Travels with a badge collection ……. three decades of silly and angry protest

Today I have been looking at my old badge collection which starts in 1966 and peters out in the late 1990s.

Upset Her, 1980

Sadly, there are only 70 or so left, having lost, discarded or given away a heap more.

Smirks Against Travolta, circa 1980

Some are campaign badges, some reflect contemporary issues and a few are just silly like my “Smirks against Travolta” badge.

And the equally silly "Dog Lovers Against the Bomb".

Thinking back to the campaign badges which cover about half of the collection the tally of successful against failures is about even.

One day I will explore each campaign but for now I am drawn to those directed against the Tory Governments from 1979 to 1997, and in particular those which featured Mrs. Thatcher.

She was Prime Minister from 1979 till 1990, and she divided opinion and for some of us still does.  

That said it is important I think to recognise that she was in a sense the figurehead for a series of political and economic ideas and a powerful section of the establishment.

Remember The Milk, 1971

Given the majorities the Conservatives commanded in Parliament those political and economic ideas were steadily advanced, and I guess that explains the large number of badges directed against Mrs. Thatcher.  

Some in the collection predate her time as Prime Minister and harp back to her time as Education Secretary in the early 1970s but most were produced in the 1980s.

And it is as well to remember just how the simple badge machine revolutionized the business of protest.

No longer did you have to rely on the expensive and old-fashioned process of producing enamelled metal badges, instead you could turn out hundreds in a  relatively short time at home changing the message and the issue as was needed.

Most of the finished products were unsophisticated and at times quite rudimentary but they did the business. Looking back at mine I marvel at just how many campaigns there were that I slid into.

But I suspect my involvement in many was just to buy the badge, and wearing it till the next issue burst forth.

Swamp Thatcher, 1984

Although with those directed against Mrs. Thatcher I was pretty persistent in showing them off on coats and jumpers.

With the passage of time, I do question the degree to which they personalized politics and while some were funny many more were vicious.

Not that such attacks are new, you only have to go back to the works of James Gillray and William Hogarth in the 18th century to appreciate that the caricatures of Mrs. Thatcher come from a long line of political satire.

And that is it.

Less a statement on today’s politics or my own opinions and more a reflection of what once was, which is just as it should be for a history blog.

PS The Milk Snatcher’s badge was being given away at “The Milk Snatcher’s Ball” held at UMIST sometime in 1971.  Equally notable on the night was the sight of me and my flat mate Jack wearing baby doll nighties which we had borrowed from the girls in the flat above. But that story is for another day.

Dog Lovers Against the Bomb, 1984

Location; some time between 1970 and 1988.

Pictures; Upset Her, 1980, Labour Party, Smirks Against Travolta, circa 1980, Remember the Milk Snatcher, 1971 unknown, Swamp Thatcher, the SWP circa 1984, Dog Lovers Against the Bomb, circa 1984, unknown, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

When politics comes in the badge collection ……

 The collection spans five decades.

Along the way many of the earlier badges have been lost or given away, and by the end of the 1990s it peters out.

Some of the campaigns proved successful, some not so and with the passage of time into old age some I would no longer embrace.

But each says something of the period from the mid-1960s to now.

The campaign badge has been around a long time.

It is one of those instant bits of political activity which makes the point cheaply and effectively.

A round bit of cardboard, some sticky tape and a safety pin and you have a badge.

Easier than that and just as effective is coloured ribbon, so loved of election rallies in the early 19th century, and the Suffragettes, and before ribbon there were bits of plant, flowers and bush stretching back into the past all of which were designed to mark out your political preference.

My first was “Lets Go with Labour” which I wore in 1966 but must have been a remnant from the ‘64 election.

It was a shinny plastic badge with a plastic pin which fixed into the back and I wore it throughout the campaign knocking on doors in Well Hall.  I was just 16 and such are the things you cut your political teeth on.

Today the badge machine has made it all the simpler and allows almost anyone to turn them out for next to nothing in just a few minutes.

