January 1974 Damaged goods go on sale at depot page 3

Spices are hot stuff for JS page 8

New pension schemes for old page 6

Government watchdog visits branch page 3

Store's future depends on manager's ability delegates told at Brighton 74

'It's up to you' was the theme of chairman John Sainsbury's opening speech at Brighton 74 - the JS retail managers' bi-annual conference on January 19.

'Never before has the success, or failure, of a store depended so much on the ability of the manager' he said. 'Profitability, growth in turnover, goodwill of customers and satisfaction of staff all depend on the manager, and his manage-ment team'.

The chairman's speech set the scene for the 230 or so managers who attended the conference, held at the Hotel Metropole, Brighton, from Saturday January 19 until Monday January 21. A full programme (the first breakfasts on Sunday were served at 7.30 am) was divided between talks given by JS top management and workshop sessions led by managers.

After a talk by one of the main speakers the managers formed 'workshop' groups to discuss the points raised. The subjects up for discussion included new product de-

velopment, new marketing techniques and customer re-lations.

On Sunday morning Bernard Ramm, director in charge of statistical and data processing services, gave a talk under the heading 'Costs and profit - how we com-pare'. Using a survey by the Manchester Business School, carried out for the Institute of Grocery Distribution, as a basis for his talk he out-lined how JS compares with its competitors.

Survey results He quoted the results of the

IGD survey which said: JS was more efficient, more profitable, made better use of staff, and traded at a higher intensity - while still managing to sell goods at a lower gross margin than the rest of the grocery trade put together.

The results of the survey are anonymous and the figures for JS are, of course, confidential and cannot be published, but it is possible to describe the comparisons.

For instance, the survey showed that JS costs - raw materials, shop running cost, staff costs, distribution costs and administrative costs -were below the sample average. Also under the head-ing of costs the survey showed that, when expressed as a percentage of the turnover for the three supermarket sizes surveyed, the bigger the store, the lower the running costs were.

About warehousing and distribution costs he said: ' . . . every advantage must-be taken of the additional space in the new store to reduce costs.'

Summing up the survey, which also covered produc-tivity and profit, Mr Ramm said: 'We are an efficient company operating very profitably on a below average gross margin, but, he warned: 'A large part of our profit-ability stems from our intensity of trade - some-thing we are trying to reduce in our newer branches in order to improve standards of customer service.

continued on page 2

.

They're off! After a breath of sea air delegates return to the Hotel Metropole for the start of Brighton 74 — the retail managers' bi-annual conference — on January 19.

JS to open frozen food centres - plans are well under way

This artist's impression, drawn by the JS design studio, shows how the new Sainsbury Freezer Centres could look. The sign is in white lettering on a background of two tones of blue.

JS is to open 40 frozen food centres in the next three years. Many will be associated with existing supermarkets, but some will be independent. All will sell a range of food specially intended for the home-freezer market. The Centres will be located with-in JS's present trading area and each will have a sales area of between 180 to 370 square metres (2000 to 4000 square feet).

The man co-ordinating this new venture is Derek Salisbury, who takes up his new position this month.

'Although most of the Centres will be in new sites where possible we will use existing branches which are to be closed' said Mr Salisbury. 'But relatively few will prove suitable because they lack car parking, which is so essential to the success of the Centres' he added. Teddington, which closed on January 5 this year, is one service branch being actively considered for conversion.

Some of the Centres will be independent of the com-

pany's supermarkets. Ac-cording to Mr Salisbury, Centres may be opened in towns where JS does not have, or want to have, a supermarket. Others, how-ever, may be 'annexes' to large supermarkets.

Staff of six This will be the case at

East Grinstead and Telford where it is expected to open the first two Centres. Man-agement of the freezer shops, in this instance, will be the responsibility of the super-market managers (independ-ent Centres will have their own management). To JS customers all the Centres will be quite separate and have their own front entrances.

Looking ahead, Mr Salisbury said: 'The pro-gramme is getting well under way. Layout and other plans are in hand and we are finalising on display equip-ment'.

The new Centres will have

a very small staff by JS standards; perhaps half-a-dozen. Where appropriate, staff will be recruited in-ternally and will certainly receive additional training.

At first the freezer packs will be mostly proprietary brands but, later, the number of JS own label packs will be increased. The existing range of JS freezer packs will, of course, be sold and customers can expect about 350 lines to choose from. Most goods will be delivered to the Centres direct from suppliers.

Research Many details, such as the

extent to which JS should become involved in selling home-freezers, and any credit facilities to be allowed, are still under consideration.

The idea to move into the home freezer food market jelled at the end of last year but the company has been thinking about it for some time. Research into the equip-

ment and engineering involved was done by JS at Clapham.

The frozen food depart-ment at Blackfriars, headed by Eric Nicholls, will supply a lot of the expertise needed to make the project a reality, and will have overall re-sponsibility for buying.

Other departments, such as fresh meat, pork and pork products and poultry will, however, be developing their 'own' lines to sell from the Centres.

Enthusiasm for the venture is high. 'It's a series of small operations and those in-volved will be able to see the results of their labours -quickly. Bright ideas all down the line are likely to get looked at' is how Mr Salisbury summed it up.

It's all so new even the name Sainsbury's Freezer Centres, could be changed if someone comes up with something better. Any ideas?

A background feature on the freezer industry appears on page five of this issue.

SM-3-ST3 /Jg( \

Brighton 74—continued

'If this improvement is not to reduce profitability we must do three things - take advantage of the improved facilities in new branches to improve productivity, reduce our administrative overheads and, finally, cut the costs of our distribution system'.

In the chairman's opening speech Mr JD spoke about the importance of customer relationships. He said: 'Cus-tomers' goodwill is our greatest asset, our greatest strength - far more valuable than any amount of bricks and mortar in shop property can ever be.

'We need a closer under-standing of all of our cus-tomers* feelings and a greater willingness to do all we can to meet their needs. This is not a re-statement of that over-quoted and in-appropriate slogan "the customer is always right" but a contemporary atti-tude of respect to the position of the consumer. Our success depends, as it always has done, on how well we serve her'.

Referring to the JS objective, it is, he said 'To keep the virtues and strengths of the efficient small business with its speed of response, as we become a larger and larger one'.

On efficiency Mr JD said that a search must be made for means which make it easier for the manager to do his job, for ways of simpli-

fying and streamlining, cutting bureaucracy, while improving our control over costs'.

Speaking of wages he said: 'Our wage scales are devised to provide reward for indi-vidual merit. I believe that, overall, we have improved the wage rates in the branches by more than those of our competitors. One of our aims is to improve our productivity and efficiency so that we are able to achieve a still greater improvement in our wage rates in relation to those of the rest of the trade'.

Leaders in field Training, said Mr JD,

is the area in which the most important moves towards achieving the new manage-ment methods and style have been made. 'I believe that we can once more claim with confidence that we are leaders in the field' he said.

'The branch ordering system brought the greatest change of system we have ever experienced' Mr JD stated. 'It has contributed more to our improved efficiency, and lower costs, than any other change we have ever made. But the system is only as good as the people who operate it'.

