I live just a few miles from where the Rediffusion factory used to be. Now sadly a Tesco superstore and retail park occupy the location.
The following photographs and accompanying text show the production of the Mark 3 receiver at the St Helens plant. Production started in February of 1977 and the following details the various activities associated with the manufacture including, cabinet manufacture, goods-inwards, inspection, coil winding, stores, boxing, chassis assembly and test, final test, soak customer acceptance and despatch. P.C.B. assembly and tests ( done at the Billingham plant).
Hi all can anyone Remember doing a sponsored walk up in Teasdale sometime in the 80s
Cheers Ian
With Syd Beddow near the old Rediffusion site reminiscing over old times when he used to work there. Syd is now 93 and I am his daughter.
Hi Jane, thanks for popping by and taking the time to post.
It’s fantastic to be able to connect this article to someone such as your father who worked actually worked at the now long gone Rediffusion site. Wishing you both well.
Hello Jane – I worked for Rediffusion Consumer Electronics in Design Engineering during the 70/80s and had great respect for Syd’s friendly, meticulous and highly efficient approach to Material Control. Please pass on my best regards. I remember giving his daughter a lift down to London on one occasion – was this you or a sister?
This brings back a host of memories. Although this particular edition of our in-house magazine was after I left Rediffusion, in 1977 I was then working for Top Rank TV. We had a reciprocal engineering arrangement with Rediffusion, so I still got to see a lot of RVS kit, both wired receivers, Aerial receivers & wired head -end equipment. I even got to make use of the facilities at Rediffusion Research, Coombe Lane, New Malden. That was an amazing place, almost like Bletchley Park!
I may have some more of these magazines around, although I can’t locate them at present.
I came to live in Bishop Auckland in 1972 and immediately got a job at the rediffusion plant at St Helens.
I was working in assembly until I left in 1974, these were 2 brilliant years and I worked with some amazing people.
Does anyone remember Supervisors Bob Hardy and Don Wallace, other names I remember we’re Keith Oldfield, Alan Littllefair, Rob Waites, Davey Johnson,Peter McDonald. My name is Bob Glen affectionately know as Scouse.
Happy days.
@Bob Glen
(I had wanted to post these lines for more than a year, don’t know what held me up)
I came to Bishop Auckland in October ’73, and within a week I had a job at Rediffusion at St. Helen’s.
My boss was Syd Lennon (production engineering office) and Bill Hind (work services department). I was employed until the end of ’79. My best employment ever what I can’t say about Germany, my home country. Yes, I am German. But I had the happiest time of my life in Co. Durham, and I really never wanted to return home. It was my aunt in Oregon whom I could make responsible. Anyway, now I am here again in my home country.
I haven’t been back to Bishop for a long time, and I understand that the town has changed quite a bit since. Most of my work mates and colleagues are not under the living anymore.
The last two to three years I had worked in the model shop for the electronics laboratory with Don Guest, Jim Caig and Wilf Tulip. There I could live out my true mission as a toolmaker.
The view names I remember are Alan Breeze, George Blood, Doug French, Kevin Smith, the Scotsman George Miller (with him I had worked at “station works coil winding” near cockton hill), Benny Roust, Bob Waller (supervisor at the stores and a nice guy, and Tom Kestle, a bit of a rigid type), Ron Hamilton (the Scotsman) and of course the other members of the management, the top supervisor Joyce Skelton and a view other supervisors among Dorothy and Brendy (quality control), not to forget Bill Robson (at the time an elderly work mate of mine), and some beautiful girls on the lines. I remember even more names of folks whom I cherish all till the present day, but it would, I guess, be an overkill.
P.S. I think I also still have at least one Rediffusion magazine
Othmar W. Junetz
I have one or two of these magazines, they are probably around the early 80s. I know the one focuses on the introduction of System 8 in Guildford. I started to work for the Cable TV side of the business in 1987, by that time it was owned by Robert Maxwell.