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At the outbreak of World War II the company's
commercial activities were closely regulated by the
Government and so the scheme was dropped. G.K.N.
however, still wanted Bean's business expertise and
so the company purchased five thousand 5 shilling
ordinary shares in Beans Industries for £30,000 on
the understanding that John Bean would manage
Garringtons for four years from 1st January, 1940.
In July 1940 a shell forging plant was built at
the works by the Admiralty at a cost of around
£100,000 to produce shells for the armed forces.
£261,433 was also spent on hammers, presses and
other plant by the Government. Also during the year,
Company Director and General Manager, Albert Beech
retired and was succeeded by Raymond P. Brookes and
J.C. Beech who were joint general managers.
In 1944 G.K.N. negotiated with the Ministry of
Supply to purchase the machinery and plant installed
by the Government for £104,573 and to purchase the
building erected by the Admiralty for £40,000.
Adjacent land belonging to Tildsleys was also
purchased to provide space for expansion and
despatch facilities. New Massey hammers were
installed to replace the older machinery and
attempts were made by G.K.N. to sell the enlarged
and improved works, but there were no potential
buyers. The decision was then taken to keep the
company, and with this in mind John Bean was offered
a directorship of G.K.N. and the company entered one
of its most expansive and successful periods.
An advert from 1965.
They produced all kinds of stampings at the large
factory that grew on the site. Over 100,000 tons
were produced annually for aircraft, shipbuilding,
railways, agricultural implements, mining equipment,
and road vehicles.
When the factory was in operation Willenhall Road
would vibrate as the large stamping machines operated.
The thumping noise from the machines could be heard some
distance away. People living in the nearby houses got so
used to this that they felt very uncomfortable during
the summer break when the works closed for a fortnight.
In 1946 Garringtons acquired Deritend Stamping
Limited of Newton Works, Bromsgrove in order to
expand production of castings for the automotive
industry. Newton Works eventually covered 50 acres,
and gave employment to 3,100 people. Garringtons
also specialised in a wide range of hand tools,
which were sold under many trade names including
'Raven', and 'Robin' (hand drills), 'Ball Pein',
'Curlew', and 'Adze Eye' (hammers), '11 Adjustable',
'Blackbird', 'Lapwing', 'Puffin', and 'Grebe'
(adjustable spanners), 'Jay', 'Magpie', 'Merlin',
and 'Kestrel' (spanners).
An advert from the early
1950s.
A 4 inch 'Jackdaw' adjustable
spanner.
The other side of the 4 inch
'Jackdaw' adjustable spanner.
The Darlaston factory closed during the recession
of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Bromsgrove
factory was acquired by United Engineering Forgings,
and closed in March 2002. The site was sold for
residential housing and industrial units.
Albert Works in the late
1990s.
All that remains of Albert
works, now a car park. |
