THe MArches hive

Latest News

Stay up to date with all Marches Hive activity by viewing our news posts below.

In 1997 the Robert Owen Group launched a co-operative school centred initial teacher training project through the Marches Consortium and in partnership with the University of Gloucester. The scheme rapidly grew and became the largest of its type in the United Kingdom , successfully training over 3,700 post graduates who now work in our schools and colleges with many at senior leadership levels. Alongside this we launched a Master’s level programme for trainers in schools and for former trainees and teachers to access as career progression.

It became clear that the absence of an institute of higher education in the Marches sub region posed a real impediment to developing research, seminal thinking and platonic discourse. We often ignore the valuable infrastructure that comes with a quality centre of higher education. The Directors of the Marches Consortium developed a Robert Owen Learning Academy in Leominster and encouraged many ‘hub’ schools to have satellite post graduate libraries for their ‘clusters’.

This is all now background history but our 1998 creation of “query” as a radical journal of left field thinking has now in 2021 led to the addition of this section to the Marches Hive website. We want to stimulate thinking, discussion and the sharing of relevant news and knowledge.

We called the original 1990’s journal query because our minds turned to the creation in the 1870’s of the Tredegar Medical Aid Society which started life as as ‘Health and Education Fund’. In 1920 Walter Conway , Aneurin Bevan and others formed the radical Query Club as a new development. The Club was a cross between a debating society, a mutual support group , a focus for sharing contemporary knowledge and a body set on advancing radical thinking to address the issues of the day. In those times adult education was very much in cells following on the model of the early Methodist house groups.

We believe the challenges of today in many ways mirror those of one hundred years ago and we do encourage everyone’s to engage with query and to share your thoughts, views, knowledge and understanding so that we can all grow together . Thank you

News Articles

How To Start and Manage a Childcare Co-op

Finding and financing the right childcare can be tricky. If full-time daycare is more than you need and your schedule is unpredictable (maybe you work from home, are looking for work or just need a break once in a while), the problem is even stickier. One solution...

Senior Cooperative Housing

In senior cooperative housing, active 55 and older residents own a share of the community with an equal voice in how it's run. The tax benefits of home ownership are there but without the hassle of home upkeep. This makes an ideal transition from long-time home...

Our Story Working Towards a Better Future Dealing with the challenges of today requires problem-solvers who bring new perspectives and are willing to take risks. Gunditjmara Aboriginal Cooperative Ltd emerged out of a pursuit to inspire and support the community and a...