Credit union pioneers honored at Save & Sound project online ceremony

Tuesday 16 January 2024

The work of the British Credit Union Historical Society has been honored at an online signing ceremony, as the wealth of material the society has built up over many years was handed over for safe custody with the Credit Union Foundation.

The BCUHS has transferred ownership of the considerable collection, and the website it has developed, so that it can be combined with the work of the National Lottery Heritage Fund supported Save and Sound Project.   The transfer will safeguard the Society’s collection, and aid the Credit Union Foundation’s aim of promoting credit union heritage and ensuring the work of credit union pioneers is not forgotten.

Society founders Martin Logan (Credit Union Historian) and James Clancy (Treasurer and Website Co-ordinator) joined Lord Kennedy of Southwark, Chair of the Trustee Board of the Credit Union Foundation, and Credit Union Foundation Secretary Robert Kelly at the online event.

Martin Logan spoke about the long history of the Society, from the initial activity he had embarked on with Paul Jones and Rose Dorman in 1993 to the official foundation of the BCUHS in 2013.  Martin and James Clancy went on to explain how they had worked together with their co-founder and Chair, Frank Duffy, to achieve the Society’s key goals of Preserving the Past. Educating the Present, Enriching the Future and Promoting Unity.

Lord Kennedy and Robert Kelly praised the officers of the Society for their considerable efforts and their many achievements.  Over the years the Society has produced a booklet celebrating the first fifty years of the credit union movement in Britain, a portable exhibition comprising 23 banners and a popular website.  The team has gathered a large archive of documents, images and recordings from credit unions, trade associations and individuals going all the way back to 1964.

Material from the archive will be combined with items gathered by the Save and Sound Project, which is being funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to collect 40 oral histories from across the North of England, and develop a new website dedicated to credit union heritage. The Project is delighted that Martin Logan is joining the project as a volunteer so that it can continue to benefit from his knowledge and experience.