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May 1954
ROUND UP
on those EARLY DAYS
A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE HOLDING OF ACT'S 21ST ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, VETERANS OF TRADE UNIONISM AMONG FILM TECHNICIANS AND LABORATORY WORKERS MET TO TALK OVER EARLY DAYS.
THE MEETING WAS HELD IN A MEETING ROOM IN " THE HIGHLANDER," DEAN STREET. PRESENT WERE CYRIL STANBOROUGH, HENRY HARRIS, H. R. OXLEY, KENNETH GORDON, SIDNEY COLE, FRED SWANN, BERT CRAIK, FRANK FULLER, BHX SHARPE, ALF TUNWELL, ANTHONY ASQUITH, HAROLD ELVIN, BILL ALLAN AND GEORGE ELVIN. " ONE'S " EDITOR TOOK THE CHAIR, AND PAT O'CONNOR WAS IN ATTENDANCE TO TAKE NOTES.
CYRIL STANBOROUGH TOOK THE STDLLS.
OCCASIONALLY THE TALK RANGED TOO FAR AND TOO WIDE: RECOLLECTIONS WERE SOMETIMES UNCERTAIN, DATES UNSURE, NAMES CONFUSED OR FORGOTTEN. BUT THE PROBLEMS, CONDITIONS, CONFLICTS AND ENDEAVOURS OF THE OLD DAYS CAME ALIVE IN THE EXCHANGE OF VIEWS AND MEMORIES. A FEW UNCHARITABLE COMMENTS, ENGENDERED BY MEMORIES OF TROUBLES AND CONFLICTS LONG GONE HAVE BEEN DELETED: A FEW REPETITIONS REMOVED, AND THE RAGGED, TRAILING EDGES OF THE TALK TRLMMED. OTHERWISE, IT IS HERE AS IT WAS SAID ON THAT FRIENDLY, STIMULATING EVENING AMONG THE MEMORIES OF THINGS SEEN AND SAID SO LONG AGO.
THE CINE-TECHNICIAN
97
It was a challenge to all of us . . starts the talking.
Ken Gordon
Ken Gordon : The first attempt at organising a trade union was the formation of the Kine-Cameramen's Society at the end of World War I, and some of the first people in that were Jack Wiggins, Bert Bloomfield and Alf Tunwell. I remember a meeting being held because Bill Barker had made a statement that he would not pay anyone any more than 30/ per week.
Alf Tunwell : I started with Bill Barker in 1910 in the Warwick Trading Company in Charing Cross Road. Then he moved to Soho Square and started selling news stories at 4d. per foot. I am going back now to about 1912. I think old Bill was well out of business in 1918.
Ken Gordon : No, he was still active. In 1918 Mr. Barker had threatened not to pay us decent money. It was a challenge to all of us. The late George Woods Taylor was Treasurer and I became Secretary. Then we progressed and we were interested in the lab boys. We organised some of the lab boys and handed them over to the E.T.U. — that was about 1920. We had 40 or 50 members.
Alf Tunwell : As a matter of fact I think it was about a couple of dozen.
Ken Gordon : There were quite a few, and we invested our money in Farrows Bank. The end of the Kine-Cameramen's Society was the unfortunate episode of Farrows Bank ceasing to pay any funds or having any funds, and we lost the lot. So the Society was dissolved. During the existence of the Kine Cameramen's Society we became associated with NATKE, under Richards, but we didn't get anywhere there. We just went in and went out.
Bert Craik : That was when some of the lab boys including myself joined NATKE. About a dozen of us at Pathe, Elstree, joined NATKE. We were members for a couple of years and then pulled out.