Who'd have though it?

The Co-op - grocery shops, funeral parlours, insurance - but schools??  I was surprised to find that they were involved in funding academies and indeed hope to expand this aspect of their business.  How far they have come from the old days when you had a customer number which you had to give whenever you bought anything, and then you had a book which you presented for updating every now and again which recorded your "divi".  The idea was that the company profits went to the members - i.e. the shoppers.  Revolutionary idea for the times.