Rochdale's Toad Lane museum receives £2.3m makeover

How the modernised Toad Lane museum is set to look and, inset, the building today

By Anthony Murray

July 20 2010

Rochdale’s Pioneers Museum — the birthplace of the Co-operative Movement — is set to be redeveloped following £1.5 million of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Announced today, the donation given to the Co-operative Heritage Trust will modernise the Toad Lane complex in time for the United Nations Year of Co-operatives in 2012.

The museum will be transformed and updated, creating new visitor facilities and learning spaces. New displays will be designed incorporating images and objects from the National Co-operative Archive, while specialist staff will be recruited to teach schools, colleges and the local community about the Co-operative Movement using the archive and museum materials.

Collections from the archive will also be available for public viewing for the first time including some papers and books of Robert Owen — one of the first people to incorporate co-operative principles into the workplace — as well as material charting the history of the modern-day Co-operative Group and Co-operatives UK.

At the end of August the museum will close for the 16-month facelift — the provisional opening date is set to be December 21st 2011, which is 167 years after the opening of 31 Toad Lane as the Rochdale Pioneers’ first co-operative store.

To meet the full cost of project, which has been in development for the past seven years, the trustees of the museum are looking at a fundraising scheme. Details of the fund are due to be announced soon, which needs to raise the difference between the £1.5m Lottery funding and total cost of the works estimated to be £2.3m.

Stephen Yeo, Chair of the Co-operative Heritage Trust, told the News: “The museum and archive and their distinct collections tell the story of how ordinary working people unlocked the power of working together for mutual benefit and developed a model of co-operative business that United Nations has stated has ‘improved the lives of over half of humanity’.

“The Heritage Lottery Fund funding, together with awards from a range of other contributors, will enable us to transform these collections into accessible lifelong learning resources with outreach work that will inspire future generations of co-operators.”

The redevelopment aims to give more people access to the museum and collections — based outside Rochdale town centre.

The building will restore part of the third floor to provide an education space and an extension will hold a staircase and lift to give access to all parts of the museum. At the same time, an interactive website will be developed to open up access to items from the archive not physically on display.

Sara Hilton, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund North West, said: “The development of the Co-operative Movement is an important part of our social history — both for our local communities and for people across the world. By safeguarding the co-operative collection and redeveloping the Rochdale Pioneers building, this project will mean that more people will have the opportunity to learn about and be inspired by the story of the Co-operative Movement.”

Len Wardle, Chair of the Co-operative Group, which donated £3 million to the Co-operative Heritage Trust when it was formed in 2007, said: “We are extremely proud of our heritage and it is very important that people can visit the actual place where the worldwide Co-operative Movement began.”

Dame Pauline Green, President of the International Co-operative Alliance and one of the Co-operative Heritage Trust trustees, added: “The new project will ensure Toad Lane will be ready to be a launch pad for 2012 as the UN’s International Year of Co-operatives.”

Category: Wider Co-op Movement