day. Merchants and the new banker were in a happy and friendly mood. Bad feelings had disappeared. There were sales in the stores. The only problem was finding enough room in the

horse sheds that day. Father smiled as he told of the excitement among the cannery

and cookhouse workers, who were finally paid after a long and tiring wait. There was a celebration of a pie social and square dance in the CMBA Hall in the village. Ladies with pies or well—decorated cakes were admitted free. The money raised went to the fishermen’s fund for molasses and flour for the

cookhouse. This began an annual celebration when settling time rolled

around each fall. This was the start of a cooperative way of life for the fishermen that were to leave a legacy for themselves and their families well into the future. Although lawyer McCarthy and the chartered fishermen were unaware of it when they incorporated under the laws of the province of Prince Edward Island in 1925, they were well on the way to making history. With no cooperative act in existence in Canada at the time, they were playing a very important role in the development of the Co-operative structure of today. It was those same fishermen who sparked the Credit Union and Co—operative movement in Tignish in 1937. Joseph a Arsenault became the first President

and chartered member of the Tignish Cooperative. William MacLeod and Cletus Gavin became committee

members at the Credit Union, working with Gerald Handrahan, a dedicated leader who spent forty years in the Co-operative movement at Tignish. Thirty—six of those years, Handrahan spent as manager. When the United Maritime Fishermen "UMF" came

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