Anglia Regional Co-operative Society

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Anglia Regional
Co-operative Society Limited
Type Consumer Co-operative
Founded 1876 (Incorporated 1887)
Headquarters Westgate House,
2 Park Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE1 2TA
Key people Jean Humphreys, Chairman
John Chillcot, Chief Executive
Industry Retail (Wholesale)
Products Grocers, Department Stores, Funeral Directors, Travel Agents, Ophthalmic Opticians
Revenue 53,174 thousand GBP
Employees 3,700 (approx.)
Website http://www.arcs.co.uk/

Anglia Regional Co-operative Society Limited is the fifth largest consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom, with diverse operations and an annual turnover of £360m.[1] It was formed by the merger of the Greater Peterborough Regional (formerly Peterborough and District) and Anglia (formerly Waveney) Co-operative Societies in 1987. The Society has a wide-ranging and extensive portfolio with over 100 stores, principally trading in East Anglia, providing employment for 3,700 staff. Head Office is located at Westgate House, Peterborough.

A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise.[2] The Society is a registered Industrial and Provident Society[3], a member of the Co-operative Union Ltd., the Co-operative Retail Trading Group and a corporate member of the Co-operative Group Ltd. (formerly Co-operative Wholesale Society), the largest consumer co-operative in the world.[4]

Contents

[edit] Services

The objects of the Society are to carry on the business of a store-keeper, general dealer and universal provider in all its branches, and in particular to buy, sell, manufacture, produce, grow, cultivate and deal in goods, stores, consumable articles, chattels and effects of all kinds, both wholesale and retail and generally to engage in any business, trade or industry which may seem to the Society directly or indirectly conducive to the interests or convenience of the Society's members or any section thereof.[5] The Society shall at all times conduct its business and affairs in accordance with the Rochdale Principles of Co-operation, as published from time to time by the International Co-operative Alliance, serving the needs of its customers, employees and the communities in which it trades.[6]

Today the Society’s principal activities comprise food retailing through Rainbow supermarkets and Co-op Local stores; non-food retailing through Westgate Department Stores, Anglia Home Furnishings (AHF), Contact and Comfortmaker stores; petrol retailing and funeral services. It is otherwise involved in the provision of optical, travel and foreign exchange services. In addition, the Society manages an important investment property portfolio.

In November 2004 United Co-operatives Ltd., based in the North West of England, announced that department stores were no longer a core business, leading to the sale of seven stores, mostly inherited from the Yorkshire Co-operative Society, to the Anglia Society.[7] In October 2005 the Co-operative Group Ltd. announced its decision to exit the department store sector. In September 2006 a further seven stores, located in the South East of England, were transferred to the Anglia Society.[8][9] The Group subsequently merged with United in July 2007.

[edit] Membership

Co-operative societies are owned and controlled by their members on the principle of one member one vote, giving all members equal voting rights. The Anglia Society has operated on that basis since it was founded in 1876. Organisations can also become members of the Anglia Society. Each member shall be required to hold at least one share of £1, which must be paid in full on entering the Society.[10] The Society's Rules, which similar to the election of directors, are agreed by the membership, allow for a Board of ten directors, three of whom may be employees of the Society. The full Board meets monthly and sub-committees of the Board meet quarterly or less frequently.[11]

Dividend is simply a share of the profits made by the Society. The rate of dividend is recommended to members by the Board of Directors and voted upon at the Annual General Meeting. Members have an opportunity at the point of sale to donate their dividend to Share (account number) 600, the proceeds of which are presented each year to three or four charities which are agreed by the Board.[12]

[edit] Subsidiaries

The following trading companies are wholly owned by the parent Society:

  • Co-op Funeral Services (Anglia) Ltd., trading as Anglia Co-operative Funerals, incorporating R J Scholes, J H Landin & Son, George James & Son, Watkins & Stafford, Fishers, Dennis Easton, H E Bull & Son and M J Claypole funeral directors[13]
  • Westgate Properties (Anglia) Ltd.[14]
  • Yaxley Farm Ltd.[15]
  • Elite Electrical Ltd.[16]
  • Westgate Optical Ltd., property management[14]
  • Rainbow Stores Ltd. (adjacent petrol stations franchised by Shell)[17]
  • Westgate Department Stores Ltd., incorporating Oasis Restaurants and Stylistics Hair and Beauty Salon[18]
  • Anglia (Home Furnishings) Ltd.[19]
  • Contact Electrical Superstores Ltd., incorporating Comfortmaker Textile Superstore, Abingdon, Oxfordshire[20]
  • Anglia Motor Group Ltd.[21]
  • Anglia Wholesale Furniture Distribution Ltd.[22]

Although managed by the Society, the in-house travel agents are operated under the national Co-operative Travel brand. The Co-operative Travel is a member of the Co-operative Travel Trading Group.

Pharmacies in the Society's trading area are owned by National Co-operative Chemists Ltd.,[23] a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Co-operative Group, trading as The Co-operative Pharmacy.

