One of the founding principles of EKCO was that from the very early days, there needed to be a Sports and Social Club where employee's could meet after work or at weekends and enjoy a social atmosphere and for those so inclined, participate in sports both indoors and outdoors.
Accordingly, when the Priory Crescent site at Southend was built in 1930/1, provision was made for a sports field to be laid out alongside the factory complete with changing rooms (which still exist).
The Sports and Social Club was effectively given to the employee's to be managed through a trust fund administered by an elected committee.
Each employee when starting work for the company was given the option to join the ESSC and for those who joined (and the vast majority did) a small deduction was made through their pay packet, which formed their membership fee and a membership card issued.
Almost from the beginning, the ESSC (EKCO Sports & Social Club) was a great success and various events were organised. Among these were Football, Cricket, Darts, Snooker and Billiards to name a few.
Soon the ESSC were organising dances featuring the best local bands as well a organising a Christmas party for the employee's children. Both types of events have survived through the ages and were held into the 1970's.
During the war, when the Southend site was evacuated in 1940, the Plastics Division remained together with the ESSC but it was not long before an ESSC branch was created in Malmesbury in (Ingram Street) and at Aylesbury.
On all three sites during the war, the ESSC played an important role in helping staff welfare where there was a limited opportunity for outside entertainment, many staff were working 12 Hour shifts and there was a lot of conscripted labour, which had been sent to Malmesbury from all over the country.
At Malmesbury, Cyril Lingwood remembers:-
'As far as Malmesbury was concerned the actual club was provided by the MAP and run on the lines of a Working Mans Club. The driving force behind it was Harry Cooley and his son Laurie who I think was an inspector at Cowbridge.
There was no sports club committee as far as I can remember Harry was responsible for running the place and was always behind the bar most of the time and I think it became his full time job.
Harry and a small volunteer committee use to organise trips to Bath and Cheltenham. He also organised trips to the Bristol Hippodrome but the MAP stopped them for fear of the WDU staff being killed in an air aid although this was a common rule in many wartime companies to protect the Scientists and Boffins or that was the excuse they used to restrict our wandering too far from the establishment.
A trip to London for the Jazz Festival was postponed once but allowed to go the following year when the bombing began to die off.
There were tea dances every Sunday and the main dance on Saturday night either run by Ron Parry or myself and few other volunteers who were keen on dancing.
There was a room set aside for those wanting to write to their families, also a snooker table but not many of the local employees bothered to use the place, but for those from distant homes they used the club whenever they were not working at the factory.
Cyril Lingwood and the Altona Dance band taken in 1942
Dance organised by ESSC in Malmesbury Town Hall
(Photograph Courtesy of Cyril Lingwood)
Much of the music was from 'employee' bands where a wealth of talent came to the fore.
One such person was R.K. (Richard) Spencer at Malmesbury where it emerged that he was a gifted classical musician and together with other colleagues he gave many recitals to fellow staff members in the 'Priory'. After the war, back at Southend he became a leading light running the club and his orchestra performed in the early post war plays and pantomimes.
R.K. Spencer (holding baton) with cast of 1953 staff play 'Tinderbox''
(Photograph Courtesy of Southend Museum Service)
In the summer of 1946 a comparatively new member of the ESSC suggested to the Committee that the Members should run - just for the fun of it - a Works Pantomime. That was the beginning of the EKCO Players. The Committee supported the idea; as a result, in January 1947 "Ekco and the Beanstalk" was presented in the Works Canteen for two nights subsequently extended to three by popular demand.
Only a few months later this vigorous new Social Club Section staged the Summer Revue "Ekco-on-Sea" which ran for three nights to full houses. The Players had become established and in addition to their Canteen original runs, become well established locally and took their shows to local hospitals and institutions all round the Southend and district area, which resulted in a brisk demand for concert party dates.
January 1948 saw "Aladdin and His Ekco Lamp" take the stage, to be followed that summer by the Players' first straight play, "Such Things Happen."
In January 1949 the third annual pantomime, "Cinderekco," scored perhaps the biggest success of all, followed a few months later by the Players making a hit in heavy drama with "Heaven and Charing Cross."
They counted their success in the fun they got out of it and their reputation arose from the unique teamwork, which characterised every show. The man who made the original modest suggestion wrote and produced the pantomimes, backed with equal enthusiasm and flair in all departments of the Players' organisation. The scenery, the costumes and indeed everything was their own work and by 1953 the orchestra was an all-EKCO combination (with RK Spencer as conductor) - and all just for the fun of it.
