This online exhibition features work from contemporary Welsh photographers created from 2015-2021. Presented by the Wales Co-operative Centre to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Robert Owen, it brings together the work of artists whose images feature co-operative businesses building a stronger, fairer, more co-operative Wales.
14 May 2021 marks the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Robert Owen in Newtown, Powys. A Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, Owen was one founder of socialism and the co-operative movement. Throughout his life, he championed workers’ rights, led the development of co-operatives and the trade union movement, and supported the passage of child labour laws, free education and early-years child-care.
Owen’s legacy is alive today, carried on by the 474 independent co-op businesses which currently exist in Wales and the countless community groups which operate in accordance with values such as self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity.
At a time when there is considerable interest in ‘building back better’ and taking a more co-operative approach to community regeneration and economic development, the photographs reflect a vibrant and dynamic movement which is already present in Wales. The works presented here challenge the perception that co-operation and co-operatives are a historical idea which died out in the mid-twentieth century. In a post-Covid environment, it is imperative that we understand the modern relevance of the co-operative movement, and these works provide an opportunity for that conversation.
4CG
Photographer: Philip Griffiths
4CG is a co-operative organisation set up to “advance community development through the regeneration of Cardigan and the surrounding area”. It was set up by a small group of locals that strongly felt there were many opportunities within Cardigan to increase community cohesion, enhance the surroundings and to take small steps to help improve the local economy – and that a determined and focussed organisation could make a difference.
Cwmni Bro Ffestiniog
Photographer: Richard Williams
In the Ffestiniog area there is a community of vibrant and successful social enterprises and businesses. Many of them aim to tackle local issues head on while also contributing creatively and sustainably to the future of the area. They have come together in order to co-operate for the benefit of the whole area and to offer sustainable opportunities ranging from the creative, care, environment, building and sustainable tourism sector.
Arfon Timber Co-operative
Photographer: Mike Dean
Arfon Timber is a workers’ co-operative, a social enterprise owned and operated by its members. With over 65 years of collective experience in the traditional construction trade, its members have the skills and experience to create anything and everything possible in wood. Their passion lies in fusing cutting edge design with time honoured techniques; making stunning buildings that last for generations. They work almost exclusively in Welsh grown timber, cut at their own sawmill in Bethesda. Increasing the use of strong, durable homegrown timber, thus reducing timber miles and environmental impact, is a core part of its ethos.
Aura Leisure and Libraries
Photographer: Keith Freeburn
Aura is a charitable, not-for-profit, organisation which, on 1 September 2017, took over the management of the majority of leisure centres and libraries previously operated directly by Flintshire County Council. Aura is a co-operative owned by its employees. Its financial surplus is reinvested into facilities and services to improve the customer experience and to sustain and enhance the offer for future generations. Managing four leisure centres – which include three swimming pools, an ice-skating rink, an indoor skate park, 3G sports pitches, a ten-pin bowling alley and a spa – and seven libraries, Aura employs over 260 staff.
Awel Aman Tawe
Photographer: Philip Griffiths
Awel is a co-operative which owns and runs two 2.35MW Enercon wind turbines on Mynydd y Gwrhyd, 20 miles north of Swansea. These turbines produce clean, low carbon energy - estimated to be 12,558 MWh of clean energy a year, enough to supply over 2,500 homes. Profits support projects tackling fuel poverty and developing other renewable energy projects. The team behind this co-op also manage Egni Solar Co-op which has installed 179kW of solar on seven local community buildings, the largest rollout of solar in Welsh history.
Brithdir Mawr Housing Co-operative
Photographer: James Davies
More than 100 people have come through the doors of Brithdir Mawr in Pembrokeshire in the past quarter of a century, learning how to live sustainably with nature, growing their own food, generating their own energy and creating a co-operative community, in the truest sense of the word. Living together on an 80 acre farm, people work towards a lifestyle that leaves the local and global environment healthier for future generations. The benefits of collective living outweigh the difficulties; so that working together is easier and more enjoyable than working separately; and everyone can flourish and feel at home.
Calon Wen Organic Milk Co-operative
Photographer: Kiran Ridley
Calon Wen is a group of 25 organic family run farms across Wales. It believes in providing exceptional organic products that taste great and are sustainably produced. Its dedicated farmers like to keep things simple, ensuring the cows are properly looked after and graze on the fresh, clover rich pastures which have not been treated with sprays or chemicals.
It pays its farmers for the quality as well as the quantity of milk they produce, which means they’re not pushed towards high yielding systems. Calon Wen is now a leading brand in Wales, supplying Tesco, Morrisons & Waitrose, and many other independent retailers across Wales.
