History of the United Co-operative Baking Society Ltd. : $b A fifty years' record 1869–1919Reid, William
History
History of the United Co-operative Baking Society Ltd. : $b A fifty years' record 1869–1919
Reid, William
United Co-operative Baking Society, Ltd., Glasgow
Having secured the approval of the delegates for their proposals, the
first duty which devolved on the directors was that of finding a
suitable site. In order that all the members of the committee might be
able to come to decisions with the fullest knowledge obtainable, they
decided at the outset that they should visit Belfast in a body, and
inspect the various sites of which they had information, meantime
delaying the final decision. Eight different sites were examined, and,
ultimately, the final decision rested between two of these, that at
Ravenhill Avenue being the one which finally found favour, at a rental
of £80 per annum. Mr W. J. Gililand, Belfast, was appointed architect,
and was instructed to prepare plans for a temporary bakery, containing
four ovens, to meet immediate needs, before proceeding with plans for
the general building. At a later meeting it was decided that the
delivery of the bread should be undertaken by Belfast Society, and that
special terms should be arranged for this service. By January the
temporary building had been commenced, and by the beginning of June was
ready to begin operations. Mr George Forshaw, East of Scotland
representative, was appointed commercial manager and Irish traveller,
and Mr James Moffat, Belfast, foreman baker. Baking was begun on 2nd
June, the temporary building having been fitted-up with one Scotch oven
and three draw-plate ovens. Unfortunately, a dispute between the
architect and the Corporation of Belfast had hindered the erection of
the temporary bakery for a little, but, during a special visit paid to
Belfast, Mr Young, manager, was able to arrange matters amicably.
Nevertheless, the dispute cost the Society over £18 in legal and other
expenses.
The area in which the Society’s bread was used soon began to widen. At
first Belfast was practically the only customer, but in the course of a
month or two society after society became customers, so that by the
beginning of August there were five societies, in addition to Belfast,
customers for bread. This good result was due to visits which had been
paid by some members of the directorate to the committees of the
societies. At the same time, Lurgan Society applied for membership and
was admitted.
It was not until the middle of November that tenders for the completion
of the main building were accepted, and then the committee had not
finally made up their minds how much of the work they were going to
complete at once, but reserved to themselves power to stop with the
completion of the front section if they thought this plan desirable.
When the matter was further considered in March, however, the committee
were unanimously of the opinion that the building should be two storeys
in height.
THE BAKERY COMPLETED.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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