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Thread Number: 21244
Hoover Merthyr Tydfil - End of an Era - March 13th 2009 |
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Post# 335265 3/13/2009 at 03:56 (5,516 days old) by chestermikeuk  (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK) |
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Today at 2.00pm production finally ends at the first original remaining Hoover Washing Machine Factory in the world!!! "WHEN the Hoover Factory opened in Pentrebach, Merthyr Tydfil, a little over 60 years ago, it was seen as the shining beacon to a glowing post-war future.Merthyr in 1948 was an area when coal was still very much king, so the opportunity to work in the world of bright white goods was a dream to be grasped.As the manufacturing lines go dark for the final time today, that dream ends.Many of the 337 workers who receive their P45s will take to the streets this lunchtime in a final show of defiance.It may well be a dignified and resolute march along the route of the Taff into the town, but it will echo a time some 25 years ago when taking to the streets to fight for work was commonplace.This week’s anniversary of the miners’ strike brings back memories of discord to those ex-miners who, having lost their jobs when the final mines of the Valleys closed around 15 years ago, find themselves once again looking at a grim future.For an area like Merthyr Tydfil the impact will be hard.In the grand scheme of things, the numbers might not stack up in the same way as they do globally with other businesses fighting the recession, but the effect will be just as profound.Heavy industry having long since left the valley, the few manufacturing jobs that were left were there to be cherished, offering a much-needed opportunity for security, relatively well-paid work and enhanced skills. Now those options are going, the future promised all those decades ago looks bleak.The economic downturn, when it begins its recovery, will not see companies like Hoover step back into the breach.Complete with its football, bowls and cricket teams, the company reflected the all-encompassing ideas put forward by Rowntree, Cadbury and Fry years earlier.A factory complete with a stage in its social club will be unlikely to be included in the plans for 21st century businesses.And, as such, Hoover’s demise will mean more than just the loss of jobs.For many years it was the gateway to the town, an architectural 1940s icon on the Cardiff to North Wales road that highlighted the end of the dirty, mine-scarred industrial south and opened up the possibility of the beauty of the Brecon Beacons.Over the years the company has been hit with setbacks and staff losses, but much like the people who entered the gates it proved to be resilient. Adaptability proved to be the key, with the company looking to move from washing machines to futuristic motorised transport in the same year as the miners’ strike took its grip on the Valleys. However, the ill-fated Sinclair C5 project was to be a false dawn.The debacle of the free flights offer some 17 years ago didn’t kill off the company and, while staffing levels continued to fall, Hoover maintained its place as the area’s premier employer. By 2pm today that will come to an end, skilled jobs based originally on apprenticeships and latterly on core skills, will leave behind an administration and warehousing rump, although no- one knows for how long.The 25-acre site will soon become a very different icon for a town already blighted with a reputation for being a sickness and deprivation capital. The shuttered doors and empty car parks may give visitors to Merthyr the impression of entering an economic ghost town.And that will be a shame. Because Hoover’s closure is not due to failings from the loyal workforce. Rather, whereas Merthyr labour was cheap and accessible in 1948, those same qualities can now be found half a world away.Now the flights that threaten Hoovers future aren’t those of holidaymakers cashing in on ill- thought-out promotions – but rather the flights of freight bringing in ever-cheaper goods in a cash-strapped world." CLICK HERE TO GO TO chestermikeuk's LINK 
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Post# 335267 , Reply# 1 3/13/2009 at 04:00 (5,516 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK) |
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The First Hoover Washing Machine....
Trundled off the production line in 1948, a simple single tub with a hand wringer, lightweight and easy to use it became a popular workhorse og many homes in the land...
CLICK HERE TO GO TO chestermikeuk's LINK 
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Post# 335268 , Reply# 2 3/13/2009 at 04:02 (5,516 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK) |
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The Start of Washing Machine Innovation... | ||
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Post# 335269 , Reply# 3 3/13/2009 at 04:05 (5,516 days old) by mayfan69 (Brisbane Queensland Australia) |
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How sad | ||
| Post# 335282 , Reply# 4 3/13/2009 at 07:45 (5,516 days old) by seamusuk (Dover Kent UK) | ||
In happier Times....
A link to this site has been posted before but here it is again - Hoover(Washing Machines)Limited in better times....... Seamus. What would you gine to be able to jump in a Tardis and bring back a few examples coming off the line on the 2nd page! CLICK HERE TO GO TO seamusuk's LINK | ||
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Post# 335334 , Reply# 5 3/13/2009 at 14:28 (5,515 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK) |
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BBC News..... | ||
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Post# 335346 , Reply# 6 3/13/2009 at 17:28 (5,515 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK) |
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ITN...News at 10.00...
"They called it Hooverville".....employing 5,000 staff in its heyday!!!
