Below are the experiences being organised 2-3 July exclusively for ICA registrants to the Festival of Cooperatives and ICA General Assembly in Manchester, United Kingdom.
To help us meet demand, please register your interest for any of the activities below using this form. We will then be able to keep you updated with specific information, including booking instructions once the schedule is confirmed.
The schedule is listed first and details including meeting point are provided below the table.
Note: The activities offered, schedule and times are subject to change - a final schedule will be provided to delegates.
ICA Delegate Experience Schedule
Wednesday 2 July
Thursday 3 July
ICA Delegate Experience Details
PRESENTATIONS
Co-op Food Stores
Come and learn about the heart of our food business, our stores. There will be a presentation given by operational leaders highlighting some of the things that make us different to our competitors, own brand, membership and our pure convenience business model. This will be followed by a visit to one of our stores.
Duration: 1 Hour
Location: The Annexe, 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG local Food Stores
Date/s & Times: Wednesday 2 July 2025 and Thursday 3 July 2025. 9:30 – 10:30 and 13:30 – 14:30
Maximum Capacity: 30 (Groups of 10 per store)
Language: English
The Co-op’s Responsible Retailing & Sustainability Journey
Come and learn about The Co-op’s 30-year Responsible Retailing & Sustainability journey and how we are working with our members and partners to ensure a sustainable future for people and planet. There will be a presentation given by members of our Food Sustainability and Member Participation teams followed by a question-and-answer session.
Duration: 1 Hour
Location: The Annexe, 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s & Times: Wednesday 2 July 2025, 10:30 – 11:30 and 14:30 – 15:30
Maximum Capacity: 40
Language: English
The Rochdale Pioneers – Film screening
Come and watch The Rochdale Pioneers is a British biographical feature film, released in 2012, that tells the story of the foundation of the first successful cooperative retail store by working class members of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, in 1844. This came at a time of chronic unemployment, poverty, hunger and social inequality, and it was met with prejudice and opposition.
Duration: 1 Hour
Location: The Annexe, 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s & Times: Wednesday 2 July and Thursday 3 July 2025, 11:30 – 12:30 and 15:30 – 16:30
Language: English
Concern for the Community - A Co-operative Group perspective
The 7th Co-operative Principle of Concern for the Community has been interpreted and delivered in a variety of ways by co-operatives throughout the globe. This presentation will provide an opportunity to learn more about how The Co-operative Group demonstrates Concern for the Community through one of their flagship social value programmes, the Local Community Fund. The session will explain how the funding model helps to drive participation with their member-owners, whilst helping deliver a positive impact in local communities by supporting thousands of grassroots projects. They’ll also be a chance to hear from a local cause and how this funding has helped make a difference.
The presentation will be delivered by the Co-op Group’s Local Community Fund team, followed by a Question & Answer session.
Duration: 1 Hour
Location: The Annexe, 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s & Times: Thursday 3 July 2025, 10:30 – 11:30 and 14:30 – 15:30
Maximum Capacity: 40
Language: English
Unleashing the Power of Co-operation
In this session, we will review the concepts of Potestas and Potentia, identifying how we as individuals and the wider co-operative movement can harness the power of co-operation to meet today’s global challenges. Through the lens of the co-operative values and principles, we’ll determine what we can do with our potentia to support the theme of the UN international year of co-operatives: “Co-operatives Build a Better World.”
There will also be opportunity to enjoy the People’s History Museum after the workshop.
Duration: 1.5 Hour workshop, 1.5 Hour Museum Visit
Location: The Riverside Room, People’s History Museum – Pick Up and Drop-off Point – 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s: Thursday 3 July 2025, 10:00 – 11:30 and 14:00 – 15:30
Maximum Capacity: 35
Language: English
The UK Co-operative Movement
Join us for an engaging presentation that explores the rich history and dynamic present of the UK co-operative movement. We’ll delve into its origins and development, provide an overview of the current landscape, and highlight a variety of co-operative models to showcase the movement’s diversity. The session will conclude with a forward-looking discussion on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for co-operatives in the UK.
Duration: 1 Hour
Location: The Annexe, 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s: Wednesday 2 July, 15:30 – 16:30 and Thursday 3 July 2025, 11:30 – 12:30
Maximum Capacity: 40
Language: English
COOPERATIVE TOURS
The Co-op Quarter Manchester – Walking Tour
Join your Co-operative College guide as they take you on an intimate walking tour of Manchester’s unique co-operative quarter. Using statues and historic and modern buildings to tell the story of Manchester’s influence on the UK and global co-operative movement, your guide will take you on a journey of over 100 years of co-operation. The walking tour lasts approximately 45 minutes and is outdoors on mostly flat, even ground.
