christmas loan clubs , do you remember them ?

[alfred]

Could we see the return of loan clubs very popular in the fifties and sixties where by people paid a person to save say a £1.00 a week all year round and by Christmas t total sum of money collect was £50.00 with other members also paying what ever they could afford the more people paid into the scheme the more the interest was shared between the savers and of course  a % was given to the person running the club,


and for many then it was a way of having reserve cash to brighten up the Christmas without the worry or  fear of having a miserable one,



of course there were cases of an unscrupulous person running away with the money although it was rare  but it did happen,


but in many cases the person who ran the club was known by almost all the participants and usually the money was safe and run by an honest and trustworthy person. 


so in todays modern climes what with money becoming scare as bills rise above and beyond what we least expected could the return of loan clubs make an entrance, or do you think they were a good thing in the past ,


Q; do you think they're worth running.

[zoony]

Sadly, however much you save you can't get it cancelled.

[klondike]

I have heard of them but never participated. I imagine they predate most people having bank accounts although for some there could be an attraction in having it saved somewhere inaccessible.

[-Oy-]

We save our supermaket loyalty cards points and use them for Christmas shopping - mainly the big food shop.

[Alex]

I was in a diddleum years ago, a fella in work used to collect money each week and pay out at Christmas. 

[GrannyMac]

I've saved in something similar at work years ago, when we were paid in cash.  I shop a lot at Sainsbury's now and collect Nectar Points.  They build up nicely for Christmas. 

[crabbyob]

the working mens clubs all had smaller clubs withing that you paid into weekly the kids outing, which took the kids to the seaside in the summer and had a xmas party... the old folks outing as well they all had to pay in the equivalent of ten pence a week and they could add savings, when i was vice president and old codger offered me a sicknote because he hadnt been in for a month, i laughed and told him he neednt bother wi owt like that,,, half an hour later i had the President venting flames at me telling me he had chucked the old bugger out of the club because he hadnt been in for a month. so i put my pen down and stood up to my 6'3" thirteen stone and told the fat b'strd that he should go find that old man and apologise else i would go in and iterupt the bloody bingo and tell everyone what he had done and resign there on the stage, and put up for president against him at the next election... and i would be waiting outside to 'have a proper word with the tosser'... he reinstated the old guy who for the next few years kept dropping wee bags of tomato's or onions ect at my table... i did replace the tosser at the next election... i always hammered into the committee that it was the old guys who made it a club in the first place...

[Scrumpy]

I too save my points up from varies stores..
Nearer to Christmas I buy 'Offers' that can go into the freezer..
I remember my mum saving up her 'Divi' stamps.. These stamps were on Brooke Bond Dividend Tea.. She would remove the stamp from the packet and stick it in a Divi card..
She would be over the moon when it was completed.. and extremely happy when the gas man came to empty the meter.. The word went up when he was doing the rounds..

[crabbyob]

happy days Scrumpy... we too had Brook Bond.... now we have James Bond....and no divi....lol

[GrannyMac]

the working mens clubs all had smaller clubs withing that you paid into weekly the kids outing, which took the kids to the seaside in the summer and had a xmas party... the old folks outing as well they all had to pay in the equivalent of ten pence a week and they could add savings, when i was vice president and old codger offered me a sicknote because he hadnt been in for a month, i laughed and told him he neednt bother wi owt like that,,, half an hour later i had the President venting flames at me telling me he had chucked the old bugger out of the club because he hadnt been in for a month. so i put my pen down and stood up to my 6'3" thirteen stone and told the fat b'strd that he should go find that old man and apologise else i would go in and iterupt the bloody bingo and tell everyone what he had done and resign there on the stage, and put up for president against him at the next election... and i would be waiting outside to 'have a proper word with the tosser'... he reinstated the old guy who for the next few years kept dropping wee bags of tomato's or onions ect at my table... i did replace the tosser at the next election... i always hammered into the committee that it was the old guys who made it a club in the first place...

Well done you!  A few club presidents and con secs gave the rest bad name.  Power bloody mad!   

[crabbyob]

i told my Con chairmen, who all complained about getting order in the room, that if one person in particular was noisy then they should name names..
the following weekend my bro-in-law was in the chair and annonced if anyone failed to give order
...he would be naming names....lol

[Raven]

My dad used to belong to one at his Boosey Hole (social club) He always used to look forward to collection night when he came home with Christmas money for us and 4 tickets to the Panto for us kids.