A photograph of Glasgow Fire Brigade Badminton Club in 1925. Sport and leisure activities have always been important in maintaining morale and building team spirit in the fire service.
The numbers of firemen in Glasgow increased only slightly during the inter-war years and the technology at their disposal changed little. It is thought however that it was during this time that the Central Fire Station's famous fire fighting teams evolved. The "Canaries" were so called due to their penchant for whistling, the "Growlers" for their grumbling and the "Greybacks" because of an unfortunate incident involving a fire in an unsavoury rag store: the men who attended this fire returned to the station to discover they were infested with "greybacks", the slang name for lice!
Reference: TD1431/55/10
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries, Information and Learning
Keywords:
Canaries, Central Fire Station, fire fighters, firemen, Glasgow Fire Brigade, Glasgow Fire Brigade Badminton Club, Glasgow Fire Service, Greybacks, Growlers, lice, sport
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