But for me it will always be those enamelled badges which take pride of place in the collection.  I have a few none of which date back before the 1950s.

Of these the old fashioned Labour Party badge is my favourite with its torch, pen and shovel representing all aspects of the labour movement combined with the torch of progress.

The newer version never really caught my imagination in the same way.

Of the remaining enamelled ones it is that of the Sutton Manor NUM badge which stands out because of the contribution  made by many local people to their struggle during the Miners Strike.

And if like me you bought or picked up badges in support of campaigns they now have a place in our history.

Some were deadly serious, a few used humour and others were celebratory, and many today now seem to belong to a landscape that has long since vanished although that said it always seems that gains made in social progress do sometimes have to be fought all over again.

So for those of us who argued against a divided South Africa, wore  the Anti Apartheid badge can now look back on twenty years of that new rainbow nation.

But other campaigns  like the attempt to save the Greater Manchester County Council failed and many more like Justice for Pensioners and the defence of the NHS remain real issues.

Looking back at my collection I cringe at some of the things I supported in my teens and early twenties, are saddened by those that were defeats but also remember how much I learnt by taking part and of some good friends I made along the way.

So each of the badges does represent an important moment in someone’s history and I think I shall return to some of them and explore their stories in more detail.

Many are almost all that is now left of an impassioned moment when people came together to defend something they thought important.

Long after the paperwork has been lost , the newspaper stories discarded and the memories faded these badges record that moment.

They also point to that other simple observation that history does not always turn out the way you would like.

The years since independence in Zimbabwe have been difficult but I still remember the pleasure many of us felt at its promising start as a new country.

And in the same way there was the bitterness at the vote to leave the European Union.

It was a vote which split the country and even now is one of the divides that defines the last eight years.

And I bet out there there are lots more badges and even more stories.

Location; the bade collection

Pictures; badges from campaigns I embraced, 1966-2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The forgotten picture …… and a heap of stories

Today, with the passage of 45 years I have no idea where the picture was taken or exactly when.

I know it will be sometime between April 1979 and August 1982 and it featured Michael Foot at a demonstration organised by the Labour Party.

In the March of ’79 the Labour Party had been defeated in the General Election and in the following two- and a-bit years the new Conservative Government reduced public spending at a time when unemployment was beginning to rise.

The response of the labour movement was to organise a series of large public demonstrations.  The first was in Liverpool and over the course of the next few years there were more, along with marches against many of the policies of the new Tory Government.

I was at the 1980 Liverpool rally and the one in Birmingham three years later and I rather think this picture is from neither of those events.

But someone will know.

For many years the picture hung on a wall but with the passage of time was moved several times until without its frame it was put away and finally came out of the shadows last week.

I had bought the image from the Morning Star which had covered the event and a requisite of purchasing it was that I had to take out a  £ share in the newspaper.

And as so often happens round about the time I found Mr. Foot I also came across my Membership card for The People's Press Printing Society, which my Wikipedia tells me “is a readers' co-operative with the purpose of owning and publishing a left-wing, British, daily newspaper. 

The co-operative was established in 1945, with shares sold at £1. Originally the paper was titled the Daily Worker, but the publication was re-launched as the Morning Star in 1966.

On 6 January 1946, at the Albert Hall in London, Bill Jones, the leader of the London busmen's trade union, handed over the formal document of transfer to William Rust (editor of the Daily Worker). Ownership of the Daily Worker was transferred from the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) to the PPPS, with CPGB retaining editorial and political control of the paper until in 1951, the Daily Worker Co-operative Society was established to act as the nominal publishers of the paper.

The Daily Worker Co-operative Society became the Morning Star Co-operative Society which later became bankrupt and the sole ownership for the publication of the Morning Star fell under the People's Press Printing Society. 

The People’s Press Printing Society has a difficult financial existence, making a £41,179 loss in 2013 and a £1,137 surplus in 2014”.

So as the society is still going I guess that still makes me a member.