On equipment he said: 'We have spent approxi-mately £1.7 million in the last two years to help the

Delegates assemble in the Clarence Room (right) for the chairman's opening address. In it Mr JD (above) said: 'Our objective is to keep the virtues and strengths of the efficient small business, with its speed of response, as we become a larger one.'

existing branches - and equip you better to do your job and to do it more efficiently.

'We have been collabora-ting with leading European supermarket chains, and equipment manufacturers, on the development of auto-mated checkouts.

'Later this year we shall be experimenting with a new type of cash register which will be the first step on the path leading to auto-

mated checkouts'. And on hygiene Mr JD

said: 'Our reputation and our lead over the others in the field of hygiene has always been one of our most im-portant strengths. Much has been achieved but more remains to be done, and the Brighton conference must be the signal for a renewed push towards our standards still further'.

The JS supermarket in the

mid-70's was the theme of the talk given by Timothy Sainsbury. He began by say-ing that they would be more like Bretton and Telford than the stores of the late 60's.

Explaining why it was impossible to accurately fore-cast how many new stores would be opened over the next two years, he said: There are six stages involved in opening a new store and

the main problem is that in only two of those stages are we able to control the speed of the process.

'Finding a site is under our control and there is no shortage of possibilities; we have about 140 sites at various stages in the develop-ment programme, from pre-liminary consideration to fitting out'.

Planning was one of the lengthy stages, he said, over which JS has no control. Planning permission- took longer and longer. As ex-amples he gave two years eight months for Golders Green and at Hastings, a straight forward develop-ment, he said it took two years and one month.

He then went on to talk about construction, the last stage of all. Bigger stores, he said, obviously take longer to build and the development of a large shopping centre, longer than a store.

To show how long it can take, Mr Timothy explained that plans for a new store at Wellingborough are com-plete, but it is part of a major development which is not due to open until 1977. After citing a number of other new stores held up by an outside developer he went on to say that even with the developer in control: 'There has never been a time in my experience when it has been so difficult to get jobs com-pleted on time'.

News in brief

You can't be too careful these days, so when a small neatly wrapped, but un-marked, packet arrived at Stamford House recently it was given the kid gloves treatment. Careful and expert examination indicated it con-tained a number of stick-like objects packed closely together. Dynamite!? No, frozen asparagus, sent by a

customer! Sighs of relief from the post room who just can't afford to take chances.

Top marks for resuscita-tion and first aid certificates were awarded to eleven people in a first aid class held at JS's Streatham offices after hours.

The class received instruc-tion from a St John Ambu-

lance Brigade lecturer. The course ran for eight weeks with an exam at the end. This was given by Dr Ian Miller who congratulated the class on its high standard, especially in resuscitation.

Half of the two-hour weekly sessions was devoted to practical work. During a bout of bandaging one of the members of the class,

Shortages and restrictions couldn't curb the generosity of the staff at Stamford House who gave nearly 300 presents to needy and sick children at Christmas. The staff restaurant was used as a collection point for the gifts and a special thank you from everyone went to the smiling ladies above who work in the restaurant. They looked after the growing piles of gaily wrapped parcels until Santa, in the guise of the Stamford Group, came to sort them out ready for distribution.

May Barkham, had to be padded out to get the right effect. 'I found this hilarious as I was on the Mars diet at the time and trying to lose inches!' said May, a member of the St John Ambulance Brigade since 1957.

To celebrate their success, personnel manager, Maurice Wells, who also gained a certificate, took them all out to dinner, at The Spaghetti House, Knightsbridge. The only casualty of the evening - May's diet!

Unconscious for three days after being knocked down by a car, JS driver Norman Rand awoke to find he had missed out on Christmas. Norman, who also had a broken hip, leg and kneecap, plus a fractured skull, was knocked down on December 24. He was on his way to work at Buntingford depot when, it is thought, he stop-ped off to buy a paper. He was knocked down as he walked back to his car.

Friends from the depot have visited Norman, aged 38, at Welwyn Garden City hospital, where he is said to be progressing well despite his injuries.

Crop failures around the world have doubled the price of almonds. This has resulted in JS having to increase the price of its almond based marzipan. Most of the world's almonds are grown

in California, although few of these reach European markets. Nearly all JS al-monds come from Spain. Spring frosts when the trees are budding is given as the most common reason why crops fail.

Santa's sack contained a 24 inch television when he v i s i t e d t h e W i n c h e s t e r Children's Ward of the Herts and Essex General Hospital on December 22. The tele-vision was a gift from mem-bers of the SSA at Bunting-ford depot, and was presented to the hospital by SSA chairman and warehouse-man Vic Cope and perish-ables supervisor Albert Roberts.

Albert was no stranger to the ward, for his nine-year-old son Robert spent some time there with an arm broken in nine places after an encounter with his mum's spin drier.

The bottom's dropped out of the Pirelli calendar market as far as manager of North Cheam Colin Harvey is con-cerned. On the advice of his staff, and as a way of boosting the section's SSA funds, Colin placed an ad in the Evening News, offering his 1973 and 1974 Pirelli calendars for sale.

Encouraged by similar ads asking from £50 to £120, he waited for the telephone to ring. Unfortunately when it

did it was answered by his wife who at the time didnt' know about the ad. Since then - nothing.

Any offers?

Since our report last August on the abandoned trolleys saga, Wandsworth branch along with other supermarkets in the shopping centre there, have been dis-playing notices asking cus-tomers not to take trolleys out of the centre. The move was in the way of an experi-ment and, says manager Chris Charteris, it has had a 'degree of success'. But, he added they are still finding many trolleys in nearby streets. The experiment has now been made into a permanent appeal.

Rush-and-grab raids hit JS's Midlands branches later this month as one of the prizes in a 'mark the ball' competition being run by the Express and Star newspaper group.

Sainsbury's, along with another shop, has agreed to co-operate while winners grab as much food as they can in a given time with the Express and Star footing the bill.

Grabbers will be asked which is their nearest branch; Telford, Dudley and Walsall are among those likely to be involved.

The 'raids' will bring JS free publicity and about £2500 extra business during the year.

Page 2

"JOURNAL Carol's figures add up to a won!

Dented tins are some of the goods in a trial 'shop' at Buntingford

A young lady who has a head for figures is Carole Lee. Not only for her work - she's a debit checker in operations at Buntingford -but for more tangible things. For instance, her own statis-tics are, she will tell you, exactly 33}-23-34! This, coupled with her long blonde hair, blue eyes and charming personality clinched her a place in the finals of the Miss JS contest to be held next month, after being chosen in December to represent Buntingford depot.

Entering contests is nothing new for 5'2" Carole. At the tender age of 15 she was chosen as Buntingford's Carnival Queen and followed that by winning a Queen of Queens contest in which many south-east towns were represented.

However, she found that competing in front of people she knows is a little dis-quieting. 'I've never let con-tests bother me' said Carole. 'But I found it difficult to compete with my work-mates.' Among the spectators there was one who was really cheering on Carole - her father Alf Chambers who is the depot's new gardener. He had made a last minute telephone call to Carole to get her to the contest.

