EKCO Exodus 1940

By Chris Poole - August 2008

In August 1939 there was the usual throng of thousands of holiday makers visiting Southend for a walk along the 1 ¼ mile long pier, delighting in the amusement arcades, sampling the many public houses along the seafront, visiting the Kursaal, enjoying 'Old Leigh' and its many cockle sheds or simply relaxing on the miles of beach but in another part of the town, EKCO was busy with last minute preparations for the annual Radiolympia exhibition where the company had high hopes for the show specially since they were planning to exhibit along with their radio's, for the first time on any scale, their full range of Television sets where they hoped that a good show would provide continuity of employment for the circa 3,000 people employed at the site in Priory Crescent.

EKCO booklet 'How it changed our lives' showing staff leaving site after work in 1939

Alas, during the course of the Radiolympia show with the dark clouds of war gathering, the government announced that due to the international situation Television broadcasts were being suspended with immediate effect and 10 days later war was declared, which not only drove away the visitors from Southend but meant that EKCO almost overnight, voluntarily ceased domestic radio and television work and made its entire production capability available to the government, which accepted the offer with thanks and in short order the company found itself manufacturing military Type 19 tank radio's.

At the same time, the site at Southend was prepared for war with surface air raid shelters being built at various locations around the site including one long slit trench down the length of the site, these complementing the deep shelters, which had already been built under the buildings erected in 1938 in accordance with the Air Raid Precautions Act (1938). Very quickly the roofs of all the buildings were painted in camouflage paint and security barriers erected at all the entrances to the site.

Slit trench being dug at Southend – mostly by employee's according to original caption
in EKCO booklet 'How it changed our lives

Even during the Radiolympia show plans were made to purchase a secure site known as Cowbridge House deep in the countryside of North Wiltshire for the top secret work on airborne radar and VHF communications for the RAF – the story of which is told here

At the time of Dunkirk (late May/early June 1940) with the Nazi's having overrun Belgium and France meaning that German aircraft could easily reach Southend, which was only 100 miles away or less than ½ hrs flying time, the order was given by the Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) to evacuate the whole of the works and disperse the work to safer sites away from the risk of being bombed.

To assist this process, EKCO were helped by a MAP plan, which had already identified a list of potential sites and here a note of high comedy took place. Unknown to Eric Cole was the fact that each and every ministry was doing the same and at one of the first sites he visited on a tour of the sites on offer he discovered that it had already been taken over by the Army. At this time the nation was in a great panic about 'fifth columnists' with the result that Eric Cole was promptly arrested as a spy! A whole day in arranging the move was lost until the village policeman eventually released him. This episode led the Ministry to issue EKC with a high level pass, which gave him unlimited access to many 'restricted area's and was to prove useful on more than one occasion.

Not withstanding this delay, it was very quickly decided that that the headquarters of the company should be based in the Green Park Hotel in Aston Clinton, which was once a former Rothschild Mansion.

Green Park Hotel Aston Clinton circa 1940 – EKCO booklet 'How it changed our lives'

The main manufacturing site chosen was in Aylesbury where the company took over a substantial site, which was once a printing works and followed this by expanding into a nearby former hat factory. One benefit of choosing Aylesbury being that these sites were nearby to Aston Clinton.

Location of EKCO sites in Aylesbury

The story of moving the secret radar development unit is told here but for the rest of the works, the colossal task of moving an entire major factory was accompanied in one gigantic effort over a long weekend just after Dunkirk. To achieve this, in addition to the fleet of EKCO lorries, the Ministry of Aircraft Production diverted a vast fleet of lorries to Southend where through hard work (and a considerable amount of pre-planning) the entire contents of the main factory was disassembled and loaded up.

To move this armada of lorries, the police closed all four lanes of the dual carriageway A127 Arterial Road from Southend towards London; the North Circular Road around London and the A41 to Aylesbury while this gigantic convoy was on the move.

Eric Cole drove up the A12 from his home just outside Chelmsford to join the convoy at Gallows Corner (just outside Romford where the A12 joins up with the A127) on his way to the new Head Office at Aston Clinton and recounted to his son his vivid memory of the extraordinary sight of an endless line of lorries pouring relentlessly up all four lanes of the new (A127) Arterial Road.

In addition to all the plant and equipment, as important was the movement of essential staff to ensure that the production lines could be up and running with the minimum of delay. Here the staff chosen were at all levels and grades from line operators to supervisors, charge-hands to managers. In addition many office workers also moved.

In respect of the women particularly this caused many problems since by and large only the single ladies were willing to move but enough did move to make it work.

Finding lodgings for all the staff on the move was another headache and to solve this EKCO set up many hostels for workers, helped those who's entire family moved finding properties to rent and through the labour board, arranged lodgings for single men and women with local households and although while many found this an enjoyable experience, there were some who found hostility and had to move more than once to find acceptable lodgings.

Nevertheless, things settled down very quickly and soon production was back on track and at a later visit Sir Stafford Cripps (the Minister for Aircraft Production) was to describe Aylesbury as being one of the best, if not the best factory in the country producing wireless apparatus.

Aylesbury production hall – photo taken from EKCO booklet 'How it changed our lives'

Not all production moved away from Southend however since the large plastic's moulding machinery could not be moved nor was the lamp manufacturing unit moved, which covertly had been turned over the military valve manufacture including the very specialised 'radar valves'.

Radar valve assembly – photo taken from EKCO booklet 'How it changed our lives'

The plastics plant found itself working 24 hours a day making a wide variety of products ranging from small bakelite knobs to practice bombs and it is even rumoured that Bakalite coffins were also made at one time such was the shortage of wood.

Practice bomb made in the thousands by Plastics during the war