The new items added since the last Newsletter can be accessed as usual via
the blue links. If you are able to add to these records, we would be pleased
to hear from you. They include:
memories of times past the conglomeration of buildings on the front car park in 1962
We have been spending some time attempting to identify the various buildings
that appeared on the front car park - fronting on to Westfield Road - and
the uses to which they were put between the end of WW2 and the erection of
the 1973 multi-storey office block. The results of this investigation can
be found in the captions to the site photographs that appear in "How
it Was - Outside Views".
Further extending our coverage of the history of theH&V
Department, please see:
A 1928 description by Barton
Baker of the Department's management reporting structure.
An Apprentice's
experience of helping with a maintenance task on part of
the Westwood factory space heating equipment some 115 years after Angier
March Perkinsfirst developed the system.
Feeding
the Troops - More information has been collected on field
bakeries in WW1 both before and during the development of the joint venture
that finally resulted in the mergerof
Joseph Baker & Sons with Perkins Engineers.
In November 1967, "The Director" published an article based on
an interview with A.I. Baker entitled - "After
Mr. Baker met Mr. Perkins"................ however, it
will be recalled that in fact Mr (Joseph) Baker never met Mr (Jacob) Perkins-
see HERE.
In 1927, halfway between the merger of
the two companies and the"Great
Trek" from Willesden to Peterborough, F.C. Ihlee agreed
that Barton Baker (son of Philip Baker) should carry out - at the age of
23 - an in-depth review of the whole of the newly-merged business.
This took approximately 18 months and was published in 1928 as a nearly 300
page report entitled "Baker
Perkins Dissected". One section in particular goes some
way to illustrate the depth to which members of the Baker family espoused
the doctrine
of fairness to all.
While on the subject of the Company's articulation of its approach to management
and the "Westwood Works Culture", we have come across a few more
examples worthy of note (see HERE),
all arguably as relevant today as when put forward up to 85 years ago.
Reading Barton Baker's report reminded us that there are still some areas
of activity at Westwood that we had not yet covered in detail. A number of
Barton Baker's descriptions of departmental activities have been added to
the Website since the last Newsletter was published but we would be very
grateful if anyone who worked in the departments covered is able to help "bring
the story up to date" by describing their own memories. The departments
covered this time include:
The Plant
Layout Section had perhaps a lower-profile than the design
sections but was nevertheless an important part of the Westwood Works
Drawing Office.
Barton Baker had a particular view of the importance of the Outdoor
Department.
The Works
Drawing Cabinet - an important part of the Drawing Office/Works
interface and a good place in 1936 for a young trainee like Bert
Slater to begin to understand the business.
The Laboratory
and Metallurgy Department was a rather hidden away part
of the Works where, among other activities, tests were carried out on
raw materials to determine their suitability for particular applications.
We continue to develop the section describing the growth and activities
of the Personnel
Departmentat Westwood with a description of how it began in
1945 - with some insights from Kay Kisby - a diagram of the two-storey Welfare
building erected on the front car park in 1966 and Gabrielle Abbott's memories
of her job interview in 1974.
A Baker Perkins Inc, Saginaw manufactured machine
nameplate still carries the Werner Pfleiderer logo in 1946.
Some photographs from Paul Young of Food
Extruders being built at Westwood - from the largest to
the smallest in the range.
Mary Baxter worked in the Computer
Department as a programmer from October 1973 and recalls
some fascinating aspects of daily life as the use of computers became
the norm.
Update on the Winchester Ovens - You will recall mention of two
old A.M. Perkins bakery ovens discovered in a house in Headbourne
Worthy. The approximate date of installation has been ascertained but,
unfortunately, only the oven fronts still exist.
A copy of the Statutory Notice of the Public Enquiry into the development
of HMP
Peterborough has been added to our record.
Clocking
on- We are still trying to break the colour code for Clock
Cards used at Westwood. Any new information would be gratefully
received.
The story of the movement of Baker
Perkins Inc's food machinery businesses from Saginaw to
North Carolina has been rewritten. To bring this saga right up
to date, we hear that Turkington USA, the ex-Baker Perkins Inc and Lanham
bakery machinery operations at Goldsboro, which were purchased by Turkington
Industries in August 2004, has been taken over by the Middleby Corporation
Company in early April and will be renamed.
Rudolph Ihlee drawing of a WW1 soldiier
James de la Mare has obtained another superb drawing by Rudolph Ihlee,
this time of a WW1 Soldier. The drawing is quite remarkable in the way it
captures the character of the man. Details of his uniform can be foundHERE.
James is anxious to identify the man. If anyone had a relative who worked
at Westwood Works but who served in the Royal Artillery for the whole of
WW1, we would be pleased to hear from you.
We recently visited the RAF Museum at Hendon which holds an example of
the famous Rose
Turret. Seeing the Turret separated from its Lancaster bomber
makes one realise just how isolated and vulnerable those brave "tail-end
Charlies" must have felt. The Museum is well worth a visit.
WORK IN PROGRESS
As mentioned in our last Newsletter, our files still contain a large number
of photographs not yet uploaded onto the websites. It is intended that many
will appear as a "Gallery" at the end of relevant existing chapters.
The first one is - "The
Saginaw Product Gallery".
Best wishes – Dick, Margaret and James Preston May 2012
POSTSCRIPT - A FEW STATISTICS
The BPHS website contains more than 350,000 words and
over 1,200 images, the Westwood website is made up of over 250,000 words
and nearly 4,100 images.
The BPHS website has received 370,000 "hits",
the Westwood site nearly 780,000, a total of more than a million.
