Z1205/173

Male. Brickworks transport manager, then Managing Director of Hanson Brick, Stewartby. b. 11.01.1932 SIDE A (00 mins)Born in Bromley, Kent. Parents were Londoners. Moved to Wyboston, Beds. in 1937 to a Land Settlement Association market-gardening smallholding. Fifty families from all over England formed in a co-operative: glasshouses for market gardening, piggeries, batteries for hens and egg production. All crops were sold through the Association. (05 mins)The smallholdings surrounded the established village of Wyboston. Many of the smallholders were ex-miners, in a scheme to help industrial areas which suffered most from economic depression, especially in the North East. Children of incomers and villagers mixed easily but there was some "distance" at first between old villagers and new adults. 8 children in his family. (10 mins)Children helped with work on smallholding: hens, picking tomatoes and cucumbers, hoeing potatoes. Father had been a woodwork training supervisor and had to learn all about agriculture and horticulture. The children were all working elsewhere by the time their father retired, so none of them took over the smallholding. Both London grandfathers were dead before he was born but he knew his grandmothers, from Bermondsey and Holloway. (15 mins)Sometimes when relatives came up from London some of them had to sleep in greenhouses in the summer. Visited London relatives during the Second World War and remembers seeing the devastation caused by enemy bombing. Father was in the Home Guard during the war. Thurleigh, not far away, attracted some doodle bug bomb and one or two aeroplanes came down in the area. London evacuees came into the area but they did not have any room at his house. (20 mins)Most people walked to wherever they were going. A few adult had bicycles. There were buses which ran to St. Neots, the nearest town. Milk and bread was delivered to houses. There was a village shop that sold most things. Van salesmen would call. The had goats for milk, pigs, hens, battery hens, rabbits for meat but no cattle. Remembers rubbing salt into joints of meat when one of their pigs was slaughtered by the local butcher. Attended primary school in Eaton Socon, 3 miles away. Had school lunches. (25 mins)Most teachers were old, because of the war employing all the young men. Basic village school facilities; classrooms painted cream and green and a playground with outside urinals. Moved to a secondary school in Eaton Socon when he was 12. Passed to go to grammar school but, because he knew his parents couldn't afford the uniform, withheld the information form his parents. Left school at fifteen, served an apprenticeship as an agricultural engineer in St. Neots on caterpillar tractors, did National service in the army for 2 years. Attended evening classes and day release courses at St. Neots' College of Further Education. First tractor arrived on smallholding when he was at school but horses were still used for the majority of the work. Moved to work for Redlands, a brick and tiles company as transport manager in 1968. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Redland Bricks in Kempston Hardwick was taken over by London Brick in 1972. He continued and later became transport superintendent for Stewartby, Kempston, Calvert and Bletchley. (05 mins)Responsible for transport routes to the South West, Bristol and Cardiff. Dudley Tipping was the Transport Manger for London Brick, with a brick delivery fleet of 850 vehicles and 14 different rail heads throughout the country, including Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds. From 1974 onwards, the Fletliner business was developed, delivered packs of bricks via freightliner terminals. (10 mins)Packages were placed on flat-bed containers, off-loaded with cranes. As legislation allowed heavier carrying-capacity vehicles, it was possible to reduce the number of vehicles while still carrying the same load. He used to despatch 70 million bricks a week, using both dedicated London Brick transport and a lot of hauliers. Trains carried fifteen "cars", forty-five containers, each container of 6 blocks - just over 7,000 bricks, so a total of forty-five times 7,000 bricks. For rail freight to be cost-effective, it had to be delivering beyond a 100-mile radius. (15 mins)Hence, Manchester, Liverpool, West Country termini. British Rail not the easiest company to deal with - meetings with 20 different people to sort something out. Deliveries by train to London, although done, were not cost-effective and had the opposite effect to that intended of relieving road traffic congestion. Lorries ended up collecting bricks from Kings Cross and travelling all through London; whereas a road delivery using the North Circular would have cleared the central area all together. (20 mins)London-Brick Company was a well-run company but rather staid and reluctant to change, with a strong paternal instinct. In the competitive environment of the Margaret Thatcher era (1970s/80s) companies couldn't really survive hostile takeovers unless they were aggressive and thought more about their shareholders than their employees. Hanson owned Butterley Brick and London Brick, with its vast land holdings, was an attractive asset. After the take over by Hanson, transport was subject to close scrutiny by Hanson accountants, since it required a lot of capital being tied up. The board was more interested in profit than in bricks. (25 mins)London Brick board members were "gentlemen"; Hanson were sharp businessmen. Ron Fulford became chief executive to restructure the company. Greater budget control. Endless interviews about operations. Only the production director, Terry Walters, remained from the London Brick senior management. Interviewee was put in charge of a combined sales and marketing operation (everything except production). (30 mins)Hanson let you manage and get on with it, providing you produced the results. Otherwise you were out. Extremely hard work for two years. He appointed a new sales manager. There was then a building boom and a brick shortage and the problems of trying to satisfy the market. (32 mins)End of Side B.CONTINUED ON CS173C2 SIDE A (00 mins)9 brick sales offices reduced to 3 major computerised, regional ones. (05 mins)More freedom to explore the market and expand with Hanson, providing you made the profit. In the days of Sir Ronald Stewart at London Brick, he singed virtually every cheque himself and would spend a day a week doing that. Hanson appointed a Manager and expected him to perform. Shop floor workers will always find a better way to work. Suggestion schemes. (10 mins)Being grilled about budgets by accountants made you a better manager. Desire to retire at 60 while still healthy to enjoy it. Had seen brothers and sisters retiring and dying soon afterwards. Prior to that he was appointed Managing Director of the company and agreed to stay on for a couple of years. (15 mins)Enjoying retirement. Visiting grandchildren in Australia once a year. Lucky in his working life - enjoyed all the roles he had. Computerisation the biggest change in the working environment and the reduction manpower through increased used of mechanisation. The other change in companies where the only thing that matters is the profit made and the need to retain shareholders through high share prices. ] (20 mins)Changes in agriculture. One man now running a 500 acre farm previously employing 30 - 40 workers. Reduction in Beds. brick industry brought about by (1) fletton bricks not being satisfactory for modern buildings, (2) breeze blocks being used instead of bricks for interior walls and concrete for footings (3) estates are now open plan instead of using brick garden walls. Brick production in early 1970s was 7- 8 billion bricks a year; now, 2-3 billion bricks a year or less (early 2000s). enormous reduction in brick production. In heyday, Marston Vale produced 50% of total market, so subsequent reduction if Fletton brick industry was inevitable. Hanson Brick produces a wide range of bricks throughout the country from different clays. And it is also an international brick producers, e.g. the second largest brick manufacturer in America. (25 mins)Greater opportunities for managers in an international firm. (26 mins)End of Side A END OF INTERVIEW.Original Interview 90 mins.

5 November 2002

From: 1930 To: 2002

item

London Brick Company,
Hanson Brick Limited,
Redland Brick Company LImited,
Thatcher, Margaret,
Butterley Brick Limited,
Fulford, Ron,
Walter, Terry,
Sir Ronald Stewart

Managing Director, TRANSPORT, agricultural land, market gardening, CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES, horticulture & market gardening associations, mines, child labour, World War Two, Home Guard, air raids over UK, evacuees, bicycles, primary schools, horses, tractors, railways, businesses, accountants, computers, AGRICULTURE, brick maker, STEWARTBY, Bromley, Kent, Wyboston, THURLEIGH, Eaton Socon Little End, Kempston Hardwick, Bletchley, Liverpool, Manchester, Australia