'JS Journal', June 1979

Table of content

• BHS's profits shoot up
  02

  BHS's profits shoot up
  THE FASTEST GROWTH RATE for
  over five years pushed BHS's pre-tax
  profit up by 24.3 per cent to reach £33.6
  million. BHS, joint owner with JS of
  SavaCentre, published its year end results
  at the...

• Board changes
  02

  Board changes
  CHANGES ON THE BOARDS of
  three of JS's associated companies were
  announced by chairman John Sainsbury
  last month. Simon Sainsbury, who will
  shortly be leaving JS, has resigned from
  the chairmanship of Haverhill...

• Contents Page
  02

  Pages 1-7
  General news
  Pages 8-13
  Feature
  Pages 16
  Letters
  Pages 14-15, 16-23
  People
  Page 24
  Archives

• Epsom faces a set back
  02

  Epsom faces a set back
  THE UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS of
  JS's exhibition of its plans for a supermarket
  on the 'Odeon site' at Epsom,
  Surrey (see Journal, Christmas '78), got
  a fillip recently when the Epsom and
  Ewell Borough...

• New overalls go on trial
  02

  New overalls go on trial
  IMPORTANT TRIALS are taking
  place this month with new styles and
  fabrics for the protective overalls worn
  by branch staff.
  Four representative branches have
  been chosen as guinea pigs to...

• PLUS factor
  02

  PLUS factor
  'PLUS' IS COMING to Broadfield
  branch on June 19. This is the date on
  which Crawley's shoppers will be able to
  try out the IBM 3660 computerised
  checkout 'Price Look-Up System'
  (PLUS) which JS is putting on trial...

• Woolco and out
  02

  Woolco and out
  WOOLWORTH has closed the food
  departments in another 250 or so of
  its 1,000 High Stores. (It closed
  down around 400 a year ago.) The
  reason is said to be because of the
  continuing fierce competition in the...

• Basildon is right on schedule
  03

  Basildon is right on schedule
  SAVACENTRE NUMBER THREE is
  full steam ahead and with the last parts
  of the roof being settled into place
  everything is moving according to
  schedule. Building work commenced at
  Basildon in...

• Keeping cool in a tight squeeze
  03

  Keeping cool in a tight squeeze
  WITH ONLY AN INCH to spare a
  new chiller unit is manoeuvred through
  the staff restaurant at Stamford House
  to its final position in the basement
  plant room.
  This tricky operation was carried...

• Ready Teddy go...
  04

  Ready Teddy go...
  . . . down to
  the woods today,
  You're in for a
  big surprise,
  For every bear
  that ever there was
  Is there today
  for certain because
  Today's the day
  the Teddy Bears
  have their picnic.
  (Well some of them...

• Brighton think tank
  06

  Brighton
  JS'S TOP TEAM went to Brighton on
  May 11 to take part in the company's
  first residential conference for senior
  management. The two-day event was
  originally planned for January at an
  hotel in Eastbourne, but it had...

• Farnham looks to the future
  08

  Farnham looks to the future
  BIGGER AND BETTER is what JS
  hopes to be in the future at Farnham,
  Surrey. A planning application has been
  submitted to Waverley District Council
  for a development in South Street comprising
  a...

• Southport's conservation piece
  08

  Southport's
  SOUTHPORT IS ALL SET to get its
  first Sainsbury store—provided that a
  recent planning application gets the
  green light from the local authority.
  Residents of the Merseyside seaside resort
  were given a chance to...

• Hearing a call for help
  09

  AN INVESTIGATION into drugs and
  deafness is to be helped on its way by
  the Stamford Group. The Group are an
  informal association of Streatham and
  Blackfriars staff who seek to help people
  less fortunate than themselves.
  The...

• Courting success
  10

  Courting
  DON'T STEP OUT OF LINE in
  Burton-on-Trent branch, because BPO
  Pat Court will have her eye on you—and
  she's a Justice of the Peace. Pat has been
  at the branch for the last four and a half
  years, but she's only been...

• Room and half board
  11

  Room and half board
  Guinea pigs are all the rage in Woolwich. No, they're not
  replacing the branch's Chinese rabbit—it's just that the
  store is being used for trials of two new systems. The
  first—using half boards...

• A-peeling!
  14

  A-peeling!
  ORANGES' AND 'LEMONS' were
  pipped at the post in this year's Woking
  Workout. Organised by the Mayor's
  office, the Workout was a multi-sport competition between teams from local
  businesses, and the fruity athletes...

• The voice of youth speaks out
  14

  The voice of youth speaks out
  'FIGHTING THE APATHY of young
  people today is our biggest battle' says
  Nalin Amerasinghe, a far from apathetic
  22-year-old who as well as working at
  JS's Romford store is a leading member
  of the...

• Ken's best friend is his hobby!
  15

  Ken's best friend is his hobby!
  A CANINE ENCOUNTER two and a
  half years ago became a turning point in
  Ken Nash's life. Ken, who works at JS's
  Sidney Street, Cambridge store, has
  found Sally, his bullmastiff bitch...

• Your letters
  16

  Your letters
  Letters are welcome and should be
  addressed to the editor. Vote of thanks
  From: George Tyers, JS veteran
  Les Smale invites comments from veterans.
  (See April letters.) Here are mine:
  I was most disturbed by his...

