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Westwood Works 1903-2003

Willesden to Peterborough

The Background to the Move

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 Departure of Baker Perkins"
from
"The Song of Baker Perkins"
(With very humble apologies to Mr. Longfellow)

By the waters of Grand Junction
By Siberia's muddy Steppes
In the Plains of Willesden Junction
Toiled Designers, Clerks and Reps.
All was well within the Wigwam
All the big Chiefs smoked the Peace Pipe
Till one summer came a whisper
On the North Wind, on the East Wind,
Saying always Peterborough
Willesden goes to Peterborough.
Minnie Carter (Laughing Water)
Spread the news that we were going:
Shall we say, or as you might say
To the Land of Dykes and Ditches:
To the Soke among the marshes,
To the Plains below the Waters.
Soon there gathered groups in council Saying I must sell my Wigwam,
Saying I must take my chickens,
Take my Squaw and fag cards with me.
Then came White Owl, Frankie Fulham,
Peering o'er his glasses slantwise,
With his five-foot and his note-book,
Measuring desks and boards and benches.
Murmuring who will buy my Campsite,
Natural hedge and Gasworks aspect.
The spake Dismal Dick the Dormouse
Who hath seen such architecture?
Have they never seen a pile
With plan, or elevation - style - ?
Every Sunday at nine-thirty
Wearily we heard them sigh -
The more I see the less I laugh,
They have not even got a bath!
But ever chirped the London Sparrow
I'll go up on my old Barrow,
My old sticks will make a load,
Rolling o'er the Old Kent Road.
Week by week the day grew nearer,
Winter, Christmas and the Springtime,
Ever grew the haste more fevered
Buying mounts and painting motors,
Choosing colours for their wigwams,
Choosing builders for their lodges.
Then said Red Chief pushing forward
Lighting oft his smoking Peace Pipe,
I've the best in all the city,
Builders for our Friends Departed,
Builders in the place with Railings
And I've got a water softener
And some stairs that take some scaling,
Then there came a welcome to us
From the mighty big chief Co-op.,
Saying barter at our branches,
Buy your cooking pots and blankets,
Then at last the day for leaving,
Here at last the day for parting,
We had rolled up all our birch bark,
Taken all our picture writing.
Mounted on our bikes and motors
Trailing Northward to the Marshes
To the Islands of the Fenland
To the Land of the Hereafter.

Rates of Pay (1933)

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

And so to Peterborough

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.

Making new Friends

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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