Waiting For The Divi!

A Memory of Cannock.

This range of buildings was the Co-op, part of Walsall and Districts group of stores. They sold virtually everything you needed or if they didn't, you'd get it from D.W.Clarke's across the way.

They always paid out a dividend to registered customers, possibly twice each year. Great queues of women would line up in a large entry just opposite the church. An office was located there to make a cash-back payment based on what they had spent since the last Divi was paid.

It was an essential part of my upbringing to know our account number by heart and to use it even with the smallest purchase. I still remember it : 45887 and my grandmother's too : 45200.

The cash must have come in very handy especially at Christmas time or just before the summer holidays! I'm certain that the divi paid for my first toy electric train set purchased in the Co-op at Christmas in 1954.