History of the United Co-operative Baking Society Ltd.

by William Reid

THE END OF THE TASK.

We have now come to the end of our task. In the preceding pages we have traced the growth of the Society from its infancy when it was cradled in the little bakery in Coburg Street; we have followed it through all the struggles of its early years, and have seen difficulty after difficulty surmounted. Growth has followed on growth, and the Society has gone on adding to its usefulness until it stands to-day a monument to the faith and foresight of the men who conceived it, and a monument also to the shrewdness and integrity of the men who in successive generations have had charge of its welfare. In its early years the directors were often in need of money with which to meet expenses. To-day it has invested funds not required at the moment for business purposes, and including £70,000 in War Loan, which amount in the aggregate to considerably over £300,000. It began with a membership of eight societies and a few pounds of capital. At the end of the fiftieth year the share capital was almost £250,000; while loans and deposits were in excess of that sum, and there were 211 shareholding societies.

The prospect is rosy. The directors are on the outlook for new worlds to conquer. Already they have devised plans whereby they can come to the assistance of the Glasgow societies in setting up shops for the sale of teabread and pastries. They have requests for branch bakeries from various parts of Scotland and Ireland which have yet to be considered. They have the ever-increasing urgency of the transport problem to deal with, and on them falls, also, the duty of counteracting the ever-present tendency on the part of societies at the outskirts to break off and begin baking for themselves. That is to say, they have ever before them the problem of making the huge organisation which they control more and ever more efficient, while maintaining those good relations with their employees which have been such a noteworthy feature during the long life of the Society; and they have to continue to do this while continuing to manifest that true spirit of Co-operation and brotherliness which has been so distinguishing a feature of the attitude and atmosphere which surrounds the Federation. That they will achieve all this there is little doubt, for the directors of to-day are worthy successors of the men who wrought and fought that the Federation might stand where it does.

CHAPTER XX.
EDUCATIONAL WORK.

IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION—EARLY EDUCATIONAL WORK OF THE SOCIETY—AN EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE FORMED—ITS CONSTITUTION—WORK AMONGST THE YOUNG—THE U.C.B.S. BAND FORMED—SOCIAL WORK—LECTURES—CLASSES DURING WORKING HOURS—A NEW DEPARTURE—AN EDUCATIONAL TOUR—A SECOND TOUR—VALUABLE WORK—THE YEARS OF WAR.

In all propaganda work there must necessarily be an element of education, for at least a part of educational work consists in the imparting of information, although the more important part is the training to think. Co-operators from the very earliest days of the movement have recognised the necessity of education, and have devoted a part of the funds which came to them from Co-operative trading to its support. Indeed the Rochdale Pioneers went further, and amongst their objects they placed taking control of the functions of education, meantime devoting 2½ per cent. of the surplus which accrued to them from their Co-operative trading to the furtherance of education amongst themselves. This example of theirs was followed by many other societies, and associations of a more or less educational nature were formed wherever a number of Co-operators could find it convenient to meet. It was from the conferences of representatives from the societies that the idea grew of what has become ultimately the supreme educational authority of the movement in Britain, the Co-operative Union. Even before the formation of the Union, conferences were being held in Scotland to discuss Co-operative problems, and almost from the beginning the Baking Society affiliated with the nearest of the Associations under whose auspices such conferences were held. Thus we find them subscribing to the funds of the Glasgow and Suburbs Conference Association and the Renfrewshire Conference Association, and, later, to all the other district associations in the country. But even before they began to subscribe to the conference associations they were taking an interest in and giving support to the literature of the movement. We find them at the quarterly meeting which took place on 26th August 1871 agreeing to subscribe for twelve copies of the Co-operative News, which were to be distributed amongst the employees in the bakery.

The members of the committee were evidently diligent readers of this journal too, for, as has been noted previously, they embodied in their minutes at a later date a criticism of some remarks which had appeared in that journal relative to the Society. It was not until 1896, however, that it was decided to set up a separate committee, which would have under its control the educative and recreative agencies of the Society. Just prior to that they had published a Year Book which contained a history of the Society to date. A branch of the Women’s Guild had also been formed, and classes in singing and ambulance work, as well as a literary society. At a special meeting which the committee held on 1st February 1896 they came to the unanimous decision that the time had now arrived when an educational and charitable fund should be formed by the Society, out of which all charitable donations and subscriptions should be taken. At the following meeting the sum of £50 was voted for the purpose of forming an educational fund.

