An early appointment in the new personnel department was a welfare officer, F. S. Grace, who thus received official recognition for his long-standing and voluntary task of visiting sick employees. He had been with the Company since 1905 and was ideally suited for this work, having a useful knack of obtaining such things as a wheeled chair or a wireless set for a lonely invalid. On his death in 1948, he was succeeded by C. Powell.

Social activities took a new lease of life after the war. At the M-V Club the bowls, billiards and snooker, chess, tennis and general social sections continue to flourish with increased numbers, alongside the complete pre-war list of affiliated organizations; these provide for the devotee of angling, badminton, bridge, fencing or hockey on the one hand and languages, music or photography on the other. A new departure was the inauguration of an annual exchange of visits with the B.T.H. Recreation Club at Rugby. The Club president. Sir George Bailey, resigned in 1947 and was succeeded by I. R. Cox. Bailey, whose membership dates from 1909, had been president for nineteen years, during which he had consistently •supported the Club and all the allied activities that have contributed so much to the Company's success.

The annual sports, revived in 1946, now include many open events and attract leading amateur athletes. The total number of competitors is in the region of 750, of whom perhaps 200 come from other A.E.I, firms.

There have always been a number of well-known sporting personalities at the works, and today's names stand as high as any of the past. Four of them took part in the 1948 Olympic Games—Fred Ireland and Stan Boardman as officials and Alan Bannister and Max Shacklady as competitors. Ireland, captain of Winton Harriers for six years and winner of over 150 trophies and prizes, has done with •active running, but he retains a keen interest in sport and holds important positions with amateur athletic organizations. Boardman has just completed twenty-seven years as a soccer referee. Bannister is the leading amateur cyclist in the country, and Shacklady, now retired from boxing, won the Northern Counties welterweight title for three years in succession and the A.B.A. championship in 1948.

APPRENTICE TRAINING
A new education building designed by the late H. S. Fairhurst, a well-known Manchester architect, was completed in 1939; it has a floor area of some 20,000 sq. ft. and includes well-equipped classrooms and a gymnasium. Another building of 36,000 sq. ft., designed by the