A vintage programme and Ekco

Tangled up in Blue · May 1, 2023

BALDY said:
I have an Ekco valve radio (in my small collection of vintage radios).
Does/did anybody else buy an item from Ekco?

No but I spent a summer working for them in the early 70's .MY late mother used to work there during WW2 apparently.

BALDY · May 1, 2023

Tangled up in Blue said:
No but I spent a summer working for them in the early 70's .MY late mother used to work there during WW2 apparently.

I wonder if she was involved in this..............Visitors will also find out about the largely unknown role that workers from EKCO played during World War Two. In addition to making significant contributions towards the development of radar, EKCO had a role in developing components of the famous Enigma code-breaking machine.

Tangled up in Blue · May 1, 2023

BALDY said:
I wonder if she was involved in this..............Visitors will also find out about the largely unknown role that workers from EKCO played during World War Two. In addition to making significant contributions towards the development of radar, EKCO had a role in developing components of the famous Enigma code-breaking machine.

Didn't know that but Enigma would have been a bit above my late mum's pay grade I imagine.

C'mon you Shrimpers · May 14, 2023

Went to the exhibition. Very good. Loads of old radios and TVs including the ones designed by the modernist architects Wells Coats and Serge Chermayeff which apparently saved the company. They had recordings of workers talking about their experiences. What I didn't know is it all started in Leigh although there wasn't an address given. There was a box with a valve in it saying Ekco Leigh on Sea and they then moved to 505 London Road and behind 2 Beedell Avenue. Now I think that might be the whole of the block including Chapel and Chapel auctions. If it is I would have thought well worth a plaque. There was the artist's model of the sculpture of E K Cole in the exhibition so we then drove out to see the real thing on the housing estate built on the Ekco site. Very nice. He's standing smiling on a radio. Thought the museum department could do an online summary for those interested who live abroad. Just a thought.