopped people diges ng food properly.

People had to go shopping every day, as there were no fridges. They had to carry shopping in their own baskets as carrier bags weren’t invented.

The Rochdale Pioneers used scales to weigh out their food, and kept the scales where people could see them, so customers knew they were ge ng what they paid for.

When the Rochdale Pioneers set up their shop, they decided to sell ‘honest food at honest prices’ and made sure that all their food was pure and of good quality.

2 Why were people unhappy and what could they do?

R o c h orer, d po a nd le r a w re as oo ge ng p nd people were angry because they were not allowed to vote Aand inﬂ uence government. People started campaigns to try and change things they were worried about.

There were many public mee ngs. On 11 August 1844, the Rochdale Pioneers met to discuss their problems and see what they could do.

They decided on a prac cal solu on – se ng up a co- opera ve food store to help themselves!

3 saving up

he Rochdale Pioneers decided to set up a co-opera ve food shop, but they had no Tmoney to buy food to sell, or to rent a shop. uld they get m w co oney Ho ?

They decided to start a subscrip on list, with Rochdale Pioneer James Manock collec ng the subscrip ons from the workers.

Twenty eight working people decided to become members, and saved up un l they each had £1 – which took them about six months. Eventually, £28 was raised – enough for the Pioneers to go into business!

4 Writing the rules

hen they started, the Rochdale Pioneers wrote some rules saying how, and why, their co-opera ve would be run. Rochdale Pio W . neer les Ch e ru arle ith th s Howarth came up w

• That capital should be of their own providing and bear a fixed rate of interest. • That only the purest provisions procurable should be supplied to members. • That full weight and measure should be given. • That market prices should be charged and no credit given nor asked. • That profits should be divided pro rata upon the amount of purchases made by each member. • That the principle of ‘one member one vote’ should obtain in government and the equality of the sexes in membership. • That the management should be in the hands of officers and committee elected periodically. • That a definite percentage of profits should be allotted to education. • That frequent statements and balance sheets should be presented to members.

One of the rules was that each member had to tell everyone their name, job and address, and they would be elected at a mee ng.

The rules set out by the Pioneers became known as Rochdale Principles and are s ll followed by co-opera ve socie es all over the world today.

5 The wheelbarrow journey

o-one would sell the Rochdale Pioneers food to stock their shop because they Nsaw them as compe on. So the Pioneers had to go all the way to Manchester, 12 miles away, to buy the goods they were going to sell in their shop (bu er, ﬂ our, sugar and candles), and push what they had bought back to Rochdale in a wheelbarrow.

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The Rochdale Pioneers did not have much money to decorate their shop, so they made the counter out of wooden planks balanced on large barrels. While they were wai ng to be served, customers sat on a bench made of more planks put on top of smaller barrels.

7 the grand opening

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More and more people became members, owning the shop together. Men and women were allowed to join the Rochdale Pioneers and the ﬁ rst female member, Eliza Brierley, joined in March 1846. 9 T h e education

R o c t the me when the Rochdale Pioneers h d a opened their shop, many children did le not get to go to school because they P A io had to work instead. ne er s b elie ved in educa on, and wanted to use some of their proﬁ ts to provide educa on for their members (adults and children), including a library and schools.

Rochdale Pioneer John Bent enjoyed maths, so he taught maths at a school run by the Rochdale Pioneers on Sundays.

10 Inspiring other co-operatives

eople were inspired by the story of the Peop Rochdale Pioneers and started se ng up le be ga their own co-opera ves. n t P o

By 1881, less than forty years a er the i s

Pioneers started their ﬁ rst shop, there were t

971 diﬀ erent co-opera ves across England! e

People were also inspired by the Pioneers to r

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America. m

l l o ve r the world. As the Toad Lane visitors’ book shows, the ﬁ rst visitor to sign the book came from London in 1862, followed by Dr Berg from Russia. Japanese visitors were frequent from the 1870s, and other visitors came from Italy, Austria and Argen na. 11 Co-operatives today

ne in ﬁ ve people in the UK are now members Oof co-opera ves, and there are co-opera ve stores on high streets across the country today, from food shops to pharmacies and banks.

You might have bought something from the Co-op yourself. Next me you do, remember it was all started in Rochdale by 28 ordinary working people!

12 A b C D E F G H I J K L