Three Cheers for Blaydon Co-op

To listen to Roly singing the song and see a slideshow of photographs, click here.

The Co-op in old Blaydon 

We all knew as 'the Store'

A rather special place it was

Alas it is no more

A building of distinctive style

A splendid sight indeed

With pride of place in Blaydon town

On that we’re all agreed

Chorus - - -

Three cheers for Blaydon Co-op

Hip hip hip hooray

We're all in the Co-op

And wor divi's due today

Those Rochdale pioneers 

They started something new

With profits shared by members all

Just folk like me and you

The idea was a great success

And spread throughout the land

And Blaydon's own Joe Cowen

He was quick to join the band

He canvassed all the people

Then raised the funds required

To start a store in Blaydon town

And premises were hired

In Cuthbert Street they started off

A modest shop its true

In eighteen fifty eight this was

And business quickly grew

Now soon it was apparent

By far a bigger place

Was needed to expand and grow

To give a lot more space

And so the move to Church Street came

Which surely passed the test

Of all Co-ops throughout the land

One of the very best

So over many decades

The Store was loved and thrived

But then the town was modernised

A new age had arrived

And so the building had to go

But old folk still recall

Its heyday in those bygone days

This store for one and all