A look ahead to Co-op Congress, Co-op Fortnight and the International Day of Co-operatives June and July contain some key dates in the co-op calendar, with celebrations of co-operation taking place in the UK and internationally – and some special anniversaries. Co-op...
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In 1997 the Robert Owen Group launched a co-operative school centred initial teacher training project through the Marches Consortium and in partnership with the University of Gloucester. The scheme rapidly grew and became the largest of its type in the United Kingdom , successfully training over 3,700 post graduates who now work in our schools and colleges with many at senior leadership levels. Alongside this we launched a Master’s level programme for trainers in schools and for former trainees and teachers to access as career progression.
It became clear that the absence of an institute of higher education in the Marches sub region posed a real impediment to developing research, seminal thinking and platonic discourse. We often ignore the valuable infrastructure that comes with a quality centre of higher education. The Directors of the Marches Consortium developed a Robert Owen Learning Academy in Leominster and encouraged many ‘hub’ schools to have satellite post graduate libraries for their ‘clusters’.
This is all now background history but our 1998 creation of “query” as a radical journal of left field thinking has now in 2021 led to the addition of this section to the Marches Hive website. We want to stimulate thinking, discussion and the sharing of relevant news and knowledge.
We called the original 1990’s journal query because our minds turned to the creation in the 1870’s of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society which started life as as ‘Health and Education Fund’. In 1920 Walter Conway , Aneurin Bevan and others formed the radical Query Club as a new development. The Club was a cross between a debating society, a mutual support group , a focus for sharing contemporary knowledge and a body set on advancing radical thinking to address the issues of the day. In those times adult education was very much in cells following on the model of the early Methodist house groups.
We believe the challenges of today in many ways mirror those of one hundred years ago and we do encourage everyone’s to engage with query and to share your thoughts, views, knowledge and understanding so that we can all grow together . Thank you
News Articles

BOOK NOW FOR 2 July! Just days to go! The Big Society and the co-operative contribution to Sustainable Communities A FREE virtual event via Zoom on 2nd July 2022 from 11.00 am to 2.00 pm. Following the considerable success of the Inaugural Lecture in 2021 we would...
Co-op movement makes its mark on festival season
From Knockengorroch to Glastonbury, co-operators are set for a summer of music This year a co-op presence will be felt at festivals in the UK and abroad, bringing co-operation to a mass, and often muddy, audience as well as providing opportunities for the movement to...
22 Days To Go!
NOW IS THE TIME TO BOOK. The Big Society and the co-operative contribution to Sustainable Communities A FREE virtual event via Zoom on 2nd July 2022 from 11.00 am to 2.00 pm. Following the considerable success of the Inaugural Lecture in 2021 we would like to invite...
London Training Centre
Incorporated in 1987 as a non-profit, London Training Centre is an award winning social enterprise that provides a wide range of skills and training opportunities for people. Working jointly with our community partners we seek to help people, build a resilient...
BOOK NOW!
BOOK NOW! The Big Society and the co-operative contribution to Sustainable Communities A FREE virtual event via Zoom on 2nd July 2022 from 11.00 am to 2.00 pm. Following the considerable success of the Inaugural Lecture in 2021 we would like to invite you to join us...
Coupons For Hunger
There is a growing need in our community for food & household items. Coupons for Hunger (CFH) is passionately finding a way to give back without involving a lot of time or money. We, the CFH Founders, began couponing on a personal level and came up with a creative...
JUST 24 DAYS TO GO! – BOOK NOW!
The Big Society and the co-operative contribution to Sustainable Communities A FREE virtual event via Zoom on 2nd July 2022 from 11.00 am to 2.00 pm. Following the considerable success of the Inaugural Lecture in 2021 we would like to invite you to join us at the...
Cost of Living Crisis: Social Enterprise Advisory Panel members want structural economic reform, not just one-off handouts
Emily Darko - Director of Research at Social Enterprise UK Like most households and businesses, social enterprises are concerned about rising costs and inflation. Their level of concern has increased significantly over the last quarter, with over two-thirds of social...
Six social enterprise essentials: Creating social wealth must be a core value of social enterprise
Social enterprises are perfectly placed to nurture the rich connections and opportunities that emerge when people work together for shared benefit – creating this ‘social wealth’ should be embedded within every social enterprise, argues author Freer Spreckley. Part...