Leaving me just to say that I can date the photograph to between 1979 and 1982, because the address on the card was where I lived during those three years.

And while there I bought heaps of those campaign badges to support and highlight cuts in public services, factory closures and the “great” international issues of the day.

All of which I had an opinion on and would argue the case to anyone in ear shot.

And that pretty much is that.

Others will have their favourite badge and I did have difficulty choosing from my 40 which are all that have survived the four decades and more.

But they are my choice

Pictures; Michael Foot addresses a large open air meeting, circa 1979-82, courtesy of the Morning Star, and badges I wore, circa 1979 to 87, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The People's Press Printing Society, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Press_Printing_Society

Wearing the badge ..... making the point

The campaign badge has been around a long time.

1986

It is one of those instant bits of political activity which makes the point cheaply and effectively.

A round bit of cardboard, some sticky tape and a safety pin and you have a badge.

Easier than that and just as effective is coloured ribbon, so loved of election rallies in the early 19th century, and the Suffragettes, and before ribbon there were bits of plant, flowers and bush stretching back into the past all of which were designed to mark out your political preference.

My first was “Lets Go with Labour” which I wore in 1966 but must have been a remnant from the ‘64 election.

It was a shinny plastic badge with a plastic pin which fixed into the back and I wore it throughout the campaign knocking on doors in Well Hall.  I was just 16 and such are the things you cut your political teeth on.

1974

Today the badge machine has made it all the simpler and allows almost anyone to turn them out for next to nothing in just a few minutes.

But for me it will always be those enamelled badges which take pride of place in the collection.  I have a few none of which date back before the 1950s.

Of these the old fashioned Labour Party badge is my favourite with its torch, pen and shovel representing all aspects of the labour movement combined with the torch of progress.

The newer version never really caught my imagination in the same way.

1986

Of the remaining enamelled ones it is that of the Sutton Manor NUM badge which stands out because of the contribution  made by many local people to their struggle during the Miners Strike.

And if like me you bought or picked up badges in support of campaigns they now have a place in our history.

Some were deadly serious, a few used humour and others were celebratory, and many today now seem to belong to a landscape that has long since vanished although that said it always seems that gains made in social progress do sometimes have to be fought all over again.

So for those of us who argued against a divided South Africa, wore  the Anti Apartheid badge can now look back on twenty years of that new rainbow nation.

1977

But other campaigns  like the attempt to save the Greater Manchester County Council failed and many more like Justice for Pensioners and the defence of the NHS remain real issues.

Looking back at my collection I cringe at some of the things I supported in my teens and early twenties, are saddened by those that were defeats but also remember how much I learnt by taking part and of some good friends I made along the way.

So each of the badges does represent an important moment in someone’s history and I think I shall return to some of them and explore their stories in more detail.

1980

Many are almost all that is now left of an impassioned moment when people came together to defend something they thought important.

Long after the paperwork has been lost , the newspaper stories discarded and the memories faded these badges record that moment.

They also point to that other simple observation that history does not always turn out the way you would like.

The years since independence in Zimbabwe have been difficult but I still remember the pleasure many of us felt at its promising start as a new country.

And I bet out there there are lots more badges and even more stories.

Pictures; badges from the  1950s to the 1990s from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Visions of a better world .......... nu 2 the campaign badge

1985

The campaign badge has been around a long time.

It is one of those instant bits of political activity which makes the point cheaply and effectively.

A round bit of cardboard, some sticky tape and a safety pin and you have a badge.

Easier than that and just as effective is coloured ribbon, so loved of election rallies in the early 19th century, and the Suffragettes, and before ribbon there were bits of plant, flowers and bush stretching back into the past all of which were designed to mark out your political preference.

My first was “Lets Go with Labour” which I wore in 1966 but must have been a remnant from the ‘64 election.

It was a shinny plastic badge with a plastic pin which fixed into the back and I wore it throughout the campaign knocking on doors in Well Hall.  I was just 16 and such are the things you cut your political teeth on.

