ITT Consumer Products (UK) Ltd, Theaklen Drive, St Leonards – Job Ad 1974 & 1978

 

Matt Thomas… My mum worked here

Alan Esdaile… notice the wages

Pauline Richards… And the part time hours ‘for women’

Cliff Wootton… I worked there from 1974 to 1978. Started on the factory floor and worked my way up to draughtsman, illustrator and tech pubs specialist. Happy days

Paul Morfey… Both me and my wife ( janette) worked at ITT in Hastings in the 70ts. That is where we met. We just celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary!

Pete Prescott… I worked there as a temp in 78. I was in the buying dept with Keith Garnsey.

Dave Nattress… Wages – and if I read it right, unequal rates for males/females doing the same job? Certainly though a major player ITT. I had several friends who worked there in different roles or who took different rolls to work, (ham, cheese and pickle and salmon and cucumber being well popular). Of the illustrations on the advert I’m sure many of us had their products. I actually had the radio, cassette player/recorder, (2 of them, used for band rehearsals), and my parents had , the music centre at one time albeit not the best HiFi. Another local name and employer long gone.

Peter Millington… My father Bob Millington worked there managing the Stores Dept. between about 1966 to about 1978. He also organised all the dances at the White Rock and the Queens Hotel, a busy chap!

Paul Bryant… My mother worked there for a short time,remember the Christmas party they used to throw for employees children

Ralph Town… See how repressed women were back then. Different wage rates for men and women. Terrible.

Jan Warren… I worked for British Radio Corporation, Beeching Road, Bexhill in 1971/72 they were soon taken over by ITT!! – I enjoyed working for BRC, lots of my schoolfriends were there, it was fun, nice atmosphere, happy days!!

Richard Johnstone… I worked there from 73 to 78 in production planning. We had 3 categories of production workers – high skilled males, low skilled males and females!  Doing different jobs – women on the component assembly lines, men (skilled) on testing and fault correction and men (low skilled) on jobs known as ‘hauling and mauling’. No overlap between the sexes

Peter Ulyatt… I worked there from 1963ish to 1979 when my wife, 3 kids and I emigrated to Australia. When I started it was known as KB (Kolster Brands). I started checking radios as they came off the assembly line. If they worked, I calibrated them ready for dispatch. If they didn’t work they got put on one side for a technician to fix it. A couple of years later I became one of those technicians. When ITT took it over, can’t remember when, I started working on TVs as a technician and worked up to being a Test Diagnostician. Then came the start of colour TV. A screen about 12 ” across In a massive cabinet full of valves. You needed an asbestos suit to work on them. Good days and a good company to work for.

Pete Prescott… I worked in the purchasing department for a month (temping) in early 78 with Keith Garnsey. amazing guy.

Terry Corder… My first job was there in 1968!

Harry Randall… Did you make it?

Tim Moose Bruce… I had a cassette recorder like the one in the photo when I was at school. Borrowed another one from my brother. Made a very simple passive mixer and did a 3 or 4 track recording, bouncing between the 2 machines. Tracks had guitar and stylophone!. Really muddy sound.

Paul Merison… My Mother used to work the 6-10pm shift in the mid to late 70’s

Chris Meachen… They paid me a wage to go to college for a year, after which I was a technician in the audio department, testing & aligning circuit boards for the music centres illustrated. Occasionally, if one of the ladies on the production line was off, I’d be called in as substitute. Once I stuck around 6000 push buttons on in a day & was amazed at how much my hand hurt at the end of it. The foreman of the audio dept used to lift the flap of the drinks machine & call “thank you” :- I swear he thought there was someone inside it making his tea..

Willie Wicking… Worked next door here at Chloride Transipak in 1976 £19 a week where’s time gone think it’s now Zeus gym

Paul Bannister… I worked there for a few weeks, lifting broken TVs off the production line with a Ugandan Asian guy Mehaboo Nanji. Lovely guy – lovely family. Some funny memories – I actually got sacked for bringing the production line of TVs to a standstill – TWICE in one day. I had strong views on ‘fairness’ even then. Probably why I was Union rep at the BBC

Richard J Porter… In a hotel room in Singapore the TV was made there!! The hand dryer in public toilets was from Basingstoke!! They even have UK 3 pin plugs and sockets. LOL Mostly MK.

Alan Esdaile… in the days we ruled the world.

Paul Marshall… My Dad Roy Marshall worked there all his working life.

Bernard Rea… I started with summer time work experience in 1966/67 wiring wave change switches downstairs surrounded by young women working seated at rows of benches. Those days we could get a clip from the female supervisor if too much talking and too many mistakes were made. Worked my way to radio test line then gained HNC qualification on day release. Eventually made it into Les Wyatt’s Test gear department and looked after TV test signal transmitters. Saw the intro of colour TV. Left in 69 to join Rediffusion Simulation Crawley New Town. Was married and needed a house which were offered for rent through the Commission for new towns as part of the industrial estates housing allocation scheme ….good days never seen in these “modern?” times! Retired for 9 years now..

Martin Stoggell… Wish I’d seen it back in the day. Says I could have made something of myself.

Paul Morfey… I meet my wife there!! Forty years married, three kids, three grand kids, ITT got alot to answer for!!

Janette Morfey… blooming cheek!! Love you darling xx

Ian Geer… I worked in audio from 1976 to 1979 assembling 5042 music Centres, my supervisor was Rose Barnard and, Maggie flowers. we had 5 min breaks every hour and 1 hour lunch, and we’re regularly followed by time and motion, even to the loo! There was Janet Vercuel on security, and Don. I remember the staff shop where the clocking in machines were. Great canteen with crusty filled roles from the oak bakery down the road, nice meals, and all subsidised. I had many a good night in our social club, Crown House on St Leonards seafront. Back in the 60’s my mother worked there when Kolster Brands, she was sister Kath Balde, and her colleague sister Barbara Childs. I remember the amazing Hastings carnival entries they put on, and reguarly won. Happy days!

