i io for pens nckiser (formerly Reckitt & Colman) Pen ners of the Reckitt Be sion Fund No. 47, May 2010 A swell VC and a new visitor appointed At the Pensioners’ Association committee meeting in Peterborough last month Southern Region’s Tony Swell was appointed vice-chairman and Northern Region’s Kevin O’Berg, who is the Association’s Trustee on the company’s Pension Fund, as Acting Secretary. New committee member Trevor Clark has agreed to take over the full secretarial role next year when he has become more familiar with the committee’s work and subject to his formal election (he is presently a coopted member). NOW THE BLUE MILL GETS THE BLUEBIRD The floods in the Lake District put the former Blue Mill factory at Backbarrow in the headlines in out last issue (Contact No.46, January 2010) and it is in the news again this month as a new visitor attraction with links to women production workers transferred there after wartime bombing in Hull. The Lakeland Motor museum is about to move into a purpose built exhibition area incorporating the old Backbarrow Blue Mill carton filling and wrapping department known as Kendal Road. The extensive collection of motor cars, motor cycles and pedal cycles includes the Campbell Bluebird Exhibition and the history of Reckitt’s Colours Ltd at Backbarrow. Founded in 1890 as Eggerstoff and Co and later becoming the Lancashire Ultramarine Company, the factory got off to a very shaky start but eventually became successful and prosperous and was taken over by Reckitt’s in 1928. In 1940 Reckitt’s Kingston works was bombed and the carton filling department destroyed. In 1941 this operation was moved to Backbarrow and to help get it set up a number of women transferred from Hull. The carton filling eventually became a very substantial and important part of the Backbarrow business shipping large quantities of pigment worldwide and employing around 60 women and several men. After the factory closed in 1981 the main process five storey building was converted into the luxurious Whitewater hotel, fitness club and time share complex. The old carton filling department stood empty and semi derelict until the buildings were acquired for the new Motor Museum. Ronald Mein, who started work at Backbarrow after leaving school in 1955 and did virtually every kind of job in the factory, worked in the carton filling, wrapping and dispatch department and it was there that he first met his wife. Ron tells us: “I have been given the privilege of recreating a couple of scenes from the blue mill and carton filling using full size figures in appropriate settings (one is pictured above left) and dressed in period clothing, together with many artefacts from the mill that I and my colleague Richard Sanderson have collected.” More on page five Chris Eagleton There will be a committee election before the end of the year and we will be seeking nominations in our next issue. In addition to Trevor, two members are up for re-election and one is not seeking re-election. Meanwhile Chris Eagleton, pictured, whose Reckitt & Colman career embraced both Norwich and Hull, has volunteered to become a new pensioner visitor for Northern Region. The next committee meeting will be held in Peterborough on September 22. Colman’s US postcard advertising - P4/5 + next page