Dial Farm was purchased in 1910, to provide the milk for the Society. This is a large top bottle with "Co-operative Society" embossed in the glass. The top was covered with a cardboard disc which was pushed down into a groove close to the rim of the bottle.
Later tokens could be bought from the Co-op shops and these were put out on the doorstep daily for the required number of pints of milk to be left. Orange juice was also delivered in "milk bottles".
A cardboard disc
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| After WWII, milk was provided for schools in one third of a pint bottles, and the cardboard tops had a partially cut centre hole into which the children pushed a straw to drink the milk through. The cardboard discs were collected and often used as a template for making "pom-poms" or bobbles for the tops of knitted woollen hats. |
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(above) Plastic milk tokens from the 1960s.
The colour was changed regularly, as the price increased.
(left) In the 1970s when the Rushden Co-op was taken into the Northampton Co-op Society, which was later absorbed into the Midlands Co-op Society.
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