Edward Banner… Does anyone know if the ITT-KB record players KP1000 and KP043 were manufactured here or at Footscray, Sidcup, Kent which is what is written on the record players I have?

Phil Gill… Try looking here…

http://www.kbmuseum.org.uk/index.htm

Janette Morfey… As far as I remember we only produced TV’s at the Hastings plant.

Richard Johnstone… We made the ITT2030 music centre about 1976.

Yvonne Cleland… Cousin worked there x

Ken Leadbeater… I worked in the design office from 73 – 79, the last two years being at Basildon. Great memories of those days. Sad to hear that me old design manager passed away about six years ago.

Paul Marshall… I remember the possibilities of moving to Basildon. My dad took redundancy instead.

Dennis Torrance… When leaving school went up on a visit there looking for a job from Priory Road school with other lads, free bus tickets and tour of factory not forgetting drinks and cream cakes. I eventually got job at Collins and Hayes back in 1968 such a choice of jobs on offer then thanks for memory.

Tony Smith… Ken, you didn’t know a Mike Lord, who worked in the Basildon office c.1973, did you?

Tim Moose Bruce… One of the cleaners where I worked used to work at ITT. They were having a clear out when moving out of the factory. He grabbed a load of AVO 8 multimeters from the skip. Bought one in one day and gave it to me. I still have it.

Phil Gill… I worked my 1971 and 1972 school summer holidays at ITT. The six weeks work in ‘71 gave me enough money to buy my Selmer Treble ‘n’ Bass 50. Eventually married the UK Managing Director’s daughter, Ann Browning, in 1983.

Roland Clarke… my mum worked there in the testing department for a couple of years. I took business studies with the MD. He at one time owned The Nags Head I believe.

Chris Barrett… Phil, marvellous . Best thing you ever did. No not buying the bloody amp, marrying Ann before you say anything

Anne Murray… I went for an interview for a job in the drawing office there around then!

Jeanette Jones… Anyone want to share their sad pension stories?

Karen Hamilton… I worked their in the 70’s, my mum also worked their

Kev Barle… I was a MOD apprentice on a final year secondment here for 12 weeks during Dec76 to Feb77, with several of my colleagues. I was assembling kits of parts for board and circuit testing jigs.

Eddie Rostron… Looking for info on an old KA2030. Found in an attic. ?

Chris Meachen… I worked in the audio department for about 6 months, testing and setting up circuit boards for the stereos. It was mind-numbing work, & the 7.30am start time killed me..

Paul Bannister…I worked as a TV ‘porter’ with another guy on the assembly line. I got fired (you can leave on Friday) on Tuesday for non negotiated extra duties imposed on me by some lazy women group, that caused the assembly to halt. Returning from the manager, I continued to refuse to do the stuff I’d just been fired for, and then immediately got escorted off the premises. (I still got paid for the whole week ) Stroppy kid? Moi?

Carol Anne Block… I worked there for about 18 months in the mid-70s, as clerical support to the head of Maintenance. Part of my job was to take the pay packets round to all the maintenance men (I was the only female in the team and they treated me very well). If there were any queries the men explained them to me and I went up to the office to pass them on to the Pay team. I always made sure that I ended my rounds at the welding shop because that was where Pete Cleverly worked and he used to make me a cuppa. He was the only person who was allowed to have a kettle and not have to wait for the tea lady to come round! ITT was also the place where I learned a valuable life lesson – never allow anyone to make you fear staff in senior positions! Respect for their position is fine but they are just as human as you and are not to be feared!

Jacky Juden… I worked there from 1971 until it closed in 1980. One of the last to leave as I worked in personnel

Chris Baker… I think I remember that Bob Shipway worked there in the 70s?

Roy Acland… I worked there from 1972 in R&D having started at Foots Cray. I met my wife Sandra Smith who worked in CPA whilst playing darts for the company and we married in 1975. I worked on colour TV’s and audio products and it was a great company to work for. I eventually moved to Basildon and then moved over to STC. I remember some of the names above and did work with Mike Lord as mentioned by Tony Smith. Perhaps the big name was Eric Bates the MD and I remember Roy Browning who was Operations Manager. When I first started I was working on a valve black and white chassis (VC205/207) and then I worked on colour TV’s such as CVC5, CVC8, CVC9. There was also a 16 inch ‘Featherlight’ TV which was quite an innovation and I work on some later audio products. I have fond memories of the bakery in Theaklen Drive, the canteen run by Mrs Lyons and the old lab which was later added to with a hut opposite where the first teletext decoders were developed.

Haydn Betchley… I worked at ITT Hastings from 1974 to 1980 and then transferred to Basildon. I think the announcement regarding the intention to move to Basildon was in about 1977ish and I was so disappointed having not long moved to the area and not wanting to uproot. It was a wrench to move to Basildon but it worked out well for me in the end. ITT was a great place to work. In fact, out of the 10 jobs I have had this was probably my favourite. There was a great bunch of people and I really enjoyed it. Some of the quality department had a re-union in 2001. That included Lloyd Philp, Peter Bass, John Mercer, Alan Munn, Karen McDonough and Barry Keable. I am still in touch with one or two of them. Needless to say, John Packham was too busy playing the oldest swinger in town to attend after 20 years. Whatever happened to them? Including Dave Smeeth, Noel Maguire, John Wilkinson, Don Creasey…