Clubs are still working (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Clubs are still working

Ref. 29864-23Are working men's club out of date? Although one club in the town is fighting for survival, BARRIE HUDSON finds out that many are thriving, one with a membership of around 2,000

THE Evening Adver-tiser recently told the story of the Milton Club in Milton Road, fighting to overcome a debt of £12,000 which threatens its future.

The 350 members were warned that the 70-year-old club faced closure unless a solution was found.

Members of the management told us that some of the problems stemmed from a trend in socialising away from the traditional working men's clubs and towards pubs.

The term working men's clubs is mostly a misnomer these days, as the overwhelming majority of them, the Milton included, admit women on an equal basis.

But other clubs we spoke to sent a message of hope for the Milton, saying that there are ways of maintaining a club's prosperity while preserving their unique character.

It seems most of the dozen-plus such clubs in Swindon are thriving.

As well as offering a place to socialise and drinks concessions far more attractive than most pub prices they field sports and games teams in local leagues, arrange days out and holidays for members and raise thousands of pounds for charities both local and national.

The working men's club movement stems from the 1860s, when a clergyman called Henry Solly founded the Working Men's Club and Institute Union, which operates to this day.

The original CIU motto was: "Recreation hand in hand with education and temperance."

The Rev Solly, like many well-to-do Victorians, had a paternalistic view of working people and believed they they should be encouraged to improve themselves, or else they might fall into idleness and drunkenness.

Today 4,370 clubs, with six million members, are affiliated to the CIU, and there are hundreds more clubs which are not.

The branch headquarters for the Western Counties is the Ashford Road Club in Swindon. The branch secretary, Mark Brewer, 69, is based in Chippenham.

He said: "Clubs have many advantages over pubs.

"Because they are members-only, there is no trouble, as all members have to abide by the rules and any bad behaviour which is extremely rare can lead to disciplinary action.

"Clubs were originally set up with temperance as a rule, although that did not last long!

"They are non-profit-making and effectively owned by their members, so there are no shareholders and any money made goes straight back to the clubs for improvements and extra facilities for members."

Mr Brewer stressed that although, for the sake of tradition, certain clubs still refer to themselves as working men's clubs, most have a strictly equal opportunities approach, and also welcome families.

Only one club in Swindon, the Queenstown Club in Dudmore Road, is known to have a men-only policy, which it has always insisted is entirely in accordance with the wishes of its members.

The club declined to comment.

Anybody who wants to find out where their nearest club is should check the Yellow Pages or call the CIU on 0207 226 0221.

The CIU website is at www.wmciu.org.uk

Barrie Hudson