CLICK HERE TO GO TO chestermikeuk's LINK 
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| Post# 335389 , Reply# 7 3/14/2009 at 02:02 (5,515 days old) by seamusuk (Dover Kent UK) | ||
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The ITN clip | ||
| Post# 335390 , Reply# 8 3/14/2009 at 02:22 (5,515 days old) by electron1100 (England) | ||
Hoovers Demise
This is the price we pay for the masses wanting cheap consumer goods and food, small local shops close when huge mega stores arrive in the area etc, the goverment like all this because it helps keep the masses fed and entertained cheaply.........bah whats the point..........I feel very sad about Hoover...very sad, but then I felt sad when Hornby switched production from Margate to China, but so far they are staying afloat............erchhh a second rate country dependent on imported goods/food/fuel............I cannot help but think this is all deliberate....... Well we in this group fly the flag for our old British designed washers etc..........stuff Candy and Merloni they can rot for all I care now Have a good day Gary | ||
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Post# 335507 , Reply# 10 3/14/2009 at 22:56 (5,514 days old) by appnut (TX) |
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| Post# 335533 , Reply# 11 3/15/2009 at 02:27 (5,514 days old) by electron1100 (England) | ||
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Happy Birthday A3060 | ||
| Post# 335537 , Reply# 12 3/15/2009 at 03:22 (5,514 days old) by aquarius1984 (Planet earth) | ||
Well Well Well that was a turn up for the books. We didnt need coffee to wake us up once seeing your post Mathew, caused much excitement I can tell you! Be able to reflect more later on today but we are up at silly o'clock this sunday morning to go and collect that Hoover EcoLogic. Another Turbo? Gawd I cant wait to see what it is!! Have you seen my thread on Discuss O Vac with all the Lilac Slate collection? Could it be one to complete another series....? Rob and Paul 
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Post# 335545 , Reply# 13 3/15/2009 at 05:50 (5,514 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK) |
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Factory Work...!!!
Morning Mathew, welcome to AW, although you dont need an intro to washers I`m sure..LOL...wouldnt it have been a fascination to "work the line", more so for us collectors but if you asked those workers many might say differently, hard to imagine those machines in the pics just might be in our collections!!! And dont forget the cricket teams who are still playing locally, for how long not sure, when I was there last year, I was on the cricket ground taking pics of the factory when the men where on the mowers still mowing to perfection the pitch!!! Hi Bob, yes another grat name bites the dust as far as manufacturing in the UK, at least the iconic building and the only original "Hoover Factory" head office will stay on...so glad we managed to visit Newton, Iowa before the close as well.. 
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Post# 335547 , Reply# 14 3/15/2009 at 05:53 (5,514 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK) |
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Ariel View ...... | ||
| Post# 335605 , Reply# 15 3/15/2009 at 12:27 (5,513 days old) by tlee618 () | ||
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Mike, you are so right, I too am so glad that we got a chance to visit the Maytag plant in Newton before it closed. That was such a fun trip. | ||
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Post# 335623 , Reply# 16 3/15/2009 at 13:59 (5,513 days old) by foraloysius (Leeuwarden, Friesland, the Netherlands) |
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Post# 336192 , Reply# 17 3/19/2009 at 01:03 (5,510 days old) by arrrooohhh (Sydney Australia) |
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A sad day for Hoover lovers and a sad day for Wales. All because silly people want to change everything all the time and not spend any money. | ||
| Post# 336281 , Reply# 19 3/19/2009 at 16:05 (5,509 days old) by newwave1 (Lincoln, United Kingdom) | ||
What a sad sad sad situation. I love this company. I loved them all. I'm pleased to say i have own(ed) my favourite hoover models. For me though, the company died along time a goe when the Cancer struck hoover in the form of Candy..funny how they both begin with C & are awful :-) I loved the newwave's Hence my username since i first joined here. The most advanced machine of it's time. Using centrafugal force to penetrate the fibres of the clothes. And one of the first machine to use FAST interm spins as an aid to rinsing and lower water consumption. I loved it and each time i get rid of one to get a different machine i regret it. Totally. I wish i'd not gotten rid of my british racing green workhorse! Still in my garage is my 1st machine i ever collected and still own. Though it is tired and in need of much care. I am too-ing and frowing of what to do with her...the lady in question is my A3632. Heres a pic i took recreating those great brochure shots:-) Darren | ||
| Post# 336282 , Reply# 20 3/19/2009 at 16:07 (5,509 days old) by newwave1 (Lincoln, United Kingdom) | ||
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Post# 337205 , Reply# 22 3/24/2009 at 05:04 (5,505 days old) by chestermikeuk (Rainhill *Home of the RailwayTrials* Merseyside,UK) |
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Hoover..Who Better..!!
Morning Carl, yes indeed another blow for the industry, all changing too fast, at least the iconic Head Office building will stay as a symbol of the future Hoover and of how "Washing Machines" where started by Hoover in 1948... I too think the "Hoover New Wave" was a radical new thought out design and where the last icons of Hoover UK Washing Machine Design & Innovation.... 
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