CCH was delighted to attend Sanford Housing Co-operative’s 50th anniversary party recently. Sanford has 14 houses in New Cross, London, is home to around 120 people, was the first purpose built housing co-operative in the UK, and has been a long standing member of CCH.
The event started with a day time celebration, beginning with an incredible communal feast, open house visits, and an exhibition which charted the co-operative’s journey. The exhibition included some amazing historical stories from current and former members of the co-operative.
Early afternoon, hosted by Herta Gatter, Chair of Sanford, included a speech by the enigmatic John Hands, former Executive Director of Student Co-operative Dwellings [SCD] and one of the founder members of Sanford, who told the story of how the co-operative came about, starting in 1968, and some of the hoops and hurdles that he had to go through to move the development site forward. He also said how he was told from the start that the project would never work because of the transient nature of students living in the accommodation, how wrong they were!
This was followed by David Rodgers, who took over from John at SCD to continue the development. David recalled how he had to go to a furniture showroom and order 146 desks, 146 wardrobes, 146 beds, and 146 mattresses for the rooms, and that they needed to be delivered straight away – in time for the incoming residents start of term, much to the shock of the shopkeeper. The desks were delivered on moving in day, and Penny Smith-Orr, one of the first members of the co-operative, recalled how ‘flat packed furniture’ wasn’t a thing back then, so it was an interesting time moving in and learning how to put everything together.
Current and former members of the co-operative then came forward for an open mic session to tell their individual experiences of living in Sanford. All of them saying how much it had changed their lives, and how very appreciative they were of their time living there, the people that they got to know, and the opportunity to learn and live democracy and co-operation.
The afternoon celebrations were followed by evening entertainment on two stages with live performances by Queer Cabaret, a jam session, bands and DJs, and of course, a bar! With a closing ceremony on the main stage with a spectacular tealight show.
Sanford housing co-operative has certainly come a long way since its beginnings in the 1970’s. The street is an award winning green environment, has a booming organic vegetable garden, and a system of ponds built by the members of the co-op, with tall trees, bushes and lawns. They created an amazing bike storage area themselves built of railway sleepers, a fully-equipped bicycle workshop, an indoor communal area for meetings, and are currently looking into creating a community centre development.
Griff from the Outreach team said “Sanford is keen to build a stronger co-operative movement, recognising the need for working on creating better inclusivity and more co-operation 
amongst co-operatives. It faces different challenges to those in the 70s, and is working hard to find co-operative solutions so that it survives the next 50 years.”
We know Sanford will still be here, with many more amazing co-operative members coming through its doors. CCH loved being in attendance, we have to say, it’s one of our favourite housing co-operative members!
To find out more about the history of Sanford Housing Co-operative click here.