Carole arrived just in time to take her place and, after being interviewed by com-pere Dave Weatherly and paraded before the judges, she was chosen the winner from the eight contestants.

Runners up in the contest were telex operator Sheila Manly and debit checker Tonia Walker.

To stop JS own label goods occasionally being sold else-where than in JS branches, a depot has worked out a scheme to sell the goods, damaged and returned from the branches, straight to depot staff. The scheme has resulted in a highly successful 'shop' at the Buntingford depot but because of legal problems it has got to remain, for the time being, on a trial basis.

By definition 'damaged' means that the packaging may be torn or bent, wrongly labelled or priced.

Up to now these goods have been disposed of by selling them, at a fraction of their retail price, to con-tractors. Through this method of disposal a lot of JS own label goods were being sold to the public other than at JS branches, for instance at markets. Al-though selling the goods, with the labels still attached, is contrary to the conditions of sale to the contractors, the goods still sometimes find their way to public sale.

Peter Speight, Buntingford warehouse manager, spoke of how the scheme came about: 'Two years ago I was asked to find a method of disposal to put a stop to this practice' he said.

Branch returns

'My recommendation was to sell the damaged JS own label goods to depot staff and last August we opened, on a trial basis, a "shop."

'It works like this: Returns from the branches are sorted and all non-perishable JS own label goods are put to one side ready for splitting into lots of £2 worth for each allocation. This selection is done under the supervision of the "shop" management

committee; Tony Charles (quality control service man-ager), Dave Williamson (driver), Mrs Joan Plackett (stock control clerk), Vic Cope (returns warehouse-man) and myself explained Peter.

'A daily quality control check plus spot checks to ensure that there are £2 worth of goods are also made' added Tony Charles. 'This has to be done for there are very real legal pitfalls in this type of sale.'

Sealed bag

The 'shop' committee have formulated regulations and working rules for the 'shop'. Goods are sold at 50 per cent of the full retail price in lots costing £1. This com-pares with the small amount cleared at the branch for 80 per cent of the full retail price and is considerably more than the contractors' price.

Each lot consists of a variety of packets, cans and bottles which are then packed into an opaque plastic bag. The bag is then sealed. This way the contents remain unknown except that they are worth a total of £2.

Continued Peter: 'Each week we have, on average, a total of 90 bags for sale to those who possess a "shop" card. Because nearly everyone on the depot, that's nearly 800 people, applied and has a card we have to have a rota system. Each week we publish a series of numbers and people with cards bearing these numbers are the only people who can buy the damaged goods that week.

'The bags are taken to the sports pavilion where they can be bought between 1pm and 3pm on Mondays,

Wednesdays and Fridays. Each card holder has per-sonally to present the card and sign before buying their allocation - except staff un-able to shop personally. They can have their allocation bought for them as long as their cards are presented' said Peter.

Once bought the bags must not be taken back into the depot for security reasons. Although the contents are not known until bought, over 1400 bags have been issued. 'This is a measure of the scheme's success' said Tony Charles. 'The reactions have ranged from pleased to be getting anything to highly pleased with the contents.'

Mrs Barbara Downes, who has run the 'shop' since its inception six months ago and has been in the front line for comments on the scheme, echoed Tony's views. She said: 'Many people have said what a good thing it is and how pleased they have

been with the contents.' Because the scheme has to

be self-sufficient, a profit of 50 per cent has to be made to cover the wages of staff involved with the sort-ing, packing and selling of the damaged goods and what would have been paid to JS in any case by the contractors.

Legal problems

Director of distribution, Gurth Hoyer-Millar, when asked if the scheme would be extended to other depots, said 'The "shop" must re-main on a trial basis for the present. While I gather that the scheme has been an un-doubted success with em-ployees and we would like to extend it, this cannot possibly be done until all the legal problems surrounding the scheme have been resolved -indeed it might require a change in the legal position before this becomes possible.'

Mrs Barbara Downes serves another satisfied customer in the damaged goods 'shop' at Buntingford. In the foreground are examples of goods that can sometimes be in the bag.

Fair trading watchdog takes a close look at JS

John Methven (right), director-general of fair trading, stops to ask meat manager Jack Bardrick a question when he visited the Woolwich branch on January 8.

Giving JS a brief, but thorough, lookover on Tues-day January 8 was John Methven, the Government's new watchdog for fair trading.

After meeting chairman John Sainsbury at Blackfriars Mr Methven was shown around the Woolwich branch by Mr JD and director Peter Snow. The fair trading chief took particular interest in packaging, presentation and the description of goods as well as unit pricing and date coding. He spent about one and a half hours at the branch before returning to Blackfriars.

The Fair Trading Act be-came law last July but work didn't start officially until November when Mr Methven took up his appointment as director-general. His most important task is to be an unseen watchdog.

When the Act was passed it was nicknamed the Con-sumers' Charter but as the name implies the Fair Trad-

ing Act benefits both con-sumers and traders alike.

Basically, the Act aims to ensure that all commercial activities affecting consumers are kept under constant re-view, not only with a view to economics but also health and safety. Any instances of misleading information, facts withheld, undue pressure being applied or adverse con-ditions in operation can be checked quickly by means of a special order. Where traders deliberately, or through in-efficiency, flout the order they can be taken to court.

Criminal law

Mr Methven has the res-ponsibility for maintaining an information bank on con-sumer trade practices; for making orders which, after being vetted by his committee and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and after approval in both Houses of Parliament, will become part

of criminal law. He is also responsible for

making recommendations to the Secretary of State for Industry and Consumer Af-fairs, for taking offending traders to court and for keep-ing consumers well informed on their rights in law.

Mr Methven will be as-sisted by a consumer protec-tion advisory committee consisting, among others, of people making and supplying goods, with enforcing con-sumer legislation and with representing consumer in-terests. Trading standards inspectors, formerly weights and measures inspectors, have the power to enforce any order made and to do this are entitled to enter premises and inspect and seize foods and documents.

The director-general will be liaising with consumers through high street advice centres being set up through-out the country, to find out what kind of information is most lacking.

Page 3

'JOURNAL Chatham clowns Letters: Jobbo The pet food idea that make the kids changed JS laugh

You might expect that to have a tea party in a village square at this time of year would be a pretty cold affair. But this is just what 100 children did at Chatham on December 16 - only the 'village square' was in the canteen of the JS branch!

Branch staff had worked hours beforehand to trans-form the canteen for the Christmas party. Even the manager's room didn't escape and became a greengrocery for the period!

At the party, attended by over 80 children of branch staff, were 19 local orphans. They had been specially invited by the branch SSA

People

Long service Congratulations to the

following employees on re-ceiving long service awards:

40 years AE Ratcliffe (Tonbridge);

MW Robinson (Clapham); FA Ball (Debden); CV Laming (Basingstoke depot); AE Kettley (SSA); WN Holloway (Watford); EJ Russell (Blackfriars).

25 years Miss JV Watson (Bromley

area); DH Hedges (Black-friars); Mrs JM Davies (Islington); DR Thorpe (Clapham); Miss P Fox (Coventry area).