1974

Today the badge machine has made it all the simpler and allows almost anyone to turn them out for next to nothing in just a few minutes.

But for me it will always be those enamelled badges which take pride of place in the collection.  I have a few none of which date back before the 1950s.

Of these the old fashioned Labour Party badge is my favourite with its torch, pen and shovel representing all aspects of the labour movement combined with the torch of progress.

The newer version never really caught my imagination in the same way.

1986

Of the remaining enamelled ones it is that of the Sutton Manor NUM badge which stands out because of the contribution  made by many local people to their struggle during the Miners Strike.

And if like me you bought or picked up badges in support of campaigns they now have a place in our history.

Some were deadly serious, a few used humour and others were celebratory, and many today now seem to belong to a landscape that has long since vanished although that said it always seems that gains made in social progress do sometimes have to be fought all over again.

So for those of us who argued against a divided South Africa, wore  the Anti Apartheid badge can now look back on twenty years of that new rainbow nation.

1977

But other campaigns  like the attempt to save the Greater Manchester County Council failed and many more like Justice for Pensioners and the defence of the NHS remain real issues.

Looking back at my collection I cringe at some of the things I supported in my teens and early twenties, are saddened by those that were defeats but also remember how much I learnt by taking part and of some good friends I made along the way.

So each of the badges does represent an important moment in someone’s history and I think I shall return to some of them and explore their stories in more detail.

1980

Many are almost all that is now left of an impassioned moment when people came together to defend something they thought important.

Long after the paperwork has been lost , the newspaper stories discarded and the memories faded these badges record that moment.

They also point to that other simple observation that history does not always turn out the way you would like.

The years since independence in Zimbabwe have been difficult but I still remember the pleasure many of us felt at its promising start as a new country.

And I bet out there there are lots more badges and even more stories.

Pictures; badges from the  1950s to the 1990s from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Badge of the week no.3 .......... celebrating Manchester Airport

The third in the series featuring badges from the collection with a bit of a story.

Now I have to be honest these two are not from the collection but were recently posted by Stephen Marland who like me revels in all things odd, interesting and different.

So here are two badges celebrating Manchester Airport which Stephen thinks date from the late 1960s.

And they offer up a host of supplementary questions from who made them to why were they created.

Of course there will be someone who recognises them and will have their detailed history ready to be told.

I hope so.

Location; Manchester











Picture; Manchester Airport, courtesy of Stephen Marland

Badge of the week no.2 .......... the Red Cross Worker ..... Glassgow

A second in the series featuring badges from the collection with a bit of a story.

Now so far I am struggling with a story.

But I know it was awarded to Alex Scott from Glasgow, so there are a few clues to begin the search for the story.

Location; Glasgow





Picture; Red Cross Badge, courtesy of David Harrop

Badge of the week no.1 .......... the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Brotherhood ..... Edinburgh

A new series featuring badges from the collection with a bit of a story.

This is the badge of the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Brotherhood.

It is an organisation I written about before.*

I had come across the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Brotherhood back in the 1970s in Ashton Under Lyne.

They were what they said they were an organization designed to provide a pleasant afternoon with a Christian slant on a Sunday.

The first seem to have sprung up in the mid 1870s and their first national conference was in London in 1906.

Now this is another of those areas I want to dig deep into.  There was a political dimension  There was a long standing relationship between political Liberalism and Nonconformity which brought active Liberals into the movement.

And in the early twentieth century key Labour and Trade Union leaders became actively involved in the PSA/Brotherhood Movement. Labour MPs Arthur Henderson and Will Crooks, and the Liberal MP Theodore C. Taylor were all present at the founding of the National Association of Brotherhoods, PSAs etc in London in 1906.

