The President of the International Co-operative Alliance will give a talk about the Magna Carta at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln to mark the 800^th anniversary of the signing of the famous document.

Dame Pauline Green will use her lecture on Wednesday 29^th April to draw parallels between the Magna Carta and the modern co-operative movement.

The Magna Carta is credited with laying down the core principles of British democracy, and its influence spread around the world as emerging nations searched for an equitable and just governance system.

Democratic principles also lie at the heart of the co-operative business model developed 600 years after Magna Carta by a group of mill workers in Rochdale. The ‘Law First’ of the Rochdale Pioneers spawned a modern model of business that has reached all parts of the globe.

Dame Pauline Green is the first female President in the 120-year history of the International

Co-operative Alliance. She was elected in 2009 and re-elected for a second term in 2013.

In her lecture she will argue that the co-operative movement is the best ever initiative for taking people out of poverty with dignity that the world has ever seen, and one of the UK’s most enduring exports.

The lecture will take place at 2pm on Wednesday 29^th April in the Robert Hardy Lecture Theatre at BGU.

The event is free and open to everyone, and refreshments will be served.

To book your place contact Jessica Lyons by calling 01522 583681 or by emailing jessica.lyons@bishopg.ac.uk

Notes to editors:
• Bishop Grosseteste University was established in January 1862 and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2012.
• It is an independent higher education institution based in Lincoln which awards its own undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
• It changed its name from Bishop Grosseteste University College to Bishop Grosseteste University in November 2012.
• Magna Carta, signed by King John in 1215, is one of the most enduring legal documents in the world. It is known as the first charter to limit the power of the king and to uphold the rights of the individual.
• When King John agreed to the barons’ demands for peace at Runnymede in 1215, copies of the charter were made and sealed. They were distributed to sheriffs, cathedrals and important religious houses throughout England. Lincoln Cathedral’s Magna Carta is one of only four surviving originals.
• Since 1993 Lincoln’s Magna Carta has been on display at Lincoln Castle. A new home and visitor centre for Magna Carta opened on 1st April 2015 at the culmination of the Lincoln Castle Revealed project.

For media information please contact:
Jez Ashberry
Shooting Star PR
01522 528540
07780 735071
jez@weareshootingstar.co.uk
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