Monday 3 November 2014

A Glasgow Canteen

From the Glasgow Herald, 3rd November, 1914. 

THE WELFARE OF THE TROOPS.

With the arrival of the two City of Glasgow Artillery Brigades at Stirling on the outbreak of the war a dry canteen tent was set up in the King's Park for the benefit of the men, who number about 500, and has proved a great success.  The canteen is managed by Mrs Forrester, of Annfield, and other ladies, and owing to generous contributions of tea, jams, scones, fruit, etc., it has been possible to sell eatables at a very small cost, and any profits there may be are handed over every week to the colonel of the Artillery for behoof of the men.  The enterprise is in no sense a private one.  This week the canteen enters on a new era.  In place of the tent, which has done good service, a fine wood building, the cost of which has been defrayed by a Glasgow gentleman, Mr. R. R. Spiers, has been erected, and will be found more convenient for the purpose, as it is estimated that at least 1000 men avail themselves of the canteen daily.  In addition to the selling of eatables, tea, and mineral waters, the new canteen will be used for entertainments, musical and otherwise, which it is proposed to provide several evenings a week, and any who are willing to give their services in this connection should communicate with Mrs Forrester, of Annfield.

[Army training camps were springing up all over the country, and various organisations including the YMCA and Salvation Army stepped in to provide somewhere for the men to go when they had free time. ] 

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