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Mothers Co-op number what was it?.

(81 Posts)
Yammy Sat 07-Aug-21 12:28:38

A light one for the weekend.
Can anyone remember their mother's Co-op number? I certainly can't but last night DH trotted his mothers out. We were talking about boys wearing wellingtons all year round in the 50's and he said he went for his own and put them on the "Book" he also went for his own summer goloshes /plimsolls to the rest of the country and his gaberdine mac.
I can remember the "Book" when things were brought home on trial and then returned if not suitable.
My gran still sent in a tick list of the Groceries she needed each week then they were delivered by a van, sounds a bit like online grocery shopping. She still called them her rations.
Does anyone else have memories of the good old Co-op?

Alygran Sat 07-Aug-21 17:13:03

9200
The coop started in Rochdale, the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers.

nexus63 Sat 07-Aug-21 17:12:47

i don't know my grans co-op number but the co-op was the last shop we would go to, i stayed in springburn, glasgow in the 60s/70s, we would go all the way to the dairy and work backwords, butchers, galbraths, woolworths and the last one was the co-op, i got to stick the stamps on, they opened a co-op hypermarket but my gran did not like it.....to big and not very friendly.....lol

Bellanonna Sat 07-Aug-21 17:05:01

18291. I remember those pulleys too.

Callistemon Sat 07-Aug-21 16:46:56

Yes, I can.
Mum used to write the weekly order in a book and I often had to take it along and ask for certain items straight away, the rest to be delivered later. The Co-op butcher's was next door and I had to go in there too and bring home part of the meat order.

I don't really remember my wellies but I do remember Dad cutting the toes out of my Clark's sandals with a Stanley knife so they would last the rest of the summer.

Nonogran Sat 07-Aug-21 16:24:49

638!
A small thriving town in the West Country.
I’ve only won two raffles in my life and the first was a box of chocolates at the village Co-op! Deep joy & excitement for a child who didn’t have much in the 50’s.
Pleased to say near me, I’ve got 2 brand new Co-op stores. So handy.
Happy memories.

sodapop Sat 07-Aug-21 16:05:18

I don't remember books of co-op stamps. I do remember a long sheet of paper where we had to stick on the receipts, I think that's what they were.
I used to save Embassy cigarette tokens.

Yammy Sat 07-Aug-21 15:34:30

I can remember when I went to Grammar school a very snobby girl in our class telling some of us our blazers were from the Co-op, not the official school supply shop. None of us could see what she was talking about until we looked closely, our badges were sewn onto the pocket the others were the pocket front. I went home and said I wanted a proper one and was told I would have to wait. I was bought one from the supply shop but when I had outgrown it my mother skillfully removed the pocket and sewed it on one from the Co-op.
Maybe it was a North of England/Scottish shop. I think the Co-op movement started in Manchester.
As a small girl, I was taken for new wellingtons and asked to walk in them for the fit,I looked at the man and my mam they were tied as a pair with string through two small holes and I could not move. Those awful black Co=op wellies we all seemed to have that smelt of rubber and left a black mark on your leg, I took a pair to college with me in the late 1960,s and felt mortified everyone else had leather boots.
My first venture into C&A's was as a student we did not have a shop in our county, it was an Aladins cave for trendy gear that was not allowed when I went home.

Oldbat1 Sat 07-Aug-21 14:41:11

Mums was 23148. We had to learn it to do the messages. When mum died we used Coop Funeral Care and used her dividend number to get a reduction in cost. This was 12yrs ago in Scotland.

Grannybags Sat 07-Aug-21 14:38:57

My Mum refused to shop in the Co-Op as she thought it was run by the Labour Party!

I remember her collecting Green Shield Stamps and Embassy cigarette coupons though

Katek Sat 07-Aug-21 14:29:29

I remember my gran’s - 13435! She always bought her winter boots with her divi, little black sheepskin lined suede ones with a zip up the front.

Kim19 Sat 07-Aug-21 14:25:34

Yep 45296 was my Mum's number. Why do I remember that from 70/75 years ago and I can't remember much more recent data? I can even remember the registration number of my first car. Why? No idea. I'm led to believe that our memories have a maximum capacity? If that's the case, I wish I was in control of the selection!