The members of the board took the employees into consultation with respect to the administration of the educational fund, with the result that the following constitution was drawn up and agreed to:—

DUTIES AND WORK OF EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE.

This Committee shall consist of three Directors, who shall hold office for one year, and shall be elected at the December meeting of each year. They, along with the four members appointed by the employees, shall form the Educational Committee.

They shall take a special oversight of all the clubs, classes, and meetings of an educational nature connected with the Bakery.

They shall have at their disposal for the furtherance of educational work connected with the Bakery 10 per cent. or such other proportion of the Educational and Benevolent Fund (Rule 14) as the Directors may from time to time determine.

It will further be expected from them to make recommendations to the Directors from time to time on matters of public educational interest, and it shall be competent for the Directors at any time to remit such matters to them for consideration and report.

They shall meet monthly or oftener if required, and submit a short minute of their proceedings at the Directors’ bi-monthly meeting.

The first report of the educational committee was issued in December 1896. From this report it appeared that the nucleus of a library had been brought together, and that the library had been opened with 180 volumes; the literary association had had a membership of 105, and the women’s guild a membership of fifty. A musical association had also been conducted under the auspices of the committee, which had secured forty-nine members, and the choir had given a concert in the Wellington Palace. They had also sung at a mass meeting of Co-operators held in the City Hall, and had supplied the music at a propaganda meeting held at Blairdardie by the Glasgow and Suburbs Conference Association council. A swimming class had had a membership of sixty, and an ambulance class had a membership of thirty-five on the roll. A physical drill class had been started for the younger lads in the factory, and a Christian Association with twenty members on the roll had been started, and carried on a service every Sunday in the Society’s hall. Altogether the committee had done a remarkably good year’s work for a beginning, and had reason to congratulate themselves on the success which had attended their efforts.

The members of the educational committee had not been long at work before they came to the conclusion that the Society owed a duty to its younger workers which it could not afford to neglect. The Society employed over a hundred young people under eighteen years of age, and it was the wish of the committee that they should find some method by means of which they could assist these young people. Their first step was the convening of a meeting of the young people in the London Street tearooms, where they were addressed by Dr Henry Dyer and Mr James Campsie; and, as a result of this meeting, eleven of the young people joined the Glasgow continuation classes. It was during the second year of the educational committee’s existence that the Society’s band was formed, and the educational committee lent valuable financial aid in establishing it, with the result that in the years which have followed the band has proved itself a most valuable Co-operative asset. Mr James Campsie, M.A., was also commissioned to write a booklet for the children, which was entitled “Glimpses of Co-operative Land,” and of which some 22,000 copies were sold.

The committee and the various agencies under its control also took an active part in the work of the Homes bazaar, with the result that they were in the happy position of being able to contribute £480 to its funds. The members of the committee also took an active part in the elections to the various local governing bodies of the city and in the work of the Ward Committee. In 1899 a holiday club was formed, which in its first year of existence disbursed £220 amongst the members at holiday time. New agencies were continually being added, and new methods tried of influencing the younger members amongst the firm’s employees and of providing recreation and education for them. In 1903 a junior musical association was started, and continued to do well for a number of years, as did also an offshoot in the form of a kinderspiel choir, which gave each year successful performances of operettas to large audiences. A rowing club also became an immediate success until the war brought to many of the members another form of outdoor exercise of an even more strenuous nature.

In 1905 a series of lectures was organised; such well-known men as Mr Will Crooks, T. P. O’Connor, M.P., and David Macrae being the lecturers engaged. Annual festivals of the employees also became the rule, and later, annual excursions in the summer, which proved very successful. A whist club and a football club were next formed, and in 1908 a beginning with a holiday camp was made, twenty-five young people being sent to the Y.M.C.A. camp at Ardgoil, with the assistance of the educational committee. From time to time the committee paid the fees of employees who attended classes at the Technical College, and in 1912 they came to the unanimous decision that in future the fees of all employees, irrespective of age or sex, who devoted their spare time to attendance at technical or continuation classes, should be paid for them, provided the attendances they made satisfied the committee. They also decided that all junior employees who attended the Technical College for a session should be allowed to attend day classes at the college, time so spent to be accounted as part of their day’s work. This admirable decision, arrived at long before any steps in this direction were taken by the educational authorities on either side of the Border, is an evidence of the value which the committee set on education.