Two distinguished co-operators have been awarded Fellowships by the Plunkett Foundation at their annual seminar and AGM in Oxford on 9 June.
Edgar Parnell, former Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation, and Dr Rita Rhodes, academic and writer on international co-operation and a long standing member of the Plunkett Foundation, were awarded their Fellowships for their outstanding contribution to the work of the Plunkett Foundation.
PHOTO: Susan Knox (Plunkett Foundation Chair), Rita Rhodes, Edgar Parnell and Peter Couchman (Plunkett Foundation Chief Executive)
Edgar Parnell, speaking at the event, said: "It is my privilege to have the award of a Plunkett Foundation Fellowship. Plunkett is a very special organisation that both punches above its weight in terms of its influence and has an innate capacity to adapt and respond to a fast changing world. I am extremely proud of my continuing association with the Foundation".
Dr Rita Rhodes, when accepting the Fellowship, said: “By any reckoning Sir Horace Plunkett was a major historical co-operative figure. I am delighted yet somewhat humble if it was felt that I had reflected his values in my co-operative career and I thank the Plunkett Foundation warmly for its award."
Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation, said: “Both Edgar and Rita have dedicated their lives to promoting, supporting and researching the impact co-operatives have as a way of improving the lives of people and communities worldwide. We would like to thank them for their enormous contribution and welcome them as Plunkett Foundation Fellows,”
The Plunkett Foundation Fellowship is awarded to an individual for an outstanding contribution to the work of the Plunkett Foundation in supporting rural people through co-operative enterprise to take control of the issues affecting them. The Plunkett Foundation was founded in 1919 by Sir Horace Plunkett, the great pioneer of co-operative enterprise in rural Ireland.
The Fellowships were awarded at the Plunkett Foundation’s Annual Seminar and AGM which focused on the role of community-ownership in the future of rural services. Speakers included Professor Jonathan Michie, Founder of the Centre for Mutual and Employee-owned Business at Kellogg College, Oxford and Dr Stuart Burgess, the Government’s Rural Advocate.
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NOTES TO EDITORS:
The Plunkett Foundation (www.plunkett.co.uk) is a national organisation based in Woodstock, Oxfordshire that helps rural communities through co-operative enterprise to take control of the issues important to them. The Plunkett Foundation runs a range of projects and services supporting rural communities to set up and successfully run co-operatives including community-owned shops, community-owned rural services and Community Food and Farming Enterprises.
Edgar Parnell biography
Edgar Parnell started his working life in a consumer co-operative in the north of England and subsequently held senior management posts within several UK co-operatives before becoming General Manager of the Co-operative Development Trust, Botswana, which established the nation’s first supermarkets and central wholesaling operations.
On returning to the UK he was appointed as a retail management consultant for Clarks Ltd and later held a similar position with the Co-operative Wholesale Society (UK). Next he became the Non-Food Retailing Manager covering co-operative stores throughout Scotland; then in 1974 adviser on co-operative management to the Government of Jamaica. Other appointments followed, including Manager for the Fund for the Research and Development of Africa and then UN/ILO adviser on management and marketing to co-operatives in India. In 1980 he was appointed as Education Officer at the Plunkett Foundation and thereafter served as Chief Executive from 1984 to 1998.
He has undertaken consultancy and training assignments for co-operatives both in the UK and in over 40 other countries. He also served as: a member of the General Assembly of the International Co-operative Alliance, co-chairman of the EU Committee for the Development of the Rural Economy of Poland, a member of the Council of the Federation of Agricultural Co-operatives (UK), chairman of the UK national Co-operative Development Agency, Education and Training Committee, and on various COGECA (the EU federation of agricultural co-operatives) working parties. Edgar Parnell is the author of many publications of which the best known is Reinventing the Cooperative - Enterprises for the 21st Century, which has been translated into several languages. Edgar is author of the Co-op Pundit blog (http://www.co-oppundit.org/).
Dr Rita Rhodes biography
Dr Rita Rhodes, a long standing member and former Trustee of the Plunkett Foundation, graduated from the Co-operative College in 1957 and after this time took on a number of co-operative education roles. Her roles included Lecturer in Co-operative Studies at Magee College, University of Ulster, Londonderry, the Co-operative Union’s Scottish Sectional Education Officer, the Education Liaison Officer of the National Co-operative Development Agency, London and the Education Officer and Secretary to the Women’s Committee of the International Co-operative Alliance in London and Geneva.
In 1995 she completed her Ph.D at the Open University on The International Co-operative Alliance During War and Peace 1910-1950 and her thesis was published by the International Co-operative Alliance in the same year. She has since co-authored Thematic Guide to ICA Congresses 1895-1995 in 1996 and authored An Arsenal for Labour – The Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society and Politics 1896-1996 in 1997. Currently, she is preparing a history of the development of co-operatives in the British Empire 1900 – 1960. Dr Rhodes has written numerous articles for Co-operative journals and has delivered papers for national and international co-operative research conferences.
Dr Rhodes is a Visiting Research Associate of the Co-operative Research Unit at the Open University, a member and past Chair of the Society of Co-operative Studies and Review Editor of the Journal of Co-operative Studies and a founder member of the Scottish Co-operatives Development Committee.