i io for pens nckiser (formerly Reckitt & Colman) Pen ners of the Reckitt Be sion Fund No. 50, March 2011 More than a responsibility – an obligation OUR BIG SOCIETY 100 YEARS AGO As the current debate continues on what is, or should be, the Big Society, pictures and articles from 100 year old copies of The Carrow Works Magazine tell a remarkable story of how the Norwich company and community tackled economic pressures and unemployment at the start of the 20th century. Fulfilling what they saw as an obligation, the directors of J. & J. Colman Ltd funded emigration to Canada where greater job opportunities were available for young men and women. Reckitts in Hull had a similar scheme later. The 1911 photograph, below, practice by providing recreation for shows the first Carrow group of the young and pensions for the aged, “sturdy young lads” on the tender was puzzled to know what to do for taking them to the transatlantic ship a batch of young fellows and a bevy of girls who were being pressed out of employment. “They did not feel free to turn them adrift and turned their sense of obligation into outfits and tickets for Canada. For all of them places were found in Canada.” This century old sense of r e s p o n s i b i l i t y, more strongly expressed as an obligation, was individual as well as corporate. A moving example is that of Alfred Gooch, right, who worked for two years in Canada before crossing over into the United States. When the First World War broke out he re-crossed the border to fulfil “his duty to join up”. He came to England with the first Canadian contingent and was killed going over the top at Norval on November 6, 1917. A matter of history As our dateline indicates this is the 50th issue of our Pensioners’ Association newsletter. The first issue in August 1994 was called First News and marked the launch of a pilot group of volunteers to operate for the first year and consult with pensioners on how the association should be established and run. The second issue in January 1995 carried the title Contact with the news that Mr and Mrs Dennis Arksey of Hessle near Hull had won the £25 readers’ competition to suggest a name. The lead story in that issue was that Colman’s was to be sold. So our 50th issue is a matter of history. We have a century-old heritage to uphold established by the first company magazines illustrated in our heading. They are the graphic evidence of the accepted obligation to employees and community which, three years after their launch, produced the lead story in this, our 50th issue. By the early 20th Century our forefathers had been through their (industrial) revolution and recognised the vital role of communication. The inherited obligation was the driving force behind the formation of the Pensioners’ Association. Whilst our primary role is to keep members informed about their pensions and association activities we, together with our readers, have undertaken a voluntary role to ensure our past, with its many lessons, is not forgotten. We see that as an obligation too. to start their new life. They had been taught to milk and care for cows and handle horses. Each had been given £3 pocket money and furnished with a special pair of boots and two changes of underclothing. The following year another group of young men was followed by 16 young women who had been given instruction in cookery and domestic work generally in the Carrow Works’ kitchen. Reporting on the Norwich example of emigration The Eastern Daily Press of June 12, 1912 quoted the Government of Ottawa: “The Colman Company, which puts high views about its duty to employees into More on Pages 4 & 5 next page