Annual General Meeting business and women’s work on the canals – our May meeting and talk
Every year, there’s one meeting where there’s WI business to be done, reporting on the year, approving the accounts and voting in committee and president and we combine the AGM with a talk or activity.
Our AGM
We were delighted to welcome back Middlesex Federation adviser Fiona to guide proceedings. We were pleased to report on a good financial position and to look back on a year of wondrous variety in its talks, walks, coffee mornings with a cultural twist and fully-subscribed book club. Some of our activities have brought in external speakers and workshop leaders; others have made the most of the considerable knowledge and skills within our membership.
A theme that ran through all of the reporting was the commitment of our members and the dedication and mutual support of our committee, where tasks are divided up and we cover for each other as lives and commitments require.
This year, our President, Heather, has stood down and we have a new President, Celya, formerly our Treasurer and Secretary. A massive thank you to Heather, who has given her presidency style, wit and an elegant genius for delegation. (A special mention for Heather’s cheese scones, which have often sustained those of us dashing to meetings from work commitments.) And a warm welcome to Celya, already at the heart of East End WI and a Trustee of Middlesex Federation.
Our talk – women and Regent’s and Hertford Union canal history
For our talk, our very own Carolyn took us back in time for a fascinating look at Regent’s and Hertford Union canal history with a focus on women’s work.
In 1829, Regent’s Canal merged with the Hertford Union, linking on to the coalfields and industrial heartland. Carolyn’s first picture, of a coal barge and people watching from the bridge, was typical of how we think of those times, work on the canals done by men.
But the narrowboats were where the families lived. It was often the women who looked after the horses. The boats, like gypsy caravans, and the children of the families, were said to be presentable. “The women had long skirts and bonnets. I was fascinated by the men because of their earring. We called them monkey barges or water gypsies. They used to come out from Wharf Road and go down Chapel Market to buy food.” Ted Harrison
In World War II, the men went off and there was a plea for women to work on the canals. A lot of middle class girls took on the work and even if they had had experience of the canals on family holidays, it was a shock to the system. They hauled building materials, metals and uniforms (in bits, to avoid anyone stealing them). We saw a photo of tunnel keepers and women did that work too, one taking it over when her husband died.
The canals were arteries of commerce – even commerce of manure… Kingsland Basin was lined with manure wharfs, transporting it out of the city and boats coming back with grain. The canals brought coal to fuel the gasworks and people lived right on top of them. Kids would collect coal in all weathers and the coal tip was a no-go area, full of crime. Railways and canals worked together. There were tanners, wood yards (we were shown how wood was stacked to make steps that workers could climb) and veneer companies serving the furniture industry in the East end including Wright’s, which made the veneer for the Royal Festival Hall and dashboards for Jaguar cars, and Cullen at Chisenhale, making veneers from soaked wood with a machine like a giant pencil sharpener. Timber yards near gasworks would go up in flames, water boats sent out to fight the fires. There were works making smaller goods, one producing Mason Pearson brushes and employing a lot of women, and another making paintbrushes. There were gunmakers on the canal basin. All along the canals, there were factories linked with sewing, with a number in Vyner Street. Linked with the rag trade were the rag and bone men plying the streets. Small inlets, most now filled in, were used for loading and unloading. There was the Conway Stewart factory making Platignum pens “These girls were tough and usually called Maggie.” There were scrap metal merchants as late as the 1980s. Booth said of Fish Island in the 1890s, “The home is supported by women and children.” Boys would grow up, want more money and be replaced.
Sweets were made by the canal, at Clarnico, another employer of women, with a good reputation, which needed huge amounts of sugar and coal. Frederick Allen & Sons made chocolate, promoted as a health drink. Their employment record was less sweet – soon after the match girls’ strike, workers came out in support of a girl who had refused to pay a fine, and won.
It wasn’t all grit and graft – there would be the ‘monkey parade’ where girls and boys would show off in their finery. Industries would empty warm water into the canals, popular for bathing children. Boys would bathe in the canals but girls were not allowed. The canals were a dangerous place. “We’d go down there and, you know, play dare, truth, promise.”
In time, though, there was a drive to clean up the canals’ reputation. In the 1960s, they were promoted for cruising. There were schools on the canals, with canalboat kids keen learners. The canals were nationalised in the late 1940s and towpaths opened to the public. But it would be the 1980s before they were fully open.
Carolyn told us how she came to be so interested. She was one of the kids who would go to the canals. She loved their mystery, in Birmingham and later in London.
A huge thank-you to Carolyn for a fascinating talk that brought canal history to life.
Find out more at the Regent’s Canal Heritage website, where you can also find Carolyn’s book, The East End Canal Tales.
Our May coffee morning Friday 24th May – The Old Baths, Hackney Wick, 80 Eastway, London E9 5JH. Meet between 10.30am and 11am
Our next coffee morning will have coffee, chat and artworks. (Bet you didn’t know that there is also a community sauna here, as well as The Hackney Wick Library of things… you can discover when we visit!).
WI Learning Hub
Sally reported back on the WI Learning Hub courses that she has taken part in, thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommends. We were asked for a link to the courses – find out more here.
