It was argued that any reduction would render the fêtes unsustainable. However, in 18 a fête wasn't held at all due to a dispute over the Company proposing to pass on only a proportion of the proceeds from the sale of special rail tickets. In the event, at least one local fête (at Ashton Park, near Bristol) and the 21st Grand Fête (at Oakley Park, Cirencester) did take place. It wasn't all plain sailing though, as in 1876 it was reported in several newspapers that the annual fête would not be taking place that year. When one reads of attendances of 10,000 to 30,000 it is easy to appreciate the income generated. Members also contributed fixed sums which were deducted from their wages.īy far the most important method of raising funds was the annual Grand Fête.

Funds were raised in a number of ways, the GWR made annual grants, the public contributed by way of concerts, special church services, organised outings, and other similar fund raising activities organised at a local level, or by bequests. There are some suggestions that Daniel Gooch may have been the first chairman of the fund which was initially for the benefit of salaried staff only. It has proved difficult to determine when the fund came into being, but one press report suggests it was constituted in 1842 whilst the GWR was under the chairmanship of Charles Russell, who was also M.P. The fund no longer exists as a separate entity, and we think that it was amalgamated with other similar funds during the 1970s and finally became part of the overall Railway Pension arrangements in the 1990s. The membership rules mention '.any person who is a Member of an existing Benefit Fund of the Company which makes provision for Widows and Orphans.', thus implying that several such schemes were running concurrently but falling under the general umbrella title of the Widows' and Orphans' Benevolent Fund, possibly benefitting from a single fund which was held in common. In our collection is a booklet entitled Rules of the Great Western Railway Salaried Staff Widows' & Orphans' Pension Society which gives the date of its establishment as 25th December 1922. We believe that several different schemes were constituted under the GWR for different grades of staff, or new ones brought into being to replace older ones.

During our research we found the fund referred to by various similar names.

Widows and orphans fund