CELEBRATING CENTENARY IN BRIGG

This picture shows a notable centenary being celebrated in Brigg.
It was taken outside Corah's hosiery factory on Bridge Street in 1965 when the owners celebrated the foundation stone being laid for the St Margaret's Works in Leicester which established the company.
Known throughout Brigg as The Stocking Factory, Corah's provided employment for many people in the town (mainly women) from shortly after the Second World War until the mid-1970s.
Coun Rueben Barnard, that year's chairman of Brigg Urban District Council, is pictured, wearing his chain of office; the UDC did not have a Town Mayor but the functions of both posts were identical.
Town Clerk Joseph J. Magrath is behind him, centre, near the doorway leading into the offices.
Herbert (Jim) Forman, local bank manager and future member of both Brigg Town and Glanford Borough Council, is on the extreme right.
To the left of Coun Barnard is Arthur Marshall, who was Corah's local manager and a member/official of Brocklesby Park Cricket Club.
It was a feather in the cap for Brigg Urban District Council that Corah's came to town and thrived for many years.
Corah's St Margaret Factory in Brigg - to use its full name - began making clothes in 1946, using a former RAF building.
Keen to develop 'light industry' and bring much-needed local jobs, Coun Ben Benstead, then chairman of Brigg Urban District Council, and Town Clerk Joe, pressed the town's case to management at the company's HQ in Leicester, which was looking to establish a 'satellite factory'.
In 1969 Ben and Joe were guests of honour at the opening of a 20,000 ft extension at the St Margaret Factory, Edward Dodd recalled in his renowned Brigg book.
The ceremony was performed by The Hon. Michael D. Sieff, assistant managing director of Marks and Spencer, which the Corah company supplied.
Older followers of Brigg Blog may well remember its St Margaret range of clothing.
The assistant MD described the Brigg factory as magnificent, and it included the very latest in automated packaging.
In his 1973/74 book, Ted said Corah's and Spring Food Products (then owned by Morrells) were "the largest employers of labour within the urban area."
That did not include Brigg Sugar Factory, over the border in Scawby Brook.
Corah's factory and offices, close to Island Carr Road, have since been demolished - the offices being the last to go just a few months ago, though rubble is still evident.
Planning permission has been granted for a large housing estate to be built on the land occupied by the Corah's and the adjoining former Falcon Cycles factory.

The former Corah building in May 2016.