Keir Hardie, was also actively involved, he was a main speaker for a Brotherhood Crusade in Lille in 1910. Arthur Henderson MP was elected National President in 1914. The National Adult School Union’s ‘One and All’ journal reported 7 out 9 ‘adult school men’ who stood for parliament were successful in 1910.”**

Location; Edinburgh

Picture; PSA badge, Edinburgh, courtesy of David Harrop

*Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Brotherhood, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Pleasant%20Sunday%20Afternoon%20Brotherhood

** The Early Adult School and Brotherhood Movements in the West Midlands: Adult Education, Evangelism or Social Activism?, European Social Science History Conference, Glasgow, April 14 2012

Badges wot I wore ……..

Now I collect badges, which in their way are as much a way of investigating the past as an old photograph, and oral testimony or a history book.

Of course, they don’t tell all the story, but then no individual document ever does.

But they are a start, or in this case a confirmation of that simple fact that for decades certain politicians and political parties have paid lip service to the importance of the NHS but rarely dug deep to fund it adequately when in Government.

This one comes from John King, and could easily have been one I wore back in the 1980s when public services were suffering from Government cutbacks.

And in its way remains a topical badge, because despite the heroic work being done by members of the National Health Service and associated health and care services, there is no doubt that during the last decade as in the 1980s, Governments have not always matched their fulsome praise of the NHS with hard cash.

The badge is also interesting as it offers up a reference to N.U.P.E., which was The National Union of Public Employees, which existed between 1908 and 1993. The union  represented public sector workers in local government, the Health Service, universities, and water authorities.

The union was founded in 1908 as the National Union of Corporation Workers, became NUPE in 1928, and merged with the Confederation of Health Service Employees to form UNISON in 1993.

Location; the 1980s

Pictures; NHS badge, circa 1980, from the collection of John King, and Schools meals badge from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Visions of a better world ....... no. 3 .... the promise of a new future and a bit of history

The badge will date from around 1979 and became a bit of history the following year when Zimbabwe became an independent country.

Most recently the shine of that promise of a proud African country became tarnished but the passing of Mr Mugabe as President gives that badge a new significance, as well as being a nice example of the campaign badge.









Picture; Coming Soon, Zimbabwe, 1979 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Badges I have worn …………. and lots more I have lost

Now I am guessing for most of us our collection of campaign badges will be frozen in that time when we were most active.

In my case it is rather that I just stopped collecting them, and instead gave them away or lost them.

But nearly 70 have survived, and for no other reason than I can, here are a random sample of those that made it through.

I offer no explanations; most are self-apparent, and all have a story.

A few years ago, John Hacking and Bernard Leach contributed some of their treasured campaign moments and I am hoping that more will come my way.

The badge after all is a powerful piece of history, and one we tend to sideline.

So the appeal is there, send me a picture of your badge or badges, and to add a bit more, tell its story.

There is no cut off in time or place and the collection welcomes all badges.

I am betting there will be some that haven't been seen for decades and many more which never made it into a museum or art gallery.

Locations, the 1970s-1990s






Pictures; Keith Bradley 1992, Nuclear Free Zone, 1980, Don’t Let Crumpsall Biscuit Works Crumble, 1986, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Badge of the week number 4 ........ the Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Now the home made badge has a long and distinguished history and is one of those instant bits of advertising which makes the point cheaply and effectively.

A round bit of cardboard, some sticky tape and a safety pin and you have a badge.

Easier than that and just as effective is coloured ribbon, so loved of election rallies in the early 19th century, and the Suffragettes, and before ribbon there were bits of plant, flowers and bush, stretching back into the past, all of which were designed to mark out your political preference.

My first was “Lets Go with Labour” which I wore in 1966 but must have been a remnant from the ‘64 election.

It was a shinny plastic badge, with a plastic pin which fixed into the back, and I wore it throughout the campaign knocking on doors in Well Hall.  I was just 16 and such are the things you cut your political teeth on.

And now after a life time of carrying the badge of the week, announcing my opposition to health cuts, nasty dictators, and factory closures, I am all “badged out”.

But that won't stop Peter expecting me to wear the badge advertising our new book the Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

It hit the book shelves last week, and offers up the alternative history of Chorlton and bits of Stretford, Didsbury and Whalley Range.

