Page 38 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

The Story of the C.W.S.

Marcroft as declaring at Jumbo that " co-operators must not rest
until they had their own ships bringing the produce of other lands
direct from the producer to the consumer, thereby saving to them-
selves the profits of the middleman."
It is worth while lingering over this historic gathering, and
piecing together those credible reminiscences which yield us a
picture of its surroundings. Jumbo is still a local name for an area
of Tonge between Middleton Junction and Middleton. Fifty years
ago it was an isolated hamlet consisting of a few tiny farms and the
cottages of handloom silk weavers. In 1851 a few cottage workers,
manufacturers of velvet waistcoats, decided to get back to the land.
Clubbing together, they rented six acres with a house at Jumbo;
and this farm, previously known as " Walmsley's," now was nick-
named Lowbands, after a Feargus O'Connor land scheme estate in
Worcestershire. The usual losses occurred, and to retrieve them
George Booth was put in charge. A Jumbo Co-operative Society
was also devised to buttress his efforts, and the loomhouse included
in the building was converted into the new society's stores. Credit,
however, together with a high rate of interest on borrowed money,
sufficed to keep ojBf all hopes of prosperity. At last, in 1861. the
farm implements and other assets were sold, debts paid off, and the
stock of the little store turned over to the ]\Iiddleton Societ\' for
£13. 5s.
Six miles or so south from Rochdale, three or four miles west
from Oldham, four or five miles north from Manchester, and a few
miles east from Prestwich and Radcliffe, the Lowbands Farm of 1860
formed a convenient meeting place. Although poor and humble,
it was not a bad terminus for what in those days were country
walks. It has been described as " low-lying and uncheerful."
Certainly it was to be looked down upon from the Pennine slopes
around Oldham and Rochdale, and from the old, quaintly-steepled
parish church on its hill at Middleton; nevertheless, it stood on
ground rising from the little river Dane, three hundred feet above
the sea, which is higher than any part of Manchester. Mr. Fielding,
sometime caretaker of the Middleton Society's newsroom at Jumbo,
retained, in 1912. vivid memories of his boyhood spent here about
1850. It was then a happy hunting ground for lads. There were
gardens and fruit trees. Jumbo Clough. now filled in and partially
built upon, wound beside the Lowbands Farm down to the stream,
which ran clear for bathing. Three or four little stretches of wood-
land lay round about. Beyond the river was the Moss. On this
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