Geograph - photograph every grid square

Many thanks to P L Chadwick for his historic images of the old Garrards factory. As a schoolboy in the late 1950s I regularly walked past the trees seen in this image.

SU1584 : Garrard Factory, Newcastle Street

The camouflage paint that had been applied to the walls during the War years was still clearly visible. As I have remarked in another context Swindon escaped relatively lightly from the attentions of the Luftwaffe and the factory emerged from the war undamaged.

However, in March 1958 a fire broke out in the factory, an event noted by Peter.

SU1584 : Garrard Factory, Fleming way - close-up of part

My father took me, aged 10, and my sister to witness the firefighters' efforts to extinguish the blaze. My recollection is of the amount of ice from the hoses that built up on any available surface, vertical or horizontal. Despite the damage the factory recovered and production continued for another couple of decades. In the end though, economic reality and technological changes succeeded where the Nazis and acts of God failed, and the factory closed at some point in the 1980s. You can still find examples of their output on ebay and there are some on display in Swindon's museum SU1583 : Apsley House, Bath Road, Swindon