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Westwood Works 1903-2003 |
In Outings, we have used extracts from contemporary internal correspondence between Management and the Works Committee to describe the preparations being made for employees to view their company's products on show at the 1924/25 British Empire Wembley Exhibition. These exhibitions spawned a significant increase in business for the relatively newly formed Baker Perkins with turnover and profits reaching record levels. Such was the demand for the firm's products that both overtime and night shifts were in operation. Then came the Wall Street Crash.
No part of the world was immune to the consequences of the sudden slump but Baker Perkins' sound financial policy and investments in overseas business did much to help it weather the storm. Orders inevitably began to fall off and it soon became clear that drastic action would be necessary. Augustus Muir tells us that "Peterborough was working at only 55 percent of capacity, Willesden at 76 percent".
In F.C. Ihlee's opinion the only way forward was to transfer all the Willesden operations to Peterborough - better to run one factory on two shifts than two on short time. Despite the strength of his arguments - lower overheads; using machines on two shifts, thus halving the depreciation; the hourly wages at Peterborough being lower than at Willesden and plenty of room available for expansion - this was not a view accepted by the whole management and much argument prevailed. In the end, Allan Ivor Baker, not yet twenty-five and fresh from studying at Harvard following obtaining an engineering degree at Cambridge, was given the task of making a detailed study of the economics of such a move. (For a view of the Willesden factory see Before Westwood).
A.I. Baker's objective report cut through the sentiments expressed by some Baker directors who, understandably, were unhappy with the idea of leaving Willesden. It was resolved that Willesden would be dismantled, some plant moved to Westwood Works and the employees invited to begin a new life in Peterborough.
C.H. Ballinger and Gordon Lewis were made responsible for planning the complicated move. The machinery and tools required at Westwood were moved by road and the rest auctioned off.
Prior to the final move, many week-end trips were organised to enable the Willesden employees to find accommodation. An accommodation bureau was set up and this worked very effectively. Between March and September 1933, most of the staff and workmen who had agreed to make the transfer were re-housed in a new development in Willesden Avenue (see Housing and Getting to Work). This was, however, only the beginning of the amalgamation of the two work forces.
Arguments about the merits of Willesden versus Peterborough systems and methods raged even before the move actually took place. The uneasiness within Willesden's Drawing Office produced a verse by Stanley Gibbs - an admirer of Longfellow - about the impending move:
The current rates of pay at the time (1933) that the transfer from Willesden took place.
Willesden |
|
Fitters, Slotters, Borers, Smiths, Polishers, Electricians, Brass Finishers | 60/9d per week. |
Millers | 65/8d p/w |
Millwrights | 64/8d p/w |
Tool Makers | 65/8d p/w |
Radial Drillers | 58/3d p/w |
Spindle Drillers | 56/3d p/w |
Smiths' Strikers | 52/5d p/w |
Peterborough | |
Fitters,Slotters, Borers, Smiths, Polishers, Electricians, Brass Finishers | 59/- per week |
Millers | 59/- p/w |
Millwrights | 61/- p/w |
Toolmakers | 61/- p/w |
Radial Drillers | 53/- p/w |
Spindle Drillers | 51/- p/w |
Smiths' Strikers | 48/- p/w |
The first man to move to Peterborough from Willesden was C.G. Boyd, a pattern maker, who came to Peterborough six months before the Willesden factory actually closed. He retired from Baker Perkins at Christmas in 1967.
Some 162 people made the move from London to Peterborough and it is interesting to note that thirty-six years later, twenty-three were still working at Baker Perkins:
Mr. A. Allen - machine shop foreman.
Mr. A.I. Baker - group chairman.
Mr. C.H. Ballinger - general manager, Baker Perkins Developments Ltd.
Mr. R. Batson - fitting shop.
Mr. R. Bingham - despatch department.
Mr. H. Boorman - telephone exchange
Mr. C.G. Boyd - pattern shop.
Mr. A.P. Brockbank - plant engineer.
Mr. E. Bryant - cutter shop.
Mr. L.F. Cato - operational planning.
Miss Olive Cleaver - secretary to Barton Baker/Harold Crowther.
Mr. C. Downing - apprentice school.
Mr. L. Downing - cost department.
Mr S.T. Gibbs - Baker Perkins International.
Mr. E. Grunow - planning engineer.
Mr. H.S. Hargreaves - Baker Perkins International.
Mr. E. Hunt - fitting shop.
Mr. L.T. James - methods department.
Mr. E. Kelter - printing machinery drawing office.
Mr. G. Lander - representative.
Miss M.F. Pulham - secretary.
Miss E. Ray - secretary.
Miss D.E. Whalley - secretary.
Mr. S. Wheeler - inspection.
