During my illness (I am
still not good!); a former Pathéscope employee contacted me.
- Gerald Rickwood - he worked in the factory/laboratory from 1948
to 1952 or so.
Gerald was a keen photographer and joined the Pathéscope camera
club.
Luckily he took various photos some of which he has kindly
supplied.
I have tried to include some below - most of which include
Pathéscope staff.
Here is Gerald winning first prize in the Pathéscope camera club competition in1950 - he was seventeen!
Taken at the Camera Club
in 1950 - From left to right . . in the corner is Ray Thorn,
next to him is the young lad who remained in the film drying room
who used to
remove the 1000ft rolls of processed printed films as and when
each spool was full.
If we happened to put too much Formalin in the final wash before
the films
entered the drying room where it was quite warm, he would sit
there in tears!
I cannot remember the other young chap next to him, but the man
in the dark
suit was Bill Banyard, Sales Rep . . next to him is Eddie
Withers, Service Reception Manager.
The next person is my late brother, Ivan Rickwood, assistant to
Ted Brunger, Publicity Manager;
one of their tasks was to produce the 'in-house' magazine, the
Pathééscope Monthly
I cannot recall who the last fellow is/was, but he was employed
in the Sales Department.
(text from Gerald Ricks email)
(Later we know the Financial Drector was Bernard Joslin (ex Marine officer); Charles Dowers was Managing Director)
As life was in the late
Forties, most workers either walked, rode a pedal cycle, or
caught a bus to work,
but at Pathéscope one guy had his own motorised transport.
. Here you can see him arriving on his Triumph 500cc Tiger
Motorcycle; ~. note, no crash helmets in those days!
I cannot remember his name, but Ken may be able to recall it?
Another interesting
feature in this photo are the railings in the background.
Each Motocamera for it' s final lens test was that I loaded a
charger with film
and from the factory steps I would take a short film of the scene
in front of me;
I would develop the film and show the results to Johnny Foster
who would say 'Yes' or 'No' ,
depending on whether the railings were sharp or not!
By the way, the mountain in the background was one of the lime
pits belonging to the British Oxygen Company.
(text from Gerald Ricks email)
If you get to speak with
Ken Valentine you may like to remind him that he and I had to
sweep, yes, with brooms.
The whole of the factory area out at the end of each day.
That included Johnny Foster's office, the machine shop, assembly
areas, packing department and service department area.
Now, some more pictures from back then (1948-1951)
If roll film had been
more readily available I might have taken more;
it was still very scarce after the war, especially for the
general public and amateurs.
Herewith another lunchtime shot ... the chap on the left I cannot
remember his name,
he worked in the spray paint shop out back of the factory; he was
a keen roller speed skater.
The central figure was Jack Duffy and on the right is Jack
Cooke..
In this shot, taken at one of the Camera Club's meetings are from left to right -
. . Joan Wells,
assistant to Mr. Thorn (Lab manager) . . next, Harry Cowdrey, in
charge of machine shop
. . his wife Joan, secretary to the sales manager Sydney Taylor
.. . Jose de-Boer, Eddie Wither's secretary
. . Jack Cooke . . Maureen Burke (my late sister-in-law), she was
Joan Wells' assistant
. . finally, the man with glasses was Mr. Thorn, Ray's father.
(Joan Cowdrey is now 90! - see still keeps in contact with Gerald Rickwood)
Some Pathéscope
employees sat outside one lunchtime - sometime 1948-1951
(sorry, these are not
identified!)
I used to be employed by Pathéscope. It
was the summer of 1948 when I first joined; initially I was on
the first stages of assembling the 'Gem' projectors.
At the same time the Works Manager, Mr. John Foster was
developing the 'Son' sound projector, based on the 'Gem'
As I progressed, I was moved over to Motocamera 'H' assembly and
doing the final lens testing.
.A vacancy became available in the film laboratories; I applied
and was successful in getting the position
where I was involved in the bulk processing of printed 'library'
films; not the personal home movies.
In 1949 my late brother became assistant to the publicity
manager, and my brother's wife was also employed in the
laboratories.
In 1951 I went into the RAF and never returned when I was
'demobbed' in 1954 . .
but during those years I did call in to see friends whom I had
worked with, and took the photographs below.
In the first picture the
upper floor (facing) was devoted to the offices and staff
canteen.
The lower floor was given over to development and machine shop,
assembly lines, and service department; out back was the paint
shop.
The second photograph shows the side extension which housed the
laboratories, darkrooms where the library
films were printed and processed, also the personal home movies
were developed there.
(All text and phtographs are from Gerald Rickwood - many, many thanks Gerald for these rare photographs!)
Please excuse the somewhat
untidyness - there may be more to come!
Meantime as someone once said - 'publish and be damned!'
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