Sara1954 Sat 07-Aug-21 14:23:51

The Co-op van delivered my grans groceries, usually including a dough cake from the bakery, and a few flapjacks.
The butchers boy delivered meat on a Saturday morning.
One of my funniest memories is the boy next door being sent by his mum to the co-op for half a pound of mince, and him coming back with a half a pound of mints!
She was fuming!
Back to my C&A dress, I was probably about twelve, and it was the first time I’d tried anything on in a fitting room, I just loved seeing myself in a full length mirror for the first time.

Jaxjacky Sat 07-Aug-21 14:17:22

Was this a regional scheme? I don’t recall there being a Co-op near us and not aware of any of this history.

Marydoll Sat 07-Aug-21 14:15:09

grandetante, I remember Cochrane's so well. It was the only shop allowed to sell the PE kit and school hat for my convent school uniform.
The Co-op however, had a pressurised air system, where canisters went flying through tubes to the cash office.

MiniMoon Sat 07-Aug-21 14:04:42

My Mother didn't shop at the Co-op, my Granny did though. She did not divulge her number.

Daisend1 Sat 07-Aug-21 14:03:51

Yammy
As the song goes Yes I remember it well ' but then I was only ten years old,and much easier for me then than remembering my present day credit card password.Especially when there is a queue behind me in Tesco huffing and puffing with impatience

MaizieD Sat 07-Aug-21 14:01:55

40396

We had to give it to the milkman when he came for payment each Friday. And, of course when you bought anything in a Co-op store.

What a complex and time consuming operation it must have been for the cashiers and clerks to reconcile the numbers on the copy receipts with the individual divi accounts and compute the correct amount of divi. It's quite impressive when you start thinking about it. grin

grandtanteJE65 Sat 07-Aug-21 13:59:23

Our Co-op didn't have the Criss-cross wire system, but Cochrane's in Paisley did.

I was absolutely fascinated by the canisters whizzing along overhead when I was about four. It made up for the HOURS (that's what it felt like,) waiting for Mummy to make up her mind which of two blouses to buy!

shysal Sat 07-Aug-21 13:58:56

My parents' Co-op number was 45009, but I can't remember my own from when I married. I can also recall all the car numbers we had as a child, but again not the ones since I married. Very odd!

Esspee Sat 07-Aug-21 13:56:45

I most certainly remember my mother’s coop number, in fact I use it as a security feature with my online banking. It was the first number I ever memorised.

Esspee Sat 07-Aug-21 13:54:49

beth20

Don't remember the number but I do recall sticking in sheets of stamps - both co-op and green shield.

Clearly beth20 you are just a young thing. ?

Marydoll Sat 07-Aug-21 13:48:16

The two C&A stores in Berlin are an essential visit for me.
We had a huge one in Glasgow, where at 17, I got a brown wool midi coat. I knitted a yellow cloche hat to wear with it,
I felt so sophisticated! This was my first fashionable clothing item ever , as my mother was very old fashioned in outlook.

felice Sat 07-Aug-21 13:42:49

I use my Mums old number for one of my codes so still around.
I probably should not say this but I love C&A still, in fact everything I am wearing at the moment is from there.
It is a Dutch company and there are still lots of stores around.
I have taken groups around the city and one thing the ladies ask for is C&A.

Marydoll Sat 07-Aug-21 13:39:47

The first dept. I worked in was haberdashery, it sold leather handbags (like the Queen's) and leather gloves. I think that was where my love of luxury items was born. They sold American Cream Soda tights, which I lusted over, but my strict mother wouldn't allow!
I then progressed to Lingerie, where my aunt was the buyer. Often I had to measure up old ladies, who either smelled of moth balls or BO ( no deodorants then) for salmon pink all in ones complete with suspenders. Some had no qualms about stripping off! It was very traumatic for a shy, naive 15 year old! ?
The best dept. Was the Boutique, which sold Mary Quant make up. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

DanniRae Sat 07-Aug-21 13:35:55

I used to drop my mum's co-op order book in for her on the way to primary school. I also remember the pulley system for sending the money to and from the cash office.
We have a co-op just down the road from us. It is only small but always seems to have whatever we need in between Sainsburys visits.