Cartrefi Cymru
Photographer: Alan Denny
Cartrefi Cymru Co-op is a not-for-profit organisation. It mainly supports people with learning disabilities in Wales. Its members are drawn from its 1200 employees, 650 people it supports and thousands of friends, family members and supporters. All these people work together with the shared aim of building local communities and making Cartrefi as good a support provider as it can be. Being a member-owned co-op offers a great opportunity for people to come together in local Co-op Forums, to share their talents and ideas, and to make decisions as equals.
Coed Organic
Photographer: Patrick Olner
Coed Organic is a 5-acre, organic market garden at Coed Hills, on the edge of St Hilary, near Cowbridge. Vegetables are sold to customers in Cardiff and around the Vale of Glamorgan through a veg box scheme and at the Riverside farmers market in Cardiff. It is a workers’ co-operative.
Cardiff Taxi Co-operative (Drive)
Photographer: Patrick Olner
The Cardiff Taxi Co-operative Limited was formed by eight licensed taxi drivers in the summer of 2018. Better known as Drive, it was set up in response to the way self-employed drivers were being treated by the more established and traditional taxi firms in the city. The member drivers all felt that there was a fairer way of doing things, where drivers could feel in complete control of their own destiny. Every decision is made by the membership in a democratic way in the best interests of the company and its members.
Gateway Dental Practice
Photographer: Patrick Olner
Gateway OHS Limited operates four NHS dental surgeries in Abergavenny. In 2016, the principal dentist Mick Allen wanted to step back and rather than sell-out to a big corporate dental firm, he made the decision to transfer ownership to the company’s employees. This enabled Mick to leave the business in the hands of people who had been entrusted with the business over the years and who were passionate about seeing it prosper.
Gower Power Co-operative
Photographer: Philip Griffiths
Gower Power Co-op CIC is a community co-operative owned and controlled by its members. It develops renewable energy projects (including a solar energy farm and electric vehicle charging points), puts these projects into community ownership and provides asset management and administrative services. Over the past three years in Swansea alone, it’s successfully put over £1.5 million of renewable energy assets into community ownership across three projects and helped to establish over £2m in social impact funds for the benefit of the Swansea community
Le Public Space
Photographer: Philip Griffiths
Le Pub was a nationally acclaimed music venue in Newport, with a loyal community of customers. But in 2017 it closed its doors, when the building it was based in was sold. A group of staff and regulars decided to join together and raise the money to buy their own venue - bigger, more central, with better facilities and access for all. Le Public Space is now a premier independent live arts venue in South Wales, owned by the community, for the community.
Pengwern Cymunedol
Photographer: Mike Dean
The Pengwern Arms is a community-owned pub and hotel in Llan Ffestiniog. In 2009, the pub was closed, but a determined group of local residents decided to purchase the building and re-open it as a community co-operative. It is now a successful business offering a pub, restaurant and hotel/B&B. As a co-operative, it is run as a democratic community initiative for the benefit of the village and surrounding area.
White Hart Inn
Photographer: James Davies
For 250 years the White Hart Inn has been at the centre of life in the village of St Dogmaels in Pembrokeshire. It was closed in 2019 and put up for sale but determined not to lose a pivotal part of the village, locals formed the White Hart Community Inn project, a community co-operative, and set about raising the money needed to buy the freehold of the pub and run it as a community. Having raised enough money to buy the White Hart, the group’s offer to purchase was agreed on 18th January 2021. It will continue to be the heart of the village as a place for social gathering, cultural activities, somewhere to meet people and exchange information, and it will promote a cohesive and friendly community in the area.
Wales Restorative Approaches Partnership
Photographer: Natasha Hirst
WRAP is a co-operative which provides restorative training, practice and consultancy within education, housing, families, communities, businesses and the criminal justice system across Wales. Its aim is building, maintaining and repairing relationships. To be restorative means believing that decisions are best made, and conflicts best resolved, by those most directly affected by them. Restorative practices embrace early intervention, prevention and response and include a focus on accountability and responsibility, openness, mutual respect and inclusion.
Ynni Sir Gâr
Photographer: Philip Griffiths
Ynni Sir Gâr is a co-operative social enterprise based in Carmarthenshire, working within its community to tackle climate change by reducing energy costs, promoting energy efficiency, tackling fuel poverty, generating clean renewable energy and keeping the profits local. It works with communities, third sector bodies, organisations, the public sector, local businesses and schools across west Wales to deliver and maintain energy projects and sustainability measures. It is also part of a network to promote decarbonised transport solutions across Wales, notably through the shared use of electric vehicles and the installation of charge points across rural Wales.
Trivallis
Photographer: Matthew Bevan
Based in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Trivallis is one of the largest housing associations in Wales and provides over 10,000 homes and a range of services to its customers, their families and its communities. Trivallis is a Community Mutual Housing Organisation, a form of co-operative that gives tenants more governance and control over their homes.