The EKCO Players in the 1951 play, The Young Mrs Barrington
(Photograph Courtesy of Southend Museum Service)
When the war ended and production ramped up, by 1947 in Southend the Sports and Social club was again very active and produced a series of news-letters keeping the staff well informed of all the activities on the pitch, off the pitch and socially.
In the immediate days of post war rationing and austerity, together with a 48 hour working week being the norm, the need for the Sports and Social Club to provide a venue for relaxation and sports (for those so inclined) was a great benefit and materially lifted staff morale. Soon all mainstream sports were catered for and the club also organised various outings – all of which were very popular.
By 1947, the ESSC activities had became so large and varied that the Club introduced a quarterly 'News Magazine' to keep members informed of all the activities. In Malmesbury the ESSC there also produced a news magazine, which was called 'The Cowbridge Gazette'
A major annual event organised by the ESSC at both Malmesbury and Southend was the Children's Christmas party held in the staff canteen and open to all employee's children. The party usually featured Children's entertainers and has remained as a fond memory for many people down through the ages.
The cutting of the cake ceremony at the Southend 1951 Children's party
Of note is the TV aerial on the cake
(Photograph Courtesy of Southend Museum Service)
The above photo shows the Children's party held the Southend Canteen circa 1965
(Photograph Courtesy of Gordon Andrews)
Gordon Andrews, whose father Cyril Andrews had the resident band in the Southend Clubhouse for over 20 years remembers: -
I used to go to the Christmas parties in the canteen at Southend as my dad used to entertain us kids. The Christmas parties used to be themed - one year it was a cowboys / Wild West idea and another year it was a "pirates of the Caribbean" set and so on.
My dad dressed as Captain Kidd did not fool me, oh no, "yo-ho-ho". Every child got a gift (one year I got a wind-up tin-plate tank) and we all got a bag of sweets and an orange each! It was truly brilliant - it really was! We had sandwiches, bottles of "pop" and jelly trifles!
After a fun-filled afternoon my dad and the band would pack-up their instruments and move to the clubhouse to provide the entertainment and music for dancing for the "grown-ups" that night.
1990's Children's Christmas party in the ESSC Clubhouse at Southend
(Photograph by Minnie Bunns)
The Christmas parties in the clubhouse were equally memorable both at Malmesbury and Southend, where there was the opportunity to 'let your hair down' and the perils of 'drink driving' was something in the future, not that many people had cars in those days.
Gordon Andrews remembers the clubhouse at Southend in the 1970's: -
At Christmas the clubhouse used to be very elaborately decorated, with the usual baubles, tinsel, trimmings and also often with Disney characters and such fairy-tale themes hand-painted by the talented Barbara Pearman who was the club secretary for years.
Reg Earle used to run the club and I believe he died of a heart attack whilst driving his car.
He lived in St. Benet's Road in Southend, just around the corner from the Ekco factory.
On New Year's Eve at midnight the decorations used to be torn down by the revellers welcoming in the New Year! What vandalism! I had the "Cinderella's Castle" Barbara painted and subsequently gave to me on my bedroom walls as a child.
With the continued growth of the Southend site, in July 1951 Eric Cole as a 'thank you' and to co-incide with the company's 25th anniversary celebrations presented the ESSC in Southend with a new clubhouse – a building, which is still in use today.
ESSC Clubhouse shortly after being built
(Photograph Courtesy of Southend Museum Service)
ESSC Clubhouse shortly after being built
(Photograph Courtesy of Southend Museum Service)
After the war, in Malmesbury, the ESSC moved from Ingram Street back onto the Cowbridge site where the Old Mill House was put at their disposal as the clubhouse although for big events such as the Children's and Christmas parties the main canteen was used.
For sports, use was made of 'Gays Field' behind the works although the football team played on a separate site behind the Silk Works for a long time.
A big event in the 50' and 60's at both Southend and Malmesbury was the Miss EKCO contest, this was a very popular contest and the winner usually took centre stage on EKCO Carnival float, which was always entered in the town's annual procession. The ESSC played a major role in both events and organised the decoration of the float.
Eleven Young Contenders for Miss EKCO in the late 50's at Malmesbury
(Photograph Courtesy of Malmesbury Memories)
The 11 young ladies who took part in the Malmesbury Carnival Queen selection, held at the Ekco Works, Malmesbury are: Left to right (standing): Shirley Hurst, Jocelaine Carpenter, Gillian Branch, Valerie Benham, Ann Lightowler, and Angela Woodward. Seated are the five girls chosen: Pamela Bowler, Susan Brind, Patricia Aylward, Beryl Fry, and Pamela Porter.