Duration: 45 minutes
Location: Meeting point – 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s: Wednesday 2 July and Thursday 3 July 2025, 9:30 – 10:15 and 13:00 – 14:15
Maximum Capacity: 10
Language: English
Plant Co-operative CIC Walking Tour
Plant Co-operative CIC is a multi-award-winning not-for-profit urban gardening collective formed in the spring of 2021. They specialise in tending often neglected urban city centre spaces, working alongside city developers, the city council and local organisations to transform and manage pockets of wilder space, and create the opportunity to bring the community together through gardening.
Duration: 45 Minutes
Location: Meeting and drop-off point – 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s: Wednesday 2 July and Thursday 3 July 2025, 10:30 – 11:15 and 14:30 – 15:15
Maximum Capacity: 20
Language: English
Co-op Academies Trust – Visit
Come and learn about the Co-op Academies Trust at one of our most successful secondary schools, Co-op Academy Belle Vue. The Co-op supports over 20,000 young people across the North West through our Co-op Academies Trust, sharing our co-operative difference through education.
Duration: 2 Hours (including travel by coach)
Location: Coach pick up and return point - 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s: Wednesday 2 July and Thursday 3 July 2025, 9:30 – 11:30 and 13:30 – 15:30
Maximum Capacity: 20
Language: English
FC Untied Stadium Tour
FC United of Manchester Explore Manchester’s supporter-owned football club Founded in 2005, FC United of Manchester is a football club which is owned and democratically run by its members. Their stadium, Broadhurst Park, is the UK’s first new ground to be built by a supporter-owned football club, with FC United's members involved at every stage of the design and construction process. During the visit, you’ll tour the stadium and hear from one of the club’s passionate volunteers about the reasons behind the formation of the club, the benefits and challenges involved in running a member-owned football team, and their co-operative vision of football that is accessible to all the communities of Manchester.
Duration: 2 Hours (including travel by coach)
Location: Pick up and drop-off point – 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s& Times: Wednesday 2 July and Thursday 3 July 2025, 9:30 – 11:30 and 13:30 – 15:30
Maximum Capacity: 20
Language: English
Hulme Community Garden Centre and Unicorn Grocery Co-operatives – Visit
Visit and learn about Hulme Community Garden Centre and Unicorn Grocery, two co-operatives operating in the heart of the city.
Hulme Community Garden Centre is a garden centre with a difference that makes a difference. Unicorn Grocery offers customers an unbeatable range of affordable, fresh and wholesome food with an emphasis on organic, fair-trade and local produce. The grocery is the size of a supermarket but run as a workers’ co-operative, owned and democratically controlled by staff you will see in the shop.
Duration: 2.5 Hours (including travel time by coach)
Location: Pick-up and drop-off point – 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date & Times: Wednesday 2 July and Thursday 3 July 2025, 9:30 – 12:00 & 13:30 – 16:00
Maximum Capacity: 10
Language: English
Emerge Co-operative Visit
EMERGE provides the full range of waste, recycling and confidential shredding collection services to businesses, organisations and schools. They advance sustainable resource management including advice, information and consultation to the wider community. A movement for positive change, EMERGE conserves natural resources and motivates more people to embrace ‘the real 3Rs’, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Duration: 2 Hours (Including travel by coach)
Location: Pick-up and drop-off point – 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s: Wednesday 2 July and Thursday 3 July 2025, 09:30 – 11:30 and 13:30 – 15:30
Maximum Capacity: 10
Language: English
COOPERATIVE HISTORICAL ATTRACTIONS
The Rochdale Pioneers Museum
Why not visit the birthplace of Co-operation – The Rochdale Pioneers Museum. The site of the museum at 31 Toad Lane was where the ‘Pioneers’, 28 working people opened a co-operative store on the 21st December 1844. The shop sold fairly priced, good quality food during very hard times. This was social enterprise in action; a chance for local people to become equal members in a revolution that spread all over the world.
Duration: 2.5 Hours (including travel by coach)
Location: Pick-up and drop-off point – 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Date/s: Wednesday 2 July and Thursday 3 July 2025, 9:30 – 12:00, 12:00 – 14:30, 14:30 – 17:00
Maximum Capacity: 40
Language: English
The People’s History Museum
Get a friendly welcome at People's History Museum in Manchester, the national museum of democracy. Explore the museum and be empowered by the past to make a change for the future.
Duration: 1.5 Hour
Location: Meeting and drop-off point – 1 Angel Square, Manchester, M60 0AG
Dates and Times: Wednesday 2 July 2025 Various
Maximum Capacity: 20
Language: English
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
In addition to the activities above, you may wish to enjoy broader tourism attractions while visiting Manchester.
Whether you’re seeking culture, nightlife, history, or just good fun, there are plenty of things to do.
Full details including booking details are available on our partner website: https://www.meetinmanchester.com/ica-general-assembly-2025/
- Email: wright@ica.coop