The former dairy business was transferred to Dairy Crest Group Plc in 1997 for an aggregate consideration of £4.5m.[24]

[edit] History

The Rochdale Pioneers, formed by a group of Lancashire weavers, are credited with starting the first successful retail co-operative society in 1844, although there had been earlier attempts to do so. The Rochdale Pioneers opened a shop in Toad Lane, Rochdale, selling unadulterated food at reasonable prices. They also introduced a dividend that meant customers became members of the Society and received a dividend based on their purchases. By 1890 the tremendous efforts of ordinary men and women had resulted in the formation of over 1,400 co-operative societies across the length and breadth of the country. Over the last century many of these societies merged to create larger more efficient businesses or were absorbed by the Co-operative Wholesale Society. The Rochdale model was used by most societies.

Robert Owen, the father of co-operation, had visited the area in 1838 to lecture the people of Peterborough, Wisbech, King's Lynn and Norwich. These visits were at the invitation of James Hill, a corn merchant and newspaper publisher living in Wisbech.[25] The Hill family had extensive business enterprises in Peterborough and Wisbech on the banks of the River Nene, dealing in wood, coal, corn, etc. and with interests in brewing and shipping. James Hill’s aim was the founding of a co-operative community or village near Wisbech and to this end he organised his followers into the United Advancement Society. Later he opened his first co-op shop in the area offering goods for sale in Wisbech. Members in March and Peterborough could obtain goods by placing orders with the Wisbech branch. Unfortunately, this Society, like many of the very early ones, only lasted for a short period before breaking up.

They operated for a few years but made little progress and were almost unknown in the town, closing down completely shortly after the formation of the Peterborough Society, which had a very unusual beginning. In 1876 a travelling salesman/auctioneer from the north of the country, using a canvas covered area in Peterborough, decided to assist the widow of a railwayman by donating five per cent of his takings from the sale of tea on a particular night. Because of the interest of other workers in this generous gesture, he sold some 1,400lbs. of tea on the night and the widow had a gift of £12. As part of the sales technique he also gave coupons during his sales pitch which could be exchanged for gifts. The local traders decided that with the sale of 1,400lbs. of tea, he needed to be stopped from trading and he was charged with an infringement of the Lottery Act. The court decided to let him off with two hours detention until the end of the sitting but he decided to leave the traders a legacy and from his knowledge of co-operative societies urged his supporters to hold a meeting in his tent and form a society. From this base the Society prospered and continued to expand its trade, absorbing the Oundle (est.1866), St. Neots (est.1882), Huntingdon (est.1866), Wisbech (est.1886), King's Lynn (est.1888), St. Ives (est.1889) and Chatteris (est.1900) societies.

The Waveney Society, which merged with the Peterborough Society in 1987, had earlier absorbed the Beccles (est.1879), Diss (est.1898) and Lowestoft (est.1890) societies.[26]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Annual Report and Accounts 2006 and Interim Director's Report 2007 Anglia Regional Co-operative Society, 02 September 2006 and 17 February 2007
  2. ^ Statement on the Co-operative Identity (Definition) International Co-operative Alliance, Manchester, 1995
  3. ^ Registered in England and Wales under the Companies Act 1985, No. 8644R
  4. ^ Section VII Administration (70) Rules of the Anglia Regional Co-operative Society, 10 February 2005
  5. ^ Section I Interpretation (4) Rules of the Anglia Regional Co-operative Society, 10 February 2005
  6. ^ Part of an amendment of the rules acknowledged by the Financial Services Authority on 30 January 2002
  7. ^ Interim Director's Report 2005 Other trading activities United Co-operatives, 23 July 2005
  8. ^ Annual Report and Accounts 2006 Property, production and other trading The Co-operative Group, 11 April 2007
  9. ^ Usdaw welcomes sale of Co-op department stores to Anglia Co-operative Society Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, 13 January 2006
  10. ^ Section IV Capital (17) Rules of the Anglia Regional Co-operative Society, 10 February 2005
  11. ^ Section VI Directors (36a) Rules of the Anglia Regional Co-operative Society, 10 February 2005
  12. ^ Section VIII Application of Profits (82) Rules of the Anglia Regional Co-operative Society, 10 February 2005
  13. ^ Registered in England and Wales No. 13027R. A member of the National Association of Funeral Directors
  14. ^ a b Registered with the Financial Services Authority under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965
  15. ^ Registered in England and Wales No. 2553217
  16. ^ Registered in England and Wales No. 407850
  17. ^ Registered in England and Wales No. 2633489
  18. ^ Registered in England and Wales No. 2633491
  19. ^ Registered in England and Wales No. 1513710
  20. ^ Registered in England and Wales No. 2801934
  21. ^ Registered in England and Wales No. 2633486. AMG up for sale after 'escalating losses' Motor Trader, 27 November 2000
  22. ^ Registered in England and Wales No. 3010171
  23. ^ Registered in England and Wales No. 12714R. Brook House, Oldham Road, Middleton, Manchester M24 1HF
  24. ^ Annual Report and Accounts 1998 Notes to the financial statements (26) Dairy Crest Group, 01 June 1998
  25. ^ Holyoake, George Jacob The History of Co-operation Volume 1 Pioneer Period, Chapter VI His Appeal to the People T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1908
  26. ^ Anglia Society: A Potted History Anglia Regional Co-operative Society (retrieved 15 July 2007)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


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Co-operatives
Types of Cooperatives
The Rochdale Principles
Political and Economic Theories
Key Theorists
Organizations