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 Broxburn Co-operative Guild, around 1950

Scottish Co-operative Women's Guilds

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As well as providing a discussion group where guild members could discuss topical issues, there was also a strong social side to the societies. Many Edinburgh guilds had choirs and elocution lessons were provided in Stockbridge, Morningside and Murrayburn. In the autumns the Gorgie branch held a night when the members were entertained by an accordion player and could have a dance. Many guilds also held Burns Suppers.

 Convalescent Home

From the very beginning of the movement there was a desire amongst its members to open a convalescent home where members could stay to recover from an illness. Early efforts were based in Glasgow and resulted in the opening of a home at West Kilbride in 1896. Further homes were opened throughout Scotland at Galashiels, Dunoon, Largs and North Berwick, where the SWCG operated Redholme House for members.

 A speaker at the Scottish Co-operative Women's Guild annual congress

By the end of the Second World War, the society had reached the height of its membership. From 1947-1951 there was a loss of almost a quarter of the movement's membership. This rapid decrease in membership has continued and as a result branches have closed, until what is left is a mere fraction. Midlothian, for example, has only one guild left, in Newbattle, and it is reduced to a handful of elderly members. Section IV, which encompasses Edinburgh and the Lothians, controls only fourteen branches (not counting the independent Musselburgh and Fisherrow Branch). Some of the reasons are obvious - alternatives now exist in abundance and the parent co-operative societies have themselves changed - but without new blood the guilds may vanish from the Scottish social and political scene.

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In this section:
Women's Co-operative Guilds | Scottish Women's Rural Institute | Literary and debating societies


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