Saving ‘the Mechanics’ at Swindon
The Great Western Railway was at the forefront of caring for stafi welfare. In Daniel Gooch’s time, his assistant, Minard Rea, was put in charge of the welfare scheme under which staff paid a deduction from their wages into a medical fund. Staff welfare centred on a company hospital and a new building, the Mechanics Institute, which included a library, mutual improvement classes, and a theatre as well as a keenly-priced fresh fruit and vegetable market, seen as vital in supplying abetter diet for all. It was from ‘the Mechanics’ that the welfare scheme Was
