Pages that provide a link with the past

It's different now, but the years rolled back recently when colleague Mick Reynolds dropped a load of magazines on my desk.

They hadn't been discovered by his wife under the bed, but were some back copies of the in-house publication the mail order giant produced for its staff from the late 1940s until the late 1970s.

Called Link, it detailed the comings and goings, the weddings and events, the dances, dinners and general doings, the sports days and sports teams and all the rest that made up life at Kay & Co.

At its height in the 50s and 60s, the firm employed nearly 3,000 people in Worcester, had branches in several other British towns and cities and a network of agents all over the country.

Kays' events were big occasions. In 1968, a crowd of well over 2,000 attended the annual sports day and fete on the Cinderella Ground in Bromyard Road. Considering the main attraction was the Chipping Campden Morris Dancers, company loyalty obviously played an impressive part in the turnout.

Browsing through the old copies of Link is like taking a time trip back through eras when management wore evening dress at the annual dinner dance, a lot of grooms in the Wedding Bells section looked like Buddy Holly and if you wanted to sell anything it was invariably accompanied by a pretty girl in a mini skirt pointing at it.

Kays, of course, was big on fashion and that's why the summer 1968 Link has a group of "with it" young ladies in the latest gear sitting on a tractor, although the agricultural connection was not immediately obvious.

And the 1970 issue is fronted by a shot of a Sandie Shaw lookalike in a suitably short

dress, perched on a Kays packing case on a railway platform being ogled by a group of porters.

But it's just as much the writing that's changed. Witness this report from the February/March edition of Link in 1954, describing the general office staff dinner of the previous Christmas.

"Over 157 of the General Office staff attended a Dinner held on the 18th December at the Co-operative Hall, Worcester. The arrangements were made by the Barrels Club Committee. After partaking of an excellent dinner, the staff were entertained by the "Star-light Serenaders" Dance Band together with a number of well-known local Artistes. The whole of the General Office Staff would like to express their appreciation to the Directors, who supplemented the cost of the Social Evening. Their thanks go especially to Mr Lodge, who provided all the cigarettes for the occasion."

Note the use of capital letters and especially the provision of free ciggies, which certainly wouldn't happen now.

Then there is this succinct review of the 1963 annual get-together for the employees who worked in the Bransford Road offices.

"On February 15th the St. John's Annual Dinner and Dance was held at the Co-operative Hall. Attended by 206 people, the function was unanimously voted a success. The meeting was presided over by Mr M Bosley, Warehouse Manager, who gave a short speech on Mr C Reynolds' appointment to General Office Manager."

This was the same Mr Charlie Reynolds whose son Mick's chance discovery of the magazines while clearing out his late parents' home in Diglis Lane, Worcester, sparked this story.

"My father worked for Kays for more than 50 years before retiring in 1979," said Mick.

"In those days, it was a job for life as Kays was about the biggest thing in Worcester. It had lots of sports teams and social events and was almost a world of its own."

Memories of three decades at kays

CO-INCIDENTALLY, while I was working on this article about Kays' Link magazine, a letter arrived in our office from Mrs I Chambers of Ronkswood, Worcester, recounting her 30 years of working for the mail order company. Her story ran like this...

"I started at Kays at 14 years of age when I left Stanley Road School. The offices then were in St Oswald Building and a small warehouse was at the back.

"There were three Kay brothers Kilburn, Jack and Ted. Kilburn, I believe, drowned on a sea trip. Jack and Ted would stand by a surrounding bannister watching to make sure everyone was working.

"We also had a manager, Mr Michael Spicer, who made sure you started dead on 8.30am when the bell was rung. You worked until 12.30pm and had to be back for 2pm, which was 1 hours for dinner break. We then worked until 6pm - 12pm on Saturdays.

"My starting wage was seven shillings and sixpence, rising to ten shillings and sixpence after six months. You were taken on one month's trial and if you proved unsatisfactory your employment was terminated.

"Kays was eventually bought by the boss of GUS, Sir Isaac Woolfson. The TGWU had been started in the warehouse situated in Bromyard Road and eventually we were allowed to have it in the offices. A lot of the staff did not join the union, but it caused a lot of unpleasantness between members and non-members so it was made a closed shop, which meant you had to join or face the sack.

"The reason for this was that the union had negotiated better hours and pay and those paying union dues who fought for these conditions insisted on this. I was a shop steward and eventually filled in as a convenor when the one who did this job was away.

