....it continuesmickthemaverick wrote: ↑01 Jan 2021, 22:07 My father was a machine minder at Greycaines in Watford during my primary school days, he then moved on as a print foreman to Hills & Lacey, also in Watford, as was his final position as Shift Foreman at Farleigh Press in Imperial Way. If your book was produced between 1953 and 1960 it could well have been printed on offset litho by my father. Small world!!
As for Dickens on the bookshelf I have Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Christmas Carol, Old Curiosity Shop, Martin Chuzzlewit and a few of lesser known titles that I can't remember off the top of my head. I think I have 8 or 9 in total. And a jolly good read they are too!!!mickthemaverick wrote: ↑01 Jan 2021, 22:33 Back in those days Watford was a huge printing town with three main companies, Odhams, Sun Printers and Greycaines printing virtually all the national magazines and some newspapers between them. A few papers were still printing in their basements in Fleet Street but certainly the Mirror Group and I believe the Guardian were printed in Watford. There were many other industry linked businesses including John Dickinson paper mills and Fishburn Inks but the majority of the town earned its living from printing. Farleigh Press where my father ended his working life had a single Webb offset press and three Heidelberg litho machines which I believe I mentioned before on the FCF. The company was fortunate in gaining a number of speciality print contracts meaning that our house was one of the first to see the programs for The Royal Command Performance and The Royal Variety Show as well as most of the match programs from Wembley games. I still have a fair number of those tucked away in the loft I believe.
Dad used to commute on his bicycle from our house in Bushey Mill Crescent down to Greycaines in Bushey Mill Lane, nowadays the whole print works has been replaced with a trading estate called Greycaines Estate, and also to Hills & Lacey in Commercial Way now replaced by a housing estate and to Farleigh Press in Imperial Way which is still there but I don't know what they do now. That building was responsible for my start in both snooker and table tennis, when Dad was working evening overtime I used to cycle down there and practice on the snooker table until he was finished and then we would have a frame or two before riding home together. Good times!!
Regards Neil