Miss EKCO Southend 1957 being congratulated by Mrs EK Cole at the annual Gala sports day 15.6.1957
(Photograph Courtesy of Southend Museum Service)
Good use was made of the float since the Malmesbury Carnival procession always took place two weeks after the Southend Carnival thus giving time for the float to be transported to Malmesbury, which must have raised some interest to other drivers on the road. The following 2 photos show the same float being used at both locations sometime in the early 1950's.
The big annual event at both Southend and Malmesbury was the 'Sports Day', where all the inter-departmental contests came to a head with the finals and other knock-out competitions held also involving employee's children. Eric Cole was a great supporter of the ESSC and took great pleasure whenever he could in presenting the awards for these annual sports day held in June or July each year.
Eric Cole prize giving at Gala Sports Day 14.7.1951
(Photograph Courtesy of Southend Museum Service)
Annual staff dances were the norm in the 50' and 60's and one such event at Malmesbury in 1957 has gone into local fork-lore as the time the Malmesbury ESSC made the national papers, David Forward remembers: -
Brian White stopped me in the street and began telling me about a party he had attended for which there had been booked some dancers for the entertainment. An area had been cleared for the dancers to do their stuff then Brian and his fellow work mates, many like himself around the age of 20, sat around at the front awaiting 'dancers' and to their surprise were most astonished when the girls appeared and the routines soon became obvious as that of strippers rather than dancers.
Much to their delight the performance was one that was more than just a little entertainment, the memory of that night was recalled in greater detail than here with a big grin rather than a smile and could easily have been an account of what happened the day before only this was 45 years ago. Brian being a little shocked but well pleased at what he was seeing had to check behind him around the room to observer the reactions of other members of staff and also present a number of higher management. Everyone seemed to be in equal happiness with their surprise and even the managers were seen to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.
The next day however it was seen that a national newspaper ran an item reporting another successful annual works party but noted the unexpected shocking inclusion of strippers in the party nights schedule to which the Factory's Management most strongly condemned the outrageous and immoral inclusion of such objectionable behaviour which they were unaware of having taken place. Brian recalled with a wink and a smile at how he too was shocked at this appalling spectacle as the straight-faced managers went about their work the very next day.
The 1950's and 60's were perhaps the heyday of the ESSC and was very much the social heart of the company where there was a lot more emphasis on homegrown entertainment resulting in many elaborate 'themed dances' at both sites.
This photo shows Cyril Andrews (on left) and Jack Barlow dressed up for one such do. In later years the Cyril Andrews Band would become the resident band in the Southend Clubhouse and are shown below performing at a dance to commemorate the Queen's 25th Anniversary celebrations in 1976.
Unfortunately with the advent of mass Television, particularly colour TV, the popularity of such events declined and although were still held, people did not seem to take the same interest in making costumes and dressing up.
Jack Barlow was a long time employee having joined the company in 1934 and in addition to his work in the Southend clubhouse, was a well known Toastmaster and MC in the Southend Area. He was Lancashire man who had a natural flair for public speaking and often assisted Cyril Andrews.
In 1984, Jack decided to retire from all public functions and as a measure of his popularity hired the Cliff Pavilion in Southend to throw a party.
In the 1970's both the Southend and Malmesbury ESSC faced new challenges with the demise of EKCO owned manufacture on both sites.
At Southend, the old TV and Radio factory was sold off to become the operating centre for the Joint Credit Card Company commonly known as ACCESS credit card and while the Plastics Division remained, this too was sold off and became Linpac.
The Malmesbury site had already become PYE-TMC in the 60's but this too soon became AT & T and Philips Telecommunications.
By 1978, the Malmesbury ESSC decided to discontinue the Children's party and close down the club with the remaining funds dispersed to local good causes.
The Southend ESSC decided to continue by offering membership to the new businesses on the old site and this practice continues to this day where the ESSC remains very much a part of many peoples social life in the Southend area, details of which can been seen on their website (www.ekcoclub.co.uk).
Ironically, the EKCO Sports and Social Club is the only part of the old EKCO company to carry the name with the Senior football team 'EKCO Thames Park' participating in the Southend Borough Combination and the junior team EKCO White Socks competing in the junior league. The EKCO Cricket Club is now called the EKCO Monarchs and Trojan Cricket Club and both men's and ladies EKCO teams still compete in the Southend Darts league.
Chris Poole December 2005
EKCOSSC GALLERY
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