Appointments P Benjamin, formerly area

training officer at Romford, has been appointed area staff development officer at Ealing.

P Boam, formerly a sur-veyor in the estates office, has been appointed a senior surveyor.

AR Forrest, formerly as-sistant personnel officer at Coventry area office, has been appointed area staff development officer at Coventry.

who organised the party. 'As they left they all said what a great time they'd had' said chairman Jim Hill.

After the tea the children were entertained by a locally well known conjurer. But the hit of the afternoon were two clowns, Uncles George and Brian (pictured above). In everyday life they are Chat-ham's deputy manager George Parker and area refrigeration engineer Brian Pearce.

At the end of the afternoon area administration manager David Dahms donned Father Christmas gear and distri-buted a present to every child.

NA Franks, formerly a senior surveyor in the estates office, has been appointed assistant estates manager.

E Mant, formerly district meat manager at Kingston, has been appointed area meat specialist at Kingston.

M Ross, formerly an assist-ant in recruitment - HO personnel, has been ap-pointed area staff de-velopment officer at Kingston.

DM Scaife, formerly area training officer at Bromley, has been appointed area staff development officer at Bromley.

DC Stroud, formerly dis-trict meat manager at Coventry, has been ap-pointed area meat specialist at Coventry.

L Wilkinson, formerly a team leader at Charlton depot, has been appointed depot manager's special as-sistant at Charlton.

PJ Wilkinson, formerly a surveyor in the estates office, has been appointed a senior surveyor.

G Smith, formerly district meat manager at Ealing, has been appointed area meat specialist at Ealing.

AE Dowley, formerly dis-trict meat manager at Bromley, has been ap-

From Maurice Wells, person-nel manager, Streatham.

Congratulations on the Jobbo competition which featured in the Christmas issue of the Journal.

It proved to be a fascina-ting test of skill, luck and physical endurance and as a method of finding candidates for those difficult vacancies it must be unique. The vacancy bulletin will never again seem the same.

Please find enclosed the competition entry form. Close examination will show evi-dence of skid marks - a silver railway engine from a now rejected game of Monopoly was used, on the final square.

I look forward to receiving transfer details and a copy of the Jobbo description!

Help! From J W Worledge, deputy manager, Northampton branch

Please help us. We have had three of the management team locked in the linen room playing 'Jobbo' since Christ-

pointed area meat specialist at Bromley.

JL Hearne, formerly district meat manager at Bromley, has been appointed a meat buyer.

BJ Johnson, formerly district meat manager at Ealing, has been appointed area meat specialist at Rom-ford.

MD Conolly, formerly senior public relations as-sistant, has been appointed advertising manager.

M Crouch, formerly senior area production officer at Ealing, has been appointed area productivity section leader at Ealing.

D Payn, formerly senior area production officer at Romford, has been appointed area productivity section leader at Romford.

GH Quick, formerly senior buyer in the pur-chasing department, has been appointed purchasing controller.

JH Smith, formerly senior area production officer at Bromley, has been appointed area productivity section leader at Bromley.

DA Soloman, formerly a buyer in the purchasing de-partment, has been appointed senior buyer.

K Young, formerly

mas Eve and they cannot get to the end. Please advise.

Leave 'em alone is our advice. Tucked away from it all in a nice warm lav-, oops sorry, linen room, it sounds just the Jobbo. —Editor

Appreciation From: Mrs Buckle, a custo-mer of our Battersea branch.

I would like to send a note of appreciation for the kind-ness shown to me by all the staff at Sainsbury's Falcon Road branch. They are al-ways willing to help me, as my leg has been in plaster a great many weeks.

I felt that before I go into hospital in January, I could not go without sitting down and writing these few lines. I hope that they will be acknowledged by someone in your office, and given to all the staff and managers of Falcon Road.

Letters are welcome and should be addressed to the editor at the address below.

refrigeration supervisor at Coventry, has been appointed mechanical engineering super-visor at Coventry.

TC Day, formerly grocery manager at Chatham, has been appointed deputy man-ager at Bromley.

C Dutton, formerly assist-ant manager at Ilford Central, has been appointed deputy manager at Debden.

M Gregory, formerly a district meat manager, has been appointed divisional meat specialist.

R Handley, formerly area training officer at Kingston, has been appointed divisional training officer at HO.

GR Morley, formerly a skilled electrician at Charlton depot, has been appointed safety and training officer at Charlton.

C Parker, formerly a senior skilled tradesman at Cam-berley, has been appointed produce manager at Guild-ford.

K Tomes, formerly a senior skilled tradesman at Bos-combe, has been appointed assistant manager at Winton.

R Gilbert, formerly senior skilled tradesman at Ports-mouth, has been appointed produce manager at Ports-mouth.

T Hayes, formerly

T was shown the door when I first suggested it.' That's how C W 'Jerry' Grindley recollects what happened when he put for-ward the idea of selling pet food. But when it became a reality a year later it marked the beginning of a new era for JS. It was the first move away from foods for humans and was the ultimate forerunner of non-foods like hardware and clothing.

Like hardware, the pet foods were very successful, with new marketing tech-niques making a drastic change from when Jerry started with JS in 1931 at 114 Lewisham. From then, right through to his retire-ment on January 26, he has had a continuous service with JS - apart from a break for war service.

During the war he was one

productivity services officer, has been appointed pro-ductivity services section leader at Charlton depot.

G Summers, formerly a chef at Blackfriars, has been appointed catering manager at Hoddesdon depot.

J Waugh, formerly catering manager at Hoddesdon depot, has been appointed catering advisor at Romford area office.

G Smith, formerly deputy manager at Feltham, has been appointed manager at Boscombe.

Retirements E Locke, a warehouseman

at 31 Eastbourne, retired on December 29, after 28 years' service.

The following employees have also retired; length of service is shown in brackets:

Miss AM Davies (16 years); Frances Corbett (14 years); Mrs Rita Ellis (14 years); Mrs MR Dunn (4 years).

Obituary Mavis Cave, a cashier at

Nuneaton, died on December 19.

Mrs Annie Longman, a

of 32 special despatch riders roaring between the War Office and the War Cabinet. 'Winston Churchill was often at the door of No. 10 waiting for despatches' recalls Jerry.

After the war he was trans-ferred to Blackfriars, initially to start a training school, but went into grocery instead. This is where he remained, until his retirement, working up to departmental director.

Curiously enough - al-though there has been a change in trading styles -Jerry is leaving grocery where he came in: 'After the war it was a seller's market, as it is today. The only differ-ence between the two is that then it was Ministry rationing whereas today it is "ration-ing" by a scarcity of goods!'

His successor as depart-mental director of the grocery division is C 'Robby' Roberts

part-time supply assistant at Reading, died December 22.

Joseph Lucas, a store serviceman at Nuneaton, died December 1.

Mrs Winifred Gurr, who worked in the engineers cost-ing department at Streatham, died on December 23. Her husband, Donald, works in the post/reception at Streatham.

Ronald Keep, who worked with the motor engineers at Buntingford depot, died on December 31.

