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Association is very active and has a membership of over
800. There are also branches of the British Legion, Queen's
Nursing Association (which lapses under the new National
Health Service), and various trade unions.
The Woman's Guilds of Preston and Grange Churches are very
active and in the Roman Catholic Chapel young and old are
almost nightly given facilities for recreation, instruction,
and amusement. In the winter of 1947 a Sunday evening meeting
called Sunday Rendezvous for Youth was held in the Town
Hall. It is hoped that this will continue in following winters.
The Go-operative Society and Labour Party have Youth Clubs,
while the Y.M.C.A. has a very strong juvenile and a growing
adult section. Preston Church Dramatic Society-a branch
of the Church Literary Society- has presented plays regularly
for several years. There is no branch of the Women's Rural
Institutes but the W.V.S. did fine work during and after
the war and is still active. The Boy Scouts have one troop
; the Girl Guides two com- panies ; there are also two companies
of Brownies and one of Cubs. The various Youth Organisations
are co-ordinated by a Youth Panel of the County Youth Council.
The town is " alive " politically, but there is no apparent
rancour among the people on account of politics. The Town
Council is almost wholly composed of Labour representatives,
as is the District Council. The party political associations,
Labour and Conservative, have good memberships, and I believe
there is a small Communist Party Organisation. The reasonable
outlook of all organisations is illustrated by the fact
that no strikes have occurred in the district since 1926,
apart from one of one week in 1930 and one of two weeks
in 1932.
Most households possess wireless sets and probably the musical
programmes and broadcasts of sports events are by far the
most popular items. Attempts have been made to form listening
circles, but without success. Adult educational classes
were occasionally held before the war on such subjects as
Musical Appreciation, Modern European Affairs, Developments
in Wireless, but there is no widespread enthusiasm for such
classes. Perhaps this is again explained by the proximity
of Edinburgh, where those who desire such instruction may
obtain it readily.
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