Once a Factory now a Hotel
I arrived a bit early although it gave me time to write up my blog. The pub interiors have a mock period look and felt warm and cosy wth the open fire alight. Factory Nights meeting was in the basement in a long narrow room and Rednile Projects warmly greeted me. The session planned for the evening was only two hours and we started promptly. Rednile introduced themselves and the wonderful Factory Nights they facilitate in the North East and Midlands area. Alan and Roy from the Crabtree Society gave an introduction about how the business started. The factory was founded by John Ashworth Crabtree in 1919 and started with a few employees and grew to become one of Walsall’s largest engineering companies. I was struck by how the humble electrical light had such an impact on working conditions extending employee hours and the quality of what was made in the factory. The impact of this was growth in the business. John Ashworth Crabtree is most well known for designing the first make and break switch. We were given a tour of the pub and hotel, which were part of the factory. We were taken upstairs to a hotel room that used to be Crabtree’s office. The interior decoration of the hotel is mock period and sometimes I am finding it hard to believe that this place used to be a factory. Outside there is another building which houses the ‘honeymoon suite’. At the back of the Hotel is a garden with palm trees.
The Crabtree society was set-up in 2006, which is mostly made up of ex employees and is the face for the archive. When the society first started there were 300 members although most recently this has fallen to around 80 due to people getting older and sadly dieing. Alan and Roy from the society have been working on a book documenting the history of the factory to ensure its legacy. I really struggled to find information online about the factory or get any visual reference. However once the book has been published the society intend to develop the website. We finally got to see the film ‘Factory Day’ which was used to advertise and recruit school leavers. I was really impressed by how many women were part of the workforce and the importance of their contribution in the manufacturing process. As I am interested in performance I was hypnotized by the repetitive actions they performed everyday. One of the female workers is asked about working at the factory and responds by saying:
Do I like it?
I love it
I could really see the importance of manual work and the process of making something as a collective from start to finish. From watching the film I got a sense of everyone working for each other and a community spirit that has been sucked out of society today. It is dawning on me the impact the death of manufacturing has had in this country.
The Queen visited the factory in 1962 and was documented on film by the employees. I liked how the women put decorative flags ontop of each of their machines. The film is black and white although I did get to see colour stills in the page layouts of the book. To coincide with the Queens Jubilee and the visit 50 years ago a copy of the book will be given to her. During the visit I got quite excited about the Queens visit and had an idea of doing mini book launches in the city centre dressed as the Queen. This morning all I keep thinking about are the wonderful women who worked in the factory.