JOURNAL is published every four weeks for employees of J Sainsbury Limited Stamford House Stamford Street London SE1 9LL Telephone: 01-928 3355 ext 2804

Editor: Richard Gaunt Assistant editor: Eddie Manly Editorial assistant: Diane Hill

Designed by JS Design Studio

Printed in England by Alabaster Passmore and Sons Ltd, Maidstone

to/ltc

Page 4

Freezer market hots up: a background to the new food trend

The growth in the home freezer market has certainly been impressive. It is esti-mated that sales of freezer units in 1973 topped 700,000, bringing the number of freezer owning households to nearly two million. This means that just a tenth of all households in the UK have a freezer.

Families right across the social spectrum have been buying them, attracted by the flexibility they allow in planning menus. Also there's the attraction of buying meat, vegetables and convenience foods in bulk at prices up to 25 per cent below super-market prices for retail packs.

It is not only the sale of freezers which is surprising: sales of food to stock them have also run well ahead of expectations. Accurate stat-istics are hard to come by, but it is estimated that in 1972 frozen food sales through the retail trade totalled £180m while the best estimate available sug-gests that freezer owners spent £60m in stocking their freezers. These figures can-not be compared directly since the figure for all frozen food expenditure does not

include frozen meat while the freezer owners' expenditure includes everything.

However, preliminary figures for 1973 suggest that retail frozen food sales rose to £240m, and no less than a quarter of this was to freezer owners - whose total expenditure on freezer stock-ing must have been very sharply up once other pro-ducts are taken in account.

Hidden growth The majority of the 800 or

so freezer centres around the country are owned either by specialist groups such as Bejam and Alpine Everest or are independent. This is part-ly because the growth of the market was concealed for some time. For one thing it is not easy to separate the home freezer purchaser of bulk packs from the catering buyer and this helped to mask the trend. Also shop-ping habits die hard and it takes a housewife a while to adapt to the discipline of freezer shopping so that in the early stages some at least of her purchases tend to be retail packs from super-

markets. The trend, however, could not stay hidden.

Bejam claims to be far and away the biggest retailer of frozen foods, and its fast growth over four years or so has brought it from nowhere to nearly one of the top 20 food companies. Its sales in the year to June 1970 totalled £1.4m, and in subsequent years the figures were around £4m, then £7m, and last year £17m. This includes freezer sales but such has been the growth in food sales that freezers account for only 18 per cent of turnover.

The Bejam success has been mirrored by Alpine Everest, Cordon Bleu, Dal-getty, and the other specialist freezer operators.

Two factors JS has been looking at the

idea of a separate freezer centre for about a year, and has been closely examining the prospects for six months. According to chairman John Sainsbury, the decision to go ahead is due mainly to two factors. On the one hand there is the obvious realisa-

tions that here is a fast ex-panding market. On the other is the JS conclusion that a supermarket is by no means ideally placed to cope with the shopper whose main aim is to stock a freezer.

£15 purchases Certainly the freezer owner

has different shopping habits. It's estimated that the freezer owner spends three times more on frozen foods a year than the non-freezer owner, and in the experience of one freezer firm, the average purchase per trip works out at more than £15 - which is much more than the average in-town supermarket pur-chase.

The only apparent cloud on the horizon is the one which hangs over sales of freezers in the present econ-omic climate. The majority of freezers sold in the UK are imported, and exchange rate fluctuations have tended to make these models pro-gressively more expensive.

(Condensed from an article by Sandy McLachlan in the Financial Times, January 15).

How it is at the moment: shoppers to the Bretton branch stocking up with frozen foods.

Douglas' trophy is a bright spot for packaging

Keith gets a baby while others just get 'nosey'

A bright spot at the Blackfriars labs is Douglas Radlett's golden Tudor Trophy presented to him by the Institute of Packaging.

Every year the trophy, a gift from the publishers of the magazine Packaging, is awarded for the best essay written as part of the Insti-tute's qualifying examina-tions.

Douglas is a senior packaging technologist and his award winning essay was about unit packaging. 'Sachets of shampoo or wrapped single portions of butters are good examples of unit packaging' he ex-plained. 'Basically it's used for products, foods or non-foods, which are used up in one go'.

His essay, chosen from one of three subjects set by the

Institute for the 1973 exams, covered the advantages and disadvantages of this type of packaging, the costs involved and the materials and machinery available. It also touched on the many ways it was used.

'In most European countries, it's used for con-sumer convenience. For instance small individual pots of jam in a hotel are less messy than one large jar per table' commented Douglas. 'But in emerging countries like Zambia unit packaging has a different appeal. People who may not be able to afford a whole bottle of, say, refined cooking oil, will be tempted to buy a small sachet'.

Thirty - six - year - old Douglas joined JS early last year and it was the advertise-

ment for his present job that prompted him to take the examinations. 'The preferred way of becoming a full member of the Institute is by passing the qualifying exam' he explained.

'The ad mentioned that membership by examination would be an advantage. I had already been thinking about taking the exam but this spurred me on to do something about it'.

There is a two year course as preparation for it. He didn't do the course but just took the exam - and passed. He is now entitled to add M.Inst.Pk. after his name as a result.

Before joining JS, Douglas worked for the packaging section of Unilever. He lives at Upper Norwood and is mar-ried with two children; a boy of three and a girl aged one.

Highlight of Bishop Stortford's annual dance, on January 12, was the news that during the evening butcher Keith Norris became a father. Although his wife Valerie was already in Herts and Essex Hospital for the expected birth Keith decided to attend the dance. But he spent most of the early part of the evening on the phone to the hospital.

At 10.30 a very excited Keith ('I was shaking like a leaf he said later) announced the news to colleagues from the branch. They immediately put Keith on their shoulders and chaired him around the hall.

After a very quick cele-bration drink Keith rushed off to the hospital to see Valerie and baby Paul (pic-tured right).

It's a game that you've got to have a nose for! In fact when it comes to it there's no match for the staff of South Harrow, and their friends, for this game!

Some of them are pictured left, showing their 'nosey' abilities, as they took part in a game at the branch SSA's third annual general meeting and dance.

Seventy people turned up on a wet and windy night, on January 12, for the dance held in the staff canteen.

During the evening a raffle draw was made and first ticket out of the hat belonged to Julie Morris of the meat department. She won a portable television.

The £10 profit from the raffle went to the Trueloves Home - the residential home for crippled children in Essex.

Page 5

Pensions: new scheme In outline, they are:

The State Basic Scheme • Everyone will have to join • Payments will be based on certain

earnings • Payments will be shared between

employee and employer • Benefits will be on a flat rate basis • Married women and widows can opt

out

During the last few years there has been a growing interest in pensions. This interest is understandable in view of the publicity and debate that has surrounded the proposals which have been made by the two major political parties for reforming the structure of the State pension arrangements.

While the Labour Party's proposals did not become effective, as they had not been approved by Parliament at the date of the 1970 General Election, those of the Conservative Party have now been embodied in the Social Security Act 1973 and will become effective on April 6, 1975.

State pension scheme

While pensions can be traced back centuries to the 'Poor Law' it is generally accepted that before the early nineteenth century there was no concept of deferring current pay to provide an income after the conclusion of employment. Indeed, prior to the National Insurance Act 1946, which was based on the Beveridge Report and became operative in 1948, there was no universal pen-sion provision.