Mr. H Boorman - telephone exchange
We have discovered (courtesy of Bert Slater) a list of some more works employees who made the Great Trek from Willesden in 1933. It is assumed, as only one of them appears on the above list, that their employment at Westwood came to an end before 1969 - the date when the above list appeared in the Group Newspaper. As yet, less than half of the 'Trekkers' have been identified.
I. Angell |
Apprentice |
Mr. Nonweiler |
Sheet Metal Worker |
|
Mr. Betts |
Turrets |
C. Norton |
Centre Lathes |
|
Mr. Bradley |
Turrets |
R.C. Oldham |
Driller |
|
F.C. Cane |
Mr. Perrin |
Turrets |
||
Mr. Chapman |
Apprentice |
Arthur Peskett |
Fitter |
|
Mr. Christie |
Labourer |
Ernie Pooley |
||
S. Cox |
Fitter |
Jack Ray |
Sheet Metal Worker |
|
Mr. Crowson |
Fitter |
Jim Record |
Sheet Metal Worker |
|
Mr Doel |
Sheet Metal Worker |
G. Record |
Sheet Metal Worker |
|
Will Easto |
Centre Lathes |
Richard S. Reynolds |
Apprentice |
|
Mr. Edwards |
Fitter |
Mr Robertson |
||
E. Ellis |
Toolroom |
A. Sewell |
Turner |
|
Mr. Ewins |
W. Smallworth |
Centre Lathes |
||
Jim Garner |
Fitter |
Reg. C. Squires |
Apprentice |
|
Mr. Gripton |
Turrets |
Mr. Sugden |
Roll Grinder |
|
Mr Grunow (Snr) |
Sheet Metal Worker |
Tommy Thompson |
Labourer |
|
Mr. Hankins |
Turrets |
Mr. Turrell |
Labourer |
|
Mr. Hilliard |
Fitter |
W. Vail |
Apprentice |
|
Harry Hogben |
Inspector |
I. Vallance |
Sheet Metal Worker |
|
A. Jackson |
Centre Lathes |
R. Vickers |
Turrets |
|
G. King |
Labourer |
Mr. Warren |
||
Mr. Kirkby |
Fitter |
E. Webber |
Labourer |
|
Fred Leatherhead |
Centre Lathes |
W.W. Wheeler |
Centre Lathes |
|
Mr. Matthews |
Turrets |
S. Wheeler |
Apprentice |
|
R. Morris |
Labourer |
B. White |
Toolroom |
|
Mr. Newman |
Miller |
Bob Wilmott |
Turrets |
|
Mr. Worracker |
Turrets |
The Willesden contingent was received with mixed feelings - considerable antagonism in some quarters and much kindness in others. A.I. Baker has estimated that it took two years before any measure of real co-operation existed between the two sets of employees. Both had different methods of working and insisted on holding to their own. In the words of Augustus Muir -
"On the shop floor, Josh Booth was determined that the workmanship of every type of machine would be first-rate and that delivery dates would never be jeopardised. Instinctively, although he had urged the fusion of the factories, he did not like the thought of Willesden men on his shop floor; and they, in turn, did not like his air of infallibility after the more democratic ways at Willesden. But they began to appreciate each other's good points: and with his unfailing vigour, Booth, aided by Gordon Lewis, undertook the construction of what was, to him, the unknown machinery for biscuit and chocolate making".
Benefits of the amalgamation on one site were not limited to economics. The differing approaches to baking technology applied to bread manufacture at Peterborough and to biscuit manufacture at Willesden were resolved in the creation of a revolutionary new system - the "Cyclotherm oven" - which gained great popularity around the world. A detailed account of this development can be found in Augustus Muir's book - "The Story of Baker Perkins".
The move from Willesden to Peterborough could be seen as a classic case of culture clash. This would not be the only time that employees would have to cope with a significant challenge to the established culture. Developments in technology - the computer revolution, (see Departments at Westwood - Computer Dept): the dramatic change in the Drawing Office brought about by the introduction of CAD/CAM (See The Drawing Office Revolution): the consequent changes in working practices on the shop floor (See Unions at Westwood Works) - and the 1987 merger with APV, all made great demands on the capacity of both employees and management to cope with change. That all of these challenges were met with good humour and a significant lack of confrontation is a tribute to the strength of the family culture created and developed by generations of Baker Perkins managers.
Among those who made the Great Trek were a number of practising Quakers - not least the Baker Family. It was not surprising that they should wish to continue attending a "Monthly Meeting" - "an opportunity for its members to meet together each month to deal with membership and other business matters and, most important, to meet in fellowship and "see one another's faces" to use a time honoured phrase and they invited interested Peterborough residents to join with them. Meetings for worship were held in an old banana warehouse sited where the Queensgate shopping centre now stands".(see also - here - for more information about the Quakers in Peterborough). The present meeting house - sited at the base of Crescent Bridge in Thorpe Road - was built in the orchard of "Orchard House", and was officially opened in 1936.
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