• How do you plead?
  17

  How do you plead?
  WE PLEAD GUILTY to a sin of
  omission in our story in the April
  issue about Kilburn's lady footballers.
  For reasons beyond our control we were
  unable to credit some of the girls who
  took part in the charity...

• Kettering cash in on disco fever
  17

  Kettering cash in on disco fever
  KETTERING BRANCHED OUT recently
  and raised a grand total of £350
  in one enjoyable evening when they held
  a disco in aid of the Six Counties Kidney
  Appeal Fund. For the branch SSA...

• Lunch is served at four mph!
  17

  Lunch is served at four mph!
  SUMMER OUTINGS got off to a good
  start at Fareham branch on May 13 with
  a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. Nearly 50
  staff, their families and friends travelled
  to the Bard's birthplace by coach....

• Raining champions!
  17

  WOKING BATTLED it out against the
  elements last month, won and now go
  forward to represent the Woking area at
  the finals of the SSA's 'It's a Knockout'
  contest being held on June 17.
  Teams from five branches were due...

• Dick finds retirement a walkover!
  18

  Dick finds retirement a walkover!
  MOVING AND EXPLORING has
  occupied much of 'Dick' Dickson's time
  over the last year and now he has made
  it his full time employment. Dick, christened
  Harold, who for ten years was
  audit...

• Pop's green fingers start to snap and crackle
  19

  Pop's green fingers start to snap and crackle
  NEARLY HALF A CENTURY of
  experience took its leave of Sainsbury's in
  April when 'Pop' Dedman retired from
  Hook branch. Reserve meat manager at
  the branch, Pop had completed 49...

• Appointments
  20

  Appointments
  Ray Edgar has been appointed management
  accountant at Streatham. He will
  be responsible for both the management
  accounts and engineers accounts departments,
  and will report to Derek Pretty.
  S Woodrow has been...

• Long service
  20

  Long service
  Ken 'Brushy' Brushwood, support supervisor
  in the data processing department
  at Blackfriars, celebrated 40 years with
  the company on May 22.
  Ken joined the butter department at
  the old warehouse in Blackfriars...

• Retirements
  20

  Retirements
  Roy Slack, the manager of the transport
  section in the distribution division at
  Blackfriars, retired in April after 43
  years with Sainsbury's.
  Roy's first job was in the kitchens of
  the old factory at...

• A wrong note
  21

  A wrong note
  'COUNTY 'NT WESTERN' style wallpaper
  music that would go down well at
  Sainsbury's' wrote a reviewer in a recent
  edition of Superpop magazine.
  The review was spotted by Trevor
  Faull in poultry buying at...

• Jack of all trades!
  21

  Jack of all trades!
  JS MARGARINE oiled the wheels for
  customer Kathie Kay when, as she was
  motoring home after a picnic, the car
  had a puncture and she found the jack
  had rusted up. 'We didn't know what to
  do' said Kathie...

• Money back guarantee
  21

  Money back guarantee
  TAKE YOUR TROLLEY BACK
  for 95p' is the special offer youngsters
  are making to customers at JS's
  Lewisham branch, where there is a refundable
  £1 deposit on trolleys leaving
  the store.
  At Lewisham there...

• Obituary
  21

  Obituary
  Ron Adcock, a motor engineer at
  Clapham, died on May 9. He joined the
  company eight years ago and had been
  ill since Christmas. Mr Adcock leaves a
  wife.
  Wilfred Butterfield, a warehouseman
  at Basingstoke, died...

• THE ARTICLE
  21

  THE ARTICLE on Streatham Hill freezer
  centre (see May) mistakenly referred
  to John Gerrish as the branch manager
  of Streatham Hill branch. He is in fact
  the provisions manager, and Ken
  Woolnough has been the manager...

• Top team rules the air waves
  21

  Top team rules the air waves
  TOP TEAM OF RADIO FAME—and
  because they were all working so hard
  they didn't even hear their names mentioned!
  Ipswich branch cheese prep
  room workers qualified for a mention on
  David Hamilton's...

• Up in the air!
  21

  Up in the air!
  A HOLIDAY CACHE of JS cheese and
  biscuits averted a near riot aboard a
  Boeing 707 aircraft full of hungry
  passengers returning from the Canary
  Islands. The flight had already been delayed
  by four hours when...

• Quality is right up John's street
  22

  Quality is right up John's street
  'I WAS 14 YEARS OLD and working
  as a garden boy while waiting to go into
  the Air Force' says John Hales of how,
  over 46 years ago, he came to be a
  delivery boy at JS. 'I wasn't happy as...

• Alf 'noses' out a new life without work
  23

  Alf 'noses' out a new life without work
  A GOOD PALATE has been vital to the
  career of Alf Newton, who retired on
  April 6 after a career spanning nearly 42
  years. His final post, which he held
  for nine years, was dairy...

• No time even to relax!
  23

  No time even to relax!
  "WHAT HAVEN'T I DONE since
  retired!' is Bill Harker's reply to the
  question of how he has occupied his first
  few weeks of retirement. He completed
  over 42 years at JS and retired in April
  from his...

• A reunion with the company's colourful past
  24

  A reunion with the company's colourful past
  ONCE AGAIN the JS veterans' annual
  reunion provided archivist Honor
  Godfrey with a fund of anecdotes and
  memories of the company's colourful
  past. Here are just a couple from...