New social club offered much more engine room to have a good time
Former Trent Motor Traction employee and local history enthusiast Alan Hiley, of Littleover, concludes his look back through the firm’s staff magazine, Trent Bulletin, to share its history and photographs
ONE of the last major changes for the company and the Derby staff was the closure of the firm’s old social club. The club occupied a building accessed from the rear of Cockpit Hill and had been in use for many years.
Apart from staff enjoying convivial evenings there, it has hosted the aforementioned horticultural shows, childrens parties, games evenings, retirement presentations and much more.
Each weekend, on a Sunday evening, a local pop group would appear on stage (there were some very good groups around Derby in the 1960s) and the club was usually packed.
As it was only open to Trent employees, non-Trent staff had to be turned away when word soon got around about what took place there on a Sunday evening. New Year Eves always saw the club packed for a good knees-up, too.
The council was compulsory purchasing all the buildings on and around Cockpit Hill to create the new Eagle Market so the club committee were put on the lookout for new premises.
Eventually they were to purchase what had been the Balmoral Club in Charnwood Street, moving in February 1969.
This provided a larger club with bar, completed with juke box, games room with snooker, darts board and bar billiards table, a lounge to host parties, “sing-songs and meetings” and a large concert hall upstairs.
This was used to host discos, talent competitions, dances and bingo. The move did not sit well with some staff as it was further from the bus station for a pint after their shift had finished.
The club was also affiliated to the CIU association, which meant, for the first time, any members of any CIU club could go along.
Many staff felt that the Trent “family” feel had gone but it was still a popular and well used club, as the photographs show.
As well as the social club, there were several subsidiaries including Trent Camera Club, Small Bore Rifle Club and Bus Industry Study Group.