"This was a very unthankful job as some of the managerial staff were very much against the union, who you had to go and see if any staff had a grievance. Another thing the union insisted on was that women retired at 60 and men at 65. I can remember a couple of staff who were well over 70 and didn't want to leave.

"During school holidays, temporary staff were employed to fill in for the full-time staff who were on holiday.

"You had to work 12 months then you had one week's paid holiday. This was then increased to 10 days and after 15 years you had 16 days fully paid.

"There were no computers and everything had to be done manually and mentally. Stocktaking was done every January and took about three weeks as all the business done by agents was kept on a card in each agency pack and money was sent in with a cash sheet with agency and customers' details payments entered on it.

"Money was sent in by postal or money order which was opened by mail order staff. Commission was 5d in the pound as decimals didn't come in until 1971. Quite a few staff decided to leave when this came up and computers were also introduced, but of course they were nowhere near as complicated as they are today.

"You had 15 minutes lunch break. Each section followed one after the other and you were not allowed to eat food at your desk and had to use the canteen. You could also get a cooked meal at dinnertime.

"I left Kays in 1944 to have my son and I had another two boys, one in 1947 and one in 1948. I then started back in 1951. I still keep in contact with a lot of people I worked with.

"As the number of agents grew, the management decided to start a separate department for "New Agents" and I was asked, as I was one of the longest employees, if I would like to help start it. This was run by Peter Barlow, who was the manager. I trained quite a few staff and also did a correspondence course.

PS I am now 81 years of age, so have been retired for 21 years!"

memories of three decades at kays

CO-INCIDENTALLY, while I was working on this article about Kays' Link magazine, a letter arrived in our office from Mrs I Chambers of Ronkswood, Worcester, recounting her 30 years of working for the mail order company. Her story ran like this...

"I started at Kays at 14 years of age when I left Stanley Road School. The offices then were in St Oswald Building and a small warehouse was at the back.

"There were three Kay brothers Kilburn, Jack and Ted. Kilburn, I believe, drowned on a sea trip. Jack and Ted would stand by a surrounding bannister watching to make sure everyone was working.

"We also had a manager, Mr Michael Spicer, who made sure you started dead on 8.30am when the bell was rung. You worked until 12.30pm and had to be back for 2pm, which was 1 hours for dinner break. We then worked until 6pm - 12pm on Saturdays.

"My starting wage was seven shillings and sixpence, rising to ten shillings and sixpence after six months. You were taken on one month's trial and if you proved unsatisfactory your employment was terminated.

"Kays was eventually bought by the boss of GUS, Sir Isaac Woolfson. The TGWU had been started in the warehouse situated in Bromyard Road and eventually we were allowed to have it in the offices. A lot of the staff did not join the union, but it caused a lot of unpleasantness between members and non-members so it was made a closed shop, which meant you had to join or face the sack.

"The reason for this was that the union had negotiated better hours and pay and those paying union dues who fought for these conditions insisted on this. I was a shop steward and eventually filled in as a convenor when the one who did this job was away.

"This was a very unthankful job as some of the managerial staff were very much against the union, who you had to go and see if any staff had a grievance. Another thing the union insisted on was that women retired at 60 and men at 65. I can remember a couple of staff who were well over 70 and didn't want to leave.

"During school holidays, temporary staff were employed to fill in for the full-time staff who were on holiday.

"You had to work 12 months then you had one week's paid holiday. This was then increased to 10 days and after 15 years you had 16 days fully paid.

"There were no computers and everything had to be done manually and mentally. Stocktaking was done every January and took about three weeks as all the business done by agents was kept on a card in each agency pack and money was sent in with a cash sheet with agency and customers' details payments entered on it.

"Money was sent in by postal or money order which was opened by mail order staff. Commission was 5d in the pound as decimals didn't come in until 1971. Quite a few staff decided to leave when this came up and computers were also introduced, but of course they were nowhere near as complicated as they are today.

"You had 15 minutes lunch break. Each section followed one after the other and you were not allowed to eat food at your desk and had to use the canteen. You could also get a cooked meal at dinnertime.

"I left Kays in 1944 to have my son and I had another two boys, one in 1947 and one in 1948. I then started back in 1951. I still keep in contact with a lot of people I worked with.

"As the number of agents grew, the management decided to start a separate department for "New Agents" and I was asked, as I was one of the longest employees, if I would like to help start it. This was run by Peter Barlow, who was the manager. I trained quite a few staff and also did a correspondence course.

PS I am now 81 years of age, so have been retired for 21 years!"