In 1958 the 10 year qualify-ing period for pensions in

respect of the contributions which had commenced in 1948 was fulfilled and fiat rate benefits started to be paid at the rate of £2.50 a week. In 1959 State Pensions were taken a step further by the introduction of the State Graduated Pension Act which became operative in April 1961.

Under this Act employed persons paid, in addition to the fiat rate National In-surance Stamp, a graduated contribution according to earnings and received an additional graduated pension at retirement of £1.30 a year for each £7.50 of contribu-tions in the case of men and £9.00 for women.

The State Reserve Scheme is an additional pension scheme to the Basic and is like a privately run pension • Anyone over 21 is eligible • Payments will total four per cent of

earnings, paid mostly by employer • No tax relief will be allowed on

employee payments • Bonuses can be earned • Widows will get a life pension at half

the rate of her husband's benefit. It will stop if she remarries

• Women who earn at least £8 must belong to this scheme or the occupational scheme run by employer

JS pension scheme

The JS pension scheme, which was one of the first in the retail trade, was established in July 1934 to provide pension and death benefits based on average earnings with the company. This meant that at retire-ment a person received a pension based on his average earnings from the date of joining the company to the date of retirement.

During the 1950's, follow-ing wartime inflation, it was accepted by the company that the pension at retire-ment produced by this for-mula bore little relation to earnings during the years immediately before retire-ment. The company, there-fore, started to grant ex-gratia pensions over and above the members entitle-ment from the Pension Scheme. In 1961 these ex-gratia company arrangements were formalised and im-

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proved by the establishment of the J Sainsbury Sup-plementary Pension Scheme.

This scheme provided a topping up pension and was paid for entirely by JS. It made the total pension pay-ments, including the National Insurance Pension, up to a figure related to the average of the last three years on the basis of l/60th for each year of pensionable service up to a maximum of two-thirds.

Through the 1960's infla-tion eroded the value of the pensions of the already retired. In 1964 and 1967 the company reviewed the pensions on the basis of the cost of living index and increased them by a per-centage equivalent to the increase in the cost of living since the pension started. The payment of these ex-gratia reviews of pensions was formalised in the J Sainsbury 1970 Retirement Scheme and further cost of living increases were given in 1970 and 1972.

In 1972 also, it was de-cided to simplify the struc-

Occupational schemes run by employers can be an alternative to the Reserve Scheme only if recognised by the State Pension Board. They must: • Provide pensions to minimum

standards • Provide a minimum death benefit for

widows whether the husband dies before, or after, retirement

• Keep the pension rights of an employee — even if he leaves the company before retirement

• In certain circumstances increase pensions with cost of living increases

ture of the company's pension arrangements. The three ex-isting schemes were con-solidated into the J Sains-bury Pension and Death Benefit Scheme which received full approval from the Inland Revenue.

This approval, together with the changes which have been made to the JS Pension Scheme over the years to ensure that the benefits were broadly in line with the maxi-mum benefits allowed by the Inland Revenue (making the JS scheme one of the best available for employees), will mean that only very minor technical changes would be necessary to meet the Govern-ment's recognition require-ments outlined later in this article.

New staff arrangements

During the last few years successive Governments have increased graduated pension

contributions in order to pay for the increases which have been made to the fiat rate benefits: the maximum con-tribution which was origi-nally just under 50p is now £2.25 a week.

Graduated This structure of a basic

flat rate pension, paid for by graduated pension contribu-tions and a further pension related to earnings, is to form the basis of the new frame-work of pension benefits with effect from April 6, 1975.

Under these arrangements everybody will be members of the State basic pension scheme and will pay graduated contributions according to earnings. Employees who are oyer 21 years old must also be entitled to a second pension which may be pro-vided either by their em-ployers' 'recognised' occu-pational pension scheme or alternatively by the new State Reserve Pension Scheme.

Things aren't what they used to be: an aged beggar (circa 1840) has to rely on charity to survive and in a Southwark 'refuge' (circa 1900) old and homeless men wait for a meaL

Page 6

s for old Since the State first helped the elderly 400 years ago benefits have been gradually improved. In this article company secretary Stuart Parker reviews the latest laws on pensions due to come into effect next year. In a future article, after the matter has been discussed with employee representatives, he will be outlining the new JS pension scheme.

The pensions department (from the right): Stuart Parker, company secretary, Mrs Maureen K Wheatley, pensions officer, Peter Bull, pensions manager, and Mrs Brenda Ralph, pensions assistant.

State basic scheme

Under the basic scheme everybody will be entitled to the State flat rate benefit which is at present £403 a year and this will be paid for by graduated contributions from both the employee and the employer. The rate of contribution for employees over age 18 will be 5i per cent on all earnings between £8 and £48 a week and the employers' contribution will be 7£ per cent on the same earnings. The earnings on which contributions will be payable of £8 to £48 per week have only been used in the Act for illustrative pur-poses and will be updated before the new Scheme starts in 1975.

In October of 1973 the upper limit of £48 a week for graduated contributions was increased to £54 and on this basis it can be anticipated that the probable earnings on which contributions will be paid will be those between £10 and £60 a week. Whereas in the past, National In-surance contributions have been collected separately, from 1975 they will be col-lected through the normal PA YE system.

M a r r i e d w o m e n a n d widows will have the right to opt out of paying full contri-butions to the basic scheme as they do at present. If they do they will contribute at a reduced rate of 0.6 per cent of their earnings for Industrial Injuries benefits and towards the cost of the National Health Service.

State reserve scheme

The more important pro-vision of the Social Security Act 1973 is that all employees

over 21 years old must qualify for a second pension in addition to the State basic pension. This second pension may be provided either by their employers recognised occupational pension scheme or failing that by the new State Reserve Scheme.

The State Reserve Scheme will be run on similar lines to an occupa t i ona l pens ion scheme and will be managed independently of the Govern-ment by a Reserve Pension Board who will be responsi-ble for the investment of the fund: there will be no Government subsidy.

No tax relief The total Reserve Scheme

contribution for those over 21 who are members of the Reserve Scheme will be 4 per cent of the employees' earn-ings between £8 and £48 a week. The employee will pay 1£ per cent and his employer l\ per cent: there will be no tax relief allowed on these contributions. Anybody who is not a member of a recog-nised occupational scheme, who is earning over £8 a week will be required to contribute and married women will not be able to contract out of the scheme.

The Reserve Pension Scheme will provide both personal pensions for em-ployees and also widows' pensions. The personal pen-sion will be payable at age 65 for men and age 60 for women.

The widow's pension will be paid at half the rate of her deceased husband's pension or, if he dies before reaching age 65, half the rate of the pension secured by the contri-butions paid up to the time of his death. Although the Reserve Scheme Pension will normally be payable for life a widow's pension will cease if she remarries.

The total Reserve Scheme

Pension will be assessed according to the return on the invested contributions and will be made up of two parts:

(1) A guaranteed rate of pension of x pence per week for each £1 of contribution during any particular year of age according to a table, an extract of which is shown in the table.

(2) An additional amount of pension by way of a bonus which will depend on how far the investment perfor-mance of the fund proves better than the yield neces-sary to support the guaran-teed pension in (1) above. These bonuses, which are intended to protect the pen-sion against inflation, will be calculated every three years by the Government Actuary.

Recognised occupational schemes

As an alternative to receiv-ing their second pension from the State Reserve Scheme employees may receive their second pension from a recog-nised occupational pension scheme run by their employer. To be recognised by the Occupational Pension Board the occupat ional pension scheme will have to satisfy two conditions relating to certain minimum pension and death benefits. These are:

(1) Personal Pension: The first condition of recognition is that the occupational pen-sion scheme must provide personal pensions of a mini-mum standard. There are three methods for calculating the minimum personal pen-sion for recognition based on either total earnings, average earnings or money purchase. For each method there are two levels of minimum per-sonal pension depending on whether or not the pension will be increased during the course of payment.

The method which JS would use to seek recognition would be the total earnings method. Under this method the annual rate of minimum personal pension must be a percentage of the employee's total reckonable earnings (those earnings between £8 and £48 per week) through-out his period of recognised pensionable employment.

The percentages of total earnings where pensions are periodically increased when in payment are 1 per cent for men and 0.70 per cent for women, and 1.25 per cent for men and 0.90 per cent for women where pensions are not periodically increased when in payment.

(2) Minimum Death Bene-fit: The second condition of recognition is that recognised schemes must provide mini-mum death benefit when a

male member dies leaving a widow, either while in recog-nised pensionable employ-ment or after retiring or leaving, with a preserved minimum personal pension. This applies whether he married before, or after re-tiring, or leaving and regard-less of his period of service. The widow's pension must be equal to half of the mini-mum amount of the member's pension required for recog-nition or alternatively a lump sum may be paid which is equivalent to the value of the widow's nensinn

Preservation The other important pro-

vision of the 1973 Act is the introduction of the preserva-tion of pension benefits. All occupational pension schemes will be required to comply with the new conditions re-lating to preservation of pension rights and will be subject to the supervision of the Occupational Pension Board whether or not they are recognised schemes.

The Act requires all occu-pational pension schemes to preserve the pension rights of members who leave their employers' service after April 6, 1975 but before the normal pensionable age of the scheme. Entitlement to bene-fits on leaving employment will not be established direct-ly by the Act but will derive from the rules of each pension scheme.

The benefits covered by the preservation require-ments are those to which the member and his dependants would be entitled at, or after, his retirement at the schemes normal pensionable age, whether earned before or after April 6, 1975. They include benefits both in lump sum and pension form and benefits payable to the widow, or other dependants, on the member's death after normal pensionable age.

Refunds Benefits payable on death

before normal pensionable age are not covered by these requirements, but recognised schemes must preserve mini-mum death benefits in such cases. To qualify for the preservation benefit rights under the Act, a member who leaves employment be-fore the scheme's normal pensionable age must have reached the age of 26 years and have completed a mini-mum of five years qualifying service.

When a member leaves the company he may, on leaving, still take a refund of contribu-tions paid by him before April 1975, as an alternative to pre-

serving his pre-April 1975 benefits and may also take a refund of contributions paid by him after that date if he has not completed five years membership of the scheme after April 1975. When a member leaves after less than five years' service, the employer must make a pay-ment to the Reserve Pension Scheme, unless at least the member's minimum benefits are preserved or transferred. This premium is to be de-ducted from any refund of contributions payable to the member.

The company is now wait-ing to receive the recom-mendations of both of the consulting actuaries of the pension scheme as to what courses of action could be adopted by the trustees from April 1975 and of the Occupa-tional Pensions Board as to what amendments might be necessary to the pension scheme for recognition. When these recommendations have been received they will form the basis of discussions with employee representatives be-fore a final decision is taken by the trustees.

Age at end of year of

contributions

25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60

Weekly rate of pension: pence for every £1 of contributions

Men Women

•773 -520 •638 -431 •529 -356 •438 -295 •363 -244 •301 -200 •250 164 •203

Example: Contributions paid during the year when the person is age 30 = £35-60. Pension secured and payable from age 65 = 0-638p x £35-60 = 22^p per week. At age 65 all the weekly amounts which have been secured by the contributions paid during each year of age are added together for the pension.

Still worried? Something still not clear or needs more

explanation? Don't worry -just call the JS Journal's 24-hour Phone-in service. You'll get it on Blackfriars extension 2363 (or 01-928 3355 extension 2363 if you have no direct link with head office).

Enquiries will be recorded so have your name, job, location and phone number together with your question. If possible all questions will be answered by the company's pensions experts. General questions on pensions will be published in the next issue of the JS Journal. Specific questions on the JS Pension scheme will be dealt with separately when we publish details of the new JS scheme.

The Phone-in service will operate for two weeks from this issue (January 24-February 7). 'Now - what was that number?'

01-928 3355 (or Blackfriars direct)

extension 2363

Page 7

Enough of the gloom: let's take a more 'light' hearted look at the crisis

In the face of adversity: Albert Dring of the chief engineer's department at Clapham combats the cold and dark.

A report by Phyllis Lane from the land of Tilley lamps and roll neck sweaters.

When I walk down Clap-ham High Street on a working morning, the lights of Sains-bury's tall office block beckon me unerringly onward - on bad mornings the adjective 'ruthlessly' would seem to fit the bill - but now from Monday to Wednesday, Clapham's no-light period - the building looms dark and faceless against the grey morning sky.

Once inside the smell from an oil convector assails one's nostrils as the receptionist tries to combat the cold air which pours in from the doors either side of her. Upstairs the warmth from the oil central heating pumps out for an hour or two and then subsides. We are told by Jack, our security man, that the temperature reads at 62° as he marches about the office wildly swinging his whirling hygrometer like some football enthusiast with a rattle. This we find hard to believe.

By lunchtime one is piling on extra clothing; some people never take off their overcoats, others keep warm shawls in the office. Roll neck sweaters are much in evidence and the 'old fashion-ed' girls like yours truly, who decreed it unbusinesslike to wear slacks in the office, now slink about the place in smart trouser suits. Some-times I wonder if I have inadvertently strayed into a ski-ing club!

At lunchtime the canteen is full. That hurried sandwich and apple seem somehow in-adequate, the staff eat a good

Over 40 tons of JS curry powder were sold last year, about four times as much as in 1960. A warming thought during these cold, dark days of winter.

Curry powder is however only a small part of the company's total spice and seasonings trade. Ground white pepper for instance amounted to a staggering 85 tons in 1973.

Spices and seasonings are among the items handled by Barry Matthews and his team of grocery buyers at Stamford House. They also cover things like tea, coffee, sugar and dried fruit. But it is their link with the spice trade that captures the im-agination, particularly during a dreary British winter.

