IALHI News

Friendly Societies Research Group

Conference announcement

Friendly Societies Research Group Spring conference in the UK:

Membership involvement: milestone or millstone? How members' involvement affects mutuality past, present and future

Some argue that members provide capital, friendship, links to the communities served by the societies. Their vigilence helps to insure against inefficiency and corruption and their loyalty is an important trading asset. Others argue that involvement in friendly societies, and indeed in many other organisations, has fallen, that membership is an anachronism. How important has membership been? What have been the most successful ways to develop participation?

The Spring Conference of the Friendly Societies Research Group will examine such issues. It will be held on 26th April 2001 in the Sponsor's Lounge at Port Vale FC, Stoke, UK and will be sponsored by Tunstall Assurance.

Timetable

10.30 Coffee
10.45 Welcome from Stanley Woodcock, Chairman of Tunstall Assurance Friendly Society
11.00 Charles Machin: Tunstall: the society and the locality
11.40 Dr Evelyn Lord: Friendly Societies and the Local Community

12.30 Lunch (provided for those who have booked in advance)

13.30 AGM and elections to the FSRG committee.
14.15 Philip Howcroft, Chief Executive, Manchester Unity Friendly Society: The Manchester Unity: tradition and change in the new millennium

14.55 Tea

15.10 Recent research on friendly societies. Personal contributions from the floor
16.15 Meeting concludes

Price: £15 non-members, £12 FSRG members.

Please book by 19th April 2001. Send cheques payable to the Open University to: D Weinbren, Faculty of Social Sciences, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA