Brewer & Distiller International • December 2012 • www.ibd.org.uk 31

When I last wrote about the‘Benevolent Society’ it wasDecember 1999 in The Brewer.I had more hair then but thechallenges facing the industryand the individuals involvedremain the same as now and, infact, those challenges werethose facing the foundingfathers of the Brewers’ Guild.Those concerns were centredon brewery closures,amalgamation and externalpressure on an industryconcerned with alcohol.

TonyMarshall wrote A History of theBrewers’Guild and part 2 covered the

early years of the ‘Ben’ from conception,founding, independence from the Guild andthen the firm financial footing that survives tothis day. I make no apology to lifting much ofhis excellent work into this article. I am alsoconscious that several of the organisationsinvolved have changed and that many readingthe article may not have heard of the Guild orthe Brewers’ Society (now known as theBritish Beer and PubAssociation). Tonynotes that one of the most importantobjectives of the pioneers of the Guild, if nottheir main intention, was to establish aBenevolent Fund.

A potted historyIn March 1911, at the inaugural meeting ofthe Midland Counties Section of the Guild,the ChairmanWalter Finch suggested ascheme be started. This was approved and ahat was passed round for donations! At theGuildAGM in January 1912, a resolutionapproved the setting up of a BenevolentFund, under the Chairmanship ofWalterFinch and it was decided to build capital,which by the end of the year stood at £113(£10,150 in 2012 money). It was decided thatno grant would be made until January 1915,and, in fact, the first grant of £10 (£800) wasmade in 1916.In 1914 the formation of a Trust Fund was

approved. Three trustees were appointed anda target of £1000 (£90,800) for capital wasset. By 1915 the capital had risen to £464

(£42,100) and collections were made atmeetings. For example, all 11 members at aNorthern Section meeting in 1913 wereenjoined to donate one shilling and collected10 shillings and 6 pence (£47). It is notknown who had the courage to only offersixpence but at the next meeting all 11members contributed a total of 12 shillings(£54). In many cases further contributionswere made from Section Funds.There was slow progress and there was a

war on and it seemed more obvious to raisemoney for the Red Cross than the OperativeBrewers’Benevolent Fund. In December1915 the Guild Council approved that theGuild investment ofWar Loans (1925–1945)should become the nucleus of the BenevolentTrust Fund. By 1916, of the Guild’s 580registered members, 104 were in the forces.The Trustees of the Benevolent Fund in 1916were:J Harris Browne – Guild Member – Chairmanof the Hadley Brewery, Barnet.TWatson Lovibond – Brewer and Chairmanof Newcastle Breweries – President, Instituteof Brewing (1915-1917).E T Hargreaves – Guild Solicitor – Chairmanof Strettons Brewery, Derby.

It was very important to the Fund that allthree trustees were members of the Brewers’Society and one was President of the Instituteof Brewing. It gave significant exposure tothe fund and demonstrated its remit waswider than just the Operative Brewers Guildmembership.

IndependenceOn 2nd November 1917, the OperativeBrewers Benevolent Society (OBBS) wasregistered under the Friendly SocietyAct of1886. Here started its independence from theGuild although it remained an integral part ofit. This is a paradox that still remains to thisday in the IBBS relationship with theInstitute of Brewing and Distilling – theIBBS seat on the IBD council derives from itsrelationship with the Guild.The Guild removed all reference to the

Benevolent Fund from its rules except toresolve that in winding up the Guild all itsfunds were to be given to the BenevolentFund. This long standing clause was to proveinteresting when the Guild amalgamated withthe Institute in 2000.It became obvious that raising finance

from just brewers would not see the capitalrequired achieved and other sources werebeing sought, particularly brewerycompanies. By the end of 1922, the SocietyCapital stood at £3510 (£150,000).

Walter Finch Memorial FundWalter Finch died in 1921 and it was decidedto start a memorial fund, the income fromwhich was to be available each Christmas forthe most deserving cases. By December1923, there was sufficient to make a grant toall cases currently before the ManagementCommittee. This practice continues to thisday with a monetary grant, although in earlieryears this was often a hamper.The only Benevolent Fund in the industry

by Nigel FitchChairman, IBBS

One hundred years onand a bit of a history lessonThe Incorporated Brewers Benevolent Society

Benevolent Society

The present IBBS Committee at a recent meeting in Clarges Street.

in 1923 was the OBBS.At theIOB annual Banquet, thePresident, E.R.Moritz, spoke ofthe need for a really substantialfund, including the option of theInstitute’s own fund. There wasmuch internal discussion withinthe Guild Sections and it wouldbe true to say many of the oldGuild versus Institute argumentswere raised, but common sense,or the OBBS Committee ofManagement prevailed and a jointapproach was agreed on. InDecember 1923, an appeal withthe endorsement of both theInstitute of Brewing and theBrewers Society was launchedwith the aim of achieving acapital of £15000 (£680,000).By the end of 1924 the capitalapproached £11000 (£520,000).E.T. Hargreaves, still a Trustee, warned theManagement Committee that a minimumcapital of £20,000 (£900,000) was necessary.

Target reachedA step change in the OBBS fortunes occurredin 1925. The Hop Control Board closed andthe surplus funds were allocated to theBrewers Society who re-allocated them asfollows:• The Institute of Brewing Research Fund -£8,000

• The Operative Brewers Benevolent Fund -£8,000

• The University of BirminghamMalting &Brewing School – £2,250

• The John Cass Technical Institute – £750• The Heriot-Watt College School ofBrewing – £500

• The Brewing Department of theManchester Brewing School – £500

£8000 was the equivalent of £380,000 intoday’s money. Together with a £1,000donation fromMessrs Bass, Ratcliff andGretton, the £20,000 (£900,000) target hadbeen achieved, whereupon the Trustee E.T.Hargreaves now doubled his minimumcapital requirement!By 1929, the Benevolent Fund stood at

£26,831 no shillings and 3 pence(£1,324,000). This value in real terms wasmaintained until the 1990s. Also in 1929, theOBBS in line with the Guild changed its titleto the Incorporated Brewers’BenevolentSociety.

Recent historyContinuity is very important to themanagement of the ‘Ben’. There have onlybeen eight chairmen sinceWorldWar II, Ijoined the Committee of Management in1992 (and became Chairman in 2001) and wehave retained the same company for financialadvice since then. Originally as Daniels Holt,it is now Thesis Asset Investment. Marketvolatility can be easily seen in the graph.

Through all this time, our advisers haveensured that we have sufficient income tocarry out our objectives.In 2000 under its then Chairman, Chris

Hyde, the IBBS carried out a review of itsscope following the amalgamation of theInstitute and Guild. To ensure amalgamationthe IBBS had waived its rights to all theGuild assets, which were then placed in theBrewers’Guild Trust. The difficulty inmonitoring international cases and withoutincreased funds, it was decided that only thenew joint membership of UK and Irelandcould be guaranteed for consideration forbenefit. It was recognised that all pastmembers of the Guild should continue to beconsidered at the Committee’s discretion.In 2006 we received £400,000 with

winding up of the Brewers’Guild Trust. Thiswas the final chapter in the IBBS relationshipwith the Guild, but opened up the newrelationship with the Institute, which is nowthe natural industry base for our operations.Our structure and operation is much as that

set up a hundred years ago. There are threeTrustees, who apart from their ‘sue and besued’ responsibilities, have the charge ofoverseeing the Investment operation for theSociety. Those Trustees are:Ken Don – late ofYoung’s Brewery,Giles Dennis – late of J.W.Lees Brewery andHugh Smith – late of Banks’s Brewery. Hugh(a past member of the Committee ofManagement) has replaced the late PeterWard and a past President of the Institute ofBrewing and Distilling.The Committee of Management still

controls the day to day Society operation.The Committee meets quarterly to discuss allmatters pertaining to the Society, but mostimportantly reviewing the needs of theirbeneficiaries. Committee members have twoimportant roles, not just at meetings but moreimportantly being available to visit andmonitor cases. This latter is their mostimportant role.We still awardWalter Finch Memorial

grants and most importantlycontinue to give grants to caseswhere need has arisen and beenwithin the guidelines theCommittee has set down.Withincreasing State welfare, we aremoving from predominantlycontinuous support to one-offgrants. An example would beprovision of a mobility scooter. Weare now looking to supportyounger professionals and thoselooking to further their career inthe industry where a placementthrough bursaries could besupported.As a Friendly Society, and a ‘not

for profit’ organisation, we aresubject to Charity Commissionregulations but are supervised bythe FSA (Financial ServicesAuthority).

AppreciationThe Society thanks the current Committee fortheir continued support. Those members are:Robert Knox, Ron Duszanskyj, DerekPrentice, Don Jeffrey, Martin Dutoy, BobRolph, and David Twomey, who resignedrecently and will be replaced by BredaTanner and Rob Davies.Major significant contributions over my

term as Chairman have been made by twoother members of the team. Ian Swanson asTreasurer has retained his role from Guilddays and helped guide us through ourfinancial needs. Julie Carling is the Society’sSecretary and may be said to be the real heartof the Society. She co-ordinates all Societyactivities and is a main link with many of theSociety’s beneficiaries.

What can you do?The Society is always interested to hear fromany member from the UK and Ireland whowould like to join the Committee. Moreimportantly, the Society needs to hear wherewe may be able to make a difference tosomeone’s life.�

� The author

Brewer & Distiller International • December 2012 • www.ibd.org.uk

Benevolent Society

32

Capital Evolution – 1913 -1929 and 1990 – 2011The graph shows two periods in the history of the IBBS – the initialcapitalisation of the fund and its recent history.

Nigel Fitch isChairman of theIBBS and you canreach him atnigelfitch@tiscali.co.uk

� The Benevolent Society is setting up its ownwebsite for launch in the New Year atwww.BrewBenSoc.co.uk. In addition to thebackground and aims of the Society, forms forapplicants to the newly set up Chris Hyde Bursarieswill be available. These bursaries are intended forthose taking work placement or brewing/distillingcourse attendance, where there is a need foradditional funding.