While we shiver Barry Matthews and his colleagues, can, metaphorically at least, warm themselves with thoughts of sultry, exotic lands. Cloves from Tanzania, ginger from West Africa, all-spice berries from Jamaica, cinnamon from Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and pepper from India - all conjure up pictures of hot, hot sun and

hot meal to fortify them-selves for the cold afternoon ahead. Afterwards the coffee lounge is less full; those without a lamp, and only 12 Tilley lamps were issued to Clapham I'm told, go home early and so make up their time by taking a shorter lunch break.

In the afternoon, if the day be fair, we stand in a shaft of sunlight as it streaks across the carpeted floor, to catch its warmth and light. Then all too soon the sun sinks in the west, a fiery ball of orange behind the soaring spire of the Catholic church, and dusk falls almost

lush vegetation. The actual buying of the

spices from the growers is left to the specialist com-panies that supply JS. 'They have agents on the spot and working as they do in the heart of the spice trade all the time it would be foolish not to use their expertise' explained Barry Matthews. His own knowledge of the spice trade is extensive for he has been closely connected with it for over 20 years.

New recipe One of the things he did

when he joined JS was to work out, with the help of his colleagues, a new recipe for Sainsbury's ground mixed spice. The old one was good, he said, but the balance of the spices being used meant that the mix was not as 'spicy' as it could have been. The new recipe, the one used today, also contains a much higher quality cinnamon.

'Few companies use such a high quality cinnamon as Sainsbury's' according to John Hodson, managing

immediately. Those who haven't a Tilley

lamp can, of course, have a hurricane lamp; they are smelly and ineffectual for close work but at dusk, when they are lit, the office becomes an Aladdin's cave - who knows what treasures are hidden in those dark corners - and faces, usually mundane, grow strangely beautiful in the flattering glow of an oil lamp. Passages darken as the shadows lengthen and all is jostle and bustle as the Englishman, a ghostly figure on the stairs, hurries home thankfully to his well lit, well heated castle.

director of the British Pepper & Spice Company (BPS) which supplies and mills a number of JS spices.

Cinnamon is the bark of a special tree and the finest qualities (used by JS) are thin strips peeled from young shoots off the main trunk. The strips dry into cigar shaped sticks, called 'quills'. Five quills curled one inside the other are known in the trade as five-O's, four quills as four-O's and so on.

Takeovers and mergers have reduced the number of spice mills in London to two. BPS has its mill at Wapping by the River Thames on the same site it has occupied for over 100 years. Modern milling plant has replaced the heavy granite grinding machines, but one old machine has been kept in working order for old times sake.

Technology may have speeded up the milling process so that what once took a day now takes minutes but the evocative smells that surround a spice mill remain as before. Amidst sacks of Indian turmeric, Moroccan

Eddie Manly's Diary: an everyday story of commuter folk.

Day 1. Crackling corn-flakes ! The local radio station hasn't yet cottoned onto the fact that there's a train drivers work-to-rule and that there's likely to be many cancellations.

Station approach and bad news. Familiar faces from the 7.54 pass me - but they're coming away from the station! The booking hall is full of hopefuls who keep asking an equally hopeful, but uninformed, porter for news of the next train. I decide to live dangerously and buy a ticket. Unfortu-nately, my faith in the situa-tion improving only permits me to buy a single.

The platform has the apprehensive air of an army before their first encounter with the enemy. However, some stiff upper lips exhibit good old British phlegm and proclaim that 'the '57 strike was much worse than this y'know old chap. . . . '

A rumour sweeps along the platform: 'The 8.32 has just left Strood.' Sure enough it shortly arrives. The trouble is that it is only six carriages instead of the usual 10. Now, I consider that it would be a sad world if chivalry ever became a thing of the past, but I silently thank the women's lib and equal rights movements as I fight for the last inch of luggage rail to hang on to! Latecomers have to rely on the laws of gravity and compression.

The train pulls away at 8.40 - eight minutes late but on time. (Old hands on the North Kent line accept the fact that if a train is less

corriander and many other unknown pungent smells of the Orient, London and winter seem a long way away.

The names given to some of the spices add to the romance. JS uses Tellicherry pepper from India which is claimed to be the best in the world. Noble Sweet is the name of the Hungarian pap-krika imported by BPS specially for JS. Barry Matthews and John Hodson both agree that Noble Sweet is probably among the best for flavour and colour.

Rising prices Like almost everything else

the spice trade is suffering at the hands of rising prices. Cloves at about £2,000 a ton are 10 times the price they were in 1960. A poor crop can send world prices rocketing. Nevertheless when you think of the number of people who go to keeping the British pepper pot filled; from grower to miller to JS supermarket, adding a touch of spice still costs surprisingly little.

than 10 minutes late then it's considered to be on time!)

The train stops twice on the journey to London. A foolish Dartfordian tries to squeeze into our compartment. 'Can you all move up just a little' he asks. 'He wants us stand-ing on the s e a t . . . Now I know I should have started slimming . . . Plenty of room on top' are some of the more printable replies. But, by and large, everyone is joining in the spirit of the thing.

Hijack!

At Woolwich Arsenal the train doesn't seem as if it's going to continue. Porters are rushing up and down the platform and someone in-forms us: 'They've lost the guard'. Perhaps the train has been hijacked by the Passen-ger Liberation Front (PLF) I muse. Or the Black December group. Where would we end our journey?

Threatened with ticket punchers and held hostage in a siding at Slade Green? Would the suburban guerillas demand an instant return to normal services before asking for political asylum on the Dartford Loop? Or perhaps we are doomed to an endless journey in a desperate search for a station manager who will allow us to stop!

Fantasy changes to reality as the train moves off and Waterloo is within striking (I beg your pardon) distance.

It's my misfortune to be on the wrong side of the compartment and there are about 20 people between me and the door. 'Door please' I squeak not giving much chance for my plea. But a teenage girl sitting

nearby saves the day by also asking for the door. Now, with a male chauvinistic gesture (women's lib? What's that?) I demand 'women and children first' and follow her through the crush to the door - and the platform. The air is fresh; full of carbon monoxide from the exhausts of three times the number of cars pouring into London!

Stamford House: lights dimmed, heating reduced, a smattering of empty desks -and thoughts of how to get home tonight.

It almost resolves itself. JS have laid on a coach to Bromley. I get off at a wet and windy Blackheath having decided to catch a Greenline to Gravesend. I wait for an hour in vain and abandon my carefully made plan. What was that quotation? ' . . . of mice and men.' Ah well! There's nothing else but to stick my thumb out. The first car to come along drops me half-a-mile from my home!

Day 2. No further news of train cancellations on the local radio. The railway station has a different air about it this morning. Gone is the apprehension and in it's place there's a-shoulder-t o - t h e - w h e e l , bes t - foo t -forward, we've-seen-it-all-before, air. The 8.32 arrives, only six carriages again, and I scramble on. Blast! I've taken one foot off the floor and I can't find space to put it down again. I manage, with all the adeptness I can muster, to open my newspaper. 'Rail chaos' the headlines read. 'Petrol up by 2£p a gallon' . . . 'Ted to speak to the na t ion ' . . .

Barry Matthews (right) looks over a consignment of five-O cinnamon sticks with John Hodson of BPS. A link with the past is the granite grinding machine in the background.

As nice as spice - and it sells well too

Page 8