RAILWAYMEN’S CONGRESS ENTERTAINED.
In October of 1908 the annual Congress of the Amalgamated Society of Railway servants was held in Glasgow, and, on the Monday night of the week in which the Congress was held, the delegates were the guests of the U.C.B.S., the whole suite of the St Mungo Halls being placed at their disposal. The guests were welcomed by Mr Gerrard in name of the Society. He said the railwaymen all over the country were a tower of strength to the Co-operative movement, and in every town which was a railway centre there also they would find a strong, well-managed Co-operative society.
In 1909 the price of flour took an upward tendency, but at the time the movement began the U.C.B.S. were well prepared to meet it as they had a stock of 75,000 sacks in hand; sufficient to carry them on for four months. Later in that year the directors had a conference with the directors of the Wholesale Society, as they were dissatisfied with the quality of the flour they were getting from Regent mill. The result of the conference was that they agreed to try Chancelot flour for a time. New trading terms were also arranged with the S.C.W.S. for the sale of biscuits. This year’s sales of cakes and other Christmas and New Year goods were considered very satisfactory, 68¼ tons of large cakes being sold. During the period of cake distribution what was considered a record run was made by one of the Society’s motors; 140 miles being covered in fifteen hours, and goods delivered on the route.
THE BAND.
During the years since its formation, the U.C.B.S. silver band had been gradually increasing in efficiency. At first, when it entered competitions, it was only occasionally in the list of prize winners, and its engagements in the course of a year were not many in number, but as the members gained in knowledge of their instruments and experience as a musical combination, this position gradually bettered, until in 1906 they were winners of three first prizes and several others of lesser value. These successes were followed in the ensuing years by others, so that by the end of the season of 1908 the Iles cup had become their own property, having been won for three successive years, and the prizes were formally presented at a social meeting, which was held on 3rd December of that year. Mr William Miller, who was president of the band, and who had taken a keen interest in its development from the beginning, presided, and stated that the season had been the best on record, as they had had thirty-five engagements during the season. One of the chief aims of the band, he said, was to spread a greater love for brass band music. During the evening Mr Lawson, chairman of the Scottish Central Brass Band Association, presented the prizes which had been won during the season. These included the challenge cup, the Iles cup, and the second-class championship cup. Mr Miller was presented by the bandsmen during the evening with a clock and ornaments in recognition of the services he had rendered to the band during the eleven years it had been in existence. Mr Miller, in returning thanks, hoped that the U.C.B.S. band would be the nucleus of a Co-operative band which would represent the whole movement, and which would be able in time to take its place alongside even the “Besses of the Barns.” Unfortunately, Mr Miller’s hopes have not yet been realised, and now there are two bands in the movement instead of one.
PROPAGANDA WORK.
The Society was continuously devising new forms of propaganda, and extending and developing old forms. Much of this propaganda and advertising work was philanthropic in its nature, and took the form of entertaining various Co-operative and other organisations, but some of it was also utilitarian. For instance, it was usually arranged that the heads of the departments, or some of them, should attend the annual exhibitions of bakery productions in London, and frequently specimens of the Society’s productions were shown there. Then the annual cake show grew to be the most sought after function of the whole year in the Co-operative movement, and committeemen and Co-operative employees from all over the country came to inspect and select, while the departments of the three bakeries vied with each other in devising new dainties with which to please the eye and tempt the palate of Co-operators. Unfortunately, amongst other evils which the war brought in its train was the cessation of this annual Co-operative show.
In another direction, also, the propaganda work of the Society was utilitarian as well as philanthropic. A considerable sum was spent every year on educational work, and much of this money was devoted to the promotion of education and recreation amongst the employees. Then, too, when new instruments became necessary for the band, a grant of £200 was made from the Society’s funds, while uniforms were also provided. Every opportunity of exhibiting the Society’s productions was also seized with avidity, and at the 1906 Congress sufficient space was secured to enable an oatcake baking plant to be set up, thus advertising still further the Society’s products amongst the Co-operators of the South. In 1907 a conference was held with representatives of society members and their employees for the purpose of stimulating the pastry trade. Toward the end of the same year, a society in Amsterdam was granted the use of lantern slides of the bakery for propaganda purposes. Twenty vehicles were sent out to take part in the Co-operative demonstration held in connection with the Co-operative Festival in the beginning of 1908, while every year for a time an inspection of the Society’s horses took place in Glasgow Green on an evening in the summer, and prizes were given to the employees for the best groomed horses and best kept and cleaned harness. During a bakers’ strike at Lanark in the early autumn of 1908, the Bakers’ Union applied to the Baking Society for bread, which they purposed to sell in opposition to the local bakers. This request was complied with on the condition that the Union did not sell in competition with the local society.
Late in 1908, the bakery of Kilbirnie Society was burned down, and that society was supplied with bread until their own bakery was reconstructed again. At an exhibition and test of motor vehicles, which took place towards the end of 1908, an Albion car which was the property of the Society was awarded first prize and a Halley car, also their property, second prize. The prizes, £4 and £2, were given to the drivers. Pie-heaters had been supplied to one society in the Glasgow area by the Baking Society, and these having been found exceedingly useful in stimulating the sales of this variety of the Society’s productions, it was agreed by the directors that any other society which was desirous of using them should have similar facilities. Toward the end of 1909 it was agreed to hold a competition amongst the squads of bread bakers in M‘Neil Street and Clydebank, and to enter bread baked by the winners for the S.C.W.S. bread baking competition. Clydebank branch secured first prize at the bread baking competition of the S.C.W.S., and the championship shield was presented to the U.C.B.S. at a social meeting of the Bakery employees, which was held at Clydebank shortly afterwards. The M‘Neil Street squad foremen who had won prizes also had these presented to them at a social meeting which was held in Glasgow about the same time. Hopes were expressed at the meeting in Clydebank that, having gained the shield, Clydebank would remain possessors of it, but this was probably too much to expect. At all events, no society succeeded in winning it twice while the competition was in being.
In 1910 the miners of Leadhills, who had since become more closely associated with the U.C.B.S., were on strike against the very bad conditions of their employment, and £20 was granted by the Bakery to the strike funds. In March 1910 “Puffing Billy,” the first steam motor owned by the U.C.B.S., was disposed of for £70, after having given some eight years of faithful service.