Description: In 1863 a group of retail societies registered the North of England co-operative Society with the aim of supporting the growing retail consumer co-operative movement. The 300 co-ops that made up the society traded predominantly in Lancashire and Yorkshire. In 1872, the group became the Co-operative Wholesale Society and served its member societies by purchasing goods in bulk, enabling the hundreds of co-operatives across the country to take advantage of their collective strength. It opened factories to provide the co-ops with goods and developed services like banking and insurance to support their operations. Co-operation flourished. CWS entered more and more sectors of the economy; never losing sight of the fact it existed to serve the needs of its ordinary members. In 2000, CWS and CRS merged, creating the world's largest consumer co-operative. In 2001, the Society changed it name to the Co-operative Group, reflecting its changing role as a family of co-operative businesses. (information from www.co-op.co.uk) This view also shows trees planted by Creswell Groundwork Trust.