And while I may be “badged out” he has also ordered up the T shirt, leaving me to wonder when the sandwich board arrives with the rota for my turn to walk up and down Barlow Moor Road announcing the new publication.

But there is one better because not content on producing a badge for the book he has produced three.
The first is for any one who wants to be associated with a] the book, b] thinks Chorlton is quirky, or c] aspires to being quirky.

That just leaves two badges.

One for any one who lives or works or is connected with a building in the book.

And finally one for those who are actually, themselves in the book.

But to find out who they are you will have to buy a copy.

The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, by Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping can be ordered from http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/ or Chorlton Bookshop

Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Picture; The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy Badge  Artwork © 2017 Peter Topping

Hotel labels and holiday badges ......... how we show off where we go

Now I have been following my dad around Europe in the 1950s using the hotel suitcase labels that he collected.

They are fascinating little bits of our history and I shall close with one last one which was from Austria.

And I am minded to go looking for the hotels themselves.

But that will be for another time.

In the meantime I shall move a few decades forward and close with a series of holiday badges from the collection of Stephen Marland and in time no doubt explore these in more detail.

The badge has been around a long time but with with the arrival of those fairly inexpensive badge making machines almost any one can knock out a shed load on almost anything, from the closure of the local pet shop  to a birthday and of course a souvenir of a day by the sea.

So I shall leave you to scrutinize Stephen's collection and perhaps offer up some of your own for the blog.



Pictures; suitcase label Austria circa 1955, from the collection of Andrew Simpson and holiday  badges  courtesy of Stephen Marland

Always look for the story behind the badge

Now the thing about badges is that they are easy to make offer up an instant message and with the passage of time tell a story.

I have been collecting them for over five decades although these days  I am less willing to actually wear them.

Once and it was a long time ago I would happily and proudly wear the latest campaign badge, until overtaken by a new one.

Today I don’t, which has nothing to do with the validity of the particular campaign or the issue but just because I am a grumpy old man.

That said they still fascinate me, and I still write about them.*

Added to which I now also collect other people’s as well and it was Mikky  posted recently by Stephen Marland that set me off.

I vaguely remember it but I cannot put a date to it and would be hard pressed to say whether it arose from a national campaign or a local one.

But that underlines that simple observation that anyone with a badge making machine can turn out a badge for any occasion and for all seasons.

Elections, birthday’s sales promotions and even books are fair game.

And here I own up to a series of personal badges.

The first was from my friend Susan from Canada who spent six weeks in Britain researching her family roots and made a special trio to Manchester.

We are both related to British Home Children who were those young people migrated to Canada, Australia and other visits of the old Empire from the 1870s onwards.  Theirs is still a story which is unfamiliar to many on both sides of the Atlantic.

And yet something like 100,000 children were sent to Canada and the practice continued into the 1970s in the case of Australia.

So I was pleased when as part of the swapping of gifts Susan gave me the Canadian badge along with some very nice sweet things.

In return she now has a Glad to be in Chorlton T shirt featuring the lych gate and a copy of the book on Hough End Hall written by me and Peter Topping.

And soon I will be sending for my own British Home Child Badge produced in Canada which will take pride of place in the collection.

But for now I shall close with the latest to roll off Peter’s badge machine which will be instantly recogniseable to many as part of the research for our new book on the Pubs of Manchester.**

And as ever there was a story in that badge, because yesterday as the sun shone we visited the first of the six pubs.

Starting at Knott Mill and moving on via the Rochdale Canal up to Liverpool Road and Deansgate, we met the landladies and managers and listened to some of the odd stories of the lives behind the doors.

You can order the book from  www.pubbooks.co.uk 

Location; pretty much everywhere

Pictures; Milky, date unknown, from the collection of Stephen Maryland, Canada, 2016 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Home Children Canada, 2015, courtesy of Judy Neville and Manchester Pubs 2016, from Peter Topping

*Badges, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Badges

**A new book on Manchester Pubs, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Manchester%20Pubs