BAe Chadderton being demolished

[west didsblue]

Is that how the non league team Avro get their name?

Yes. It was Avro’s works team originally. Fairly sure they used to play at the playing fields at the Lancaster club at the bottom of Broadway in Failsworth which was the Avro social club. It’s now a housing estate.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Yes. It was Avro’s works team originally. Fairly sure they used to play at the playing fields at the Lancaster club at the bottom of Broadway in Failsworth which was the Avro social club. It’s now a housing estate.

That was a good club. Went to a couple of birthday do’s there.
A housing estate? Well there’s a surprise!

 

[oldhamblue]

Used to be. I think they got bought out.

Now owned by a company called Fanatics. I worked at Kitbag and never understood why it was mainly East European girls on the shirt printing. They knew nothing about football or spelling of English names. Got in the M.E.N once when someone complained about getting a shirt with Roooney on the back. Wasn't Clive Tyldesley.

 

[west didsblue]

That was a good club. Went to a couple of birthday do’s there.
A housing estate? Well there’s a surprise!

The Lancaster club building is still there in the middle of the housing estate although it closed down 7 or 8 years ago. Think it’s flats now.

 

[liveandletdive]

It's so very sad to see it being demolished like it is, i was man and boy there for 14 very happy years, unless you worked there, you wouldn't understand the atmosphere, comradery etc. Best bunch of lads to work with, even now, in 2025 there is still a large amount of us Chadd lads here at Samlesbury, but sadly we are all retiring one by one, soon only our stories will be left.

 

[remember arthur mann]

It's so very sad to see it being demolished like it is, i was man and boy there for 14 very happy years, unless you worked there, you wouldn't understand the atmosphere, comradery etc. Best bunch of lads to work with, even now, in 2025 there is still a large amount of us Chadd lads here at Samlesbury, but sadly we are all retiring one by one, soon only our stories will be left.

You'd feel totally different about the place if you worked there in the 60s. Piecework was a killer and back stabbing rife. Not forgetting having to doff your cap to the many ex RAF boys.

 

[East Level 2]

Fuck me thats a blast from the past, Ferrantis. I had family who worked there and as per classic yonner of old retired to Anglesey on the pension

If we're going down the Ferranti route, I worked at the semi-conductor site on Fields New Road in Chadderton then at the micro-electronics centre behind the old transformer works in Hollinwood.

 

[discopop]

No. That was Cairo Mill on the other side of Oldham.

They also had a site just off nuthurst road across from the playing fields, Basil used have his helicopter land in the old Newton Heath Working men’s club grounds near Dean Lane.

 

[HorlocksWalk]

Fuck me thats a blast from the past, Ferrantis. I had family who worked there and as per classic yonner of old retired to Anglesey on the pension

I was an apprentice at GEC in Trafford Park in the days when there were proper jobs and not take away deliveries and zero hours contracts, I feel sorry for the kids these days.

 

[MCFCTrick]

They also had a site just off nuthurst road across from the playing fields, Basil used have his helicopter land in the old Newton Heath Working men’s club grounds near Dean Lane.

That was Ferranti Moston, Aircraft equipment like gyroscopes and also weapons (cluster bombs anyone?) I spent ten years there, before leaving just before it went bust (thanks to getting hoodwinked by a dodgy US firm they merged with) I left to go to The Daily Mirror's new plant after it left where The Printworks now is, which ironically was in the Ferranti transformer plant on Hollinwood Avenue.

My old man was Foreman of the Maintenance Electricians team at Moston. He literally turned the lights off when it closed. He retired then at 60, his garage looked like the stores, and he was 85 before he had to buy a battery or light bulb. ;-)

 

[RobMCFC]

..... it went bust (thanks to getting hoodwinked by a dodgy US firm they merged with)

International Signal - their CEO, James Guerin, received a 15-year prison sentence for the fraud that led to Ferranti's demise.

I worked for Ferranti-Thompson Sonar Systems in Cheadle in the 90s, and that company managed to survive the Ferranti implosion.

 

[west didsblue]

International Signal - their CEO, James Guerin, received a 15-year prison sentence for the fraud that led to Ferranti's demise.

I worked for Ferranti-Thompson Sonar Systems in Cheadle in the 90s, and that company managed to survive the Ferranti implosion.

Now part of Thales (French electronic systems company).

 

[East Level 2]

International Signal - their CEO, James Guerin, received a 15-year prison sentence for the fraud that led to Ferranti's demise.

I worked for Ferranti-Thompson Sonar Systems in Cheadle in the 90s, and that company managed to survive the Ferranti implosion.

I think part of the money used to merge with International Signal came from the sale of Ferranti Semiconductors to Plessey. We were just getting used to the Plessey name when the whole Plessey group was taken over by GEC and Siemens. Neither wanted the semiconductor business and it ended up being part of GEC after months of presentations by Siemens welcoming us to their company. That's when I got out.

 

[liveandletdive]

You'd feel totally different about the place if you worked there in the 60s. Piecework was a killer and back stabbing rife. Not forgetting having to doff your cap to the many ex RAF boys.

I remember piecework, handing in the white (or was it green ) slip of paper to log in, while I was on details, but yeah, it was soon stopped after 86, and to be fair, it was definitely less stressful then.

 

[Blue Llama]

My dad worked at Chad during the war as a fitter on Lancasters. He and his mates were classed as reserved occupations and were not called up. That may have contributed to my existence.
I have a vague memory of a children's Christmas party with thousands of kids in the works canteen, early 50s. Discussing this with my dad 30 years later and commenting about the generosity of Avro he corrected me. Apparently the workers with children paid for it weekly out of their wages.

 

[remember arthur mann]

My dad worked at Chad during the war as a fitter on Lancasters. He and his mates were classed as reserved occupations and were not called up. That may have contributed to my existence.
I have a vague memory of a children's Christmas party with thousands of kids in the works canteen, early 50s. Discussing this with my dad 30 years later and commenting about the generosity of Avro he corrected me. Apparently the workers with children paid for it weekly out of their wages.

Probably had something to do with Len Waywell. In saying that it was Len who procured the Lancaster Club and developed the sports facilities. I worked in his office in the sixties for his assistant Rita. He ruled that place with an iron fist.

 

[mackenzie]

Think the late great poster Kingy used to work there.
Such a shame it's gone

 

[mcfcantc]

Served my time at Chadd, and worked there till closure. What a place, full of characters and like someone earlier said, you could get almost anything done there and buy almost anything.
Sad to see it go.

 

[frothy]

Nov Varco (Mono Pumps) have most of building, we moved there 9 years ago from the original site at Guide Bridge, I retired 7 years ago but it still employs a lot of people and not heard anything about it being demolished by the lads I still keep in touch with

 

[west didsblue]

Nov Varco (Mono Pumps) have most of building, we moved there 9 years ago from the original site at Guide Bridge, I retired 7 years ago but it still employs a lot of people and not heard anything about it being demolished by the lads I still keep in touch with

I think it’s just the half next to the motorway that was the Kitbag warehouse that’s been demolished.