Cuppa Cha, Cha?

Tea for you is served by three And lunches too for you and me All piping hot – eat heartily Do the canteen Cha, Cha.

. . . and the three who serve us so well? Mrs. Tansley, Mrs. Wildman and Mrs. Jones, here seen smiling happily from their dispensary. Mrs. Wildman, the manageress, is a campanologist at St. Mary’s Church, Podington, and rings two of the four bells every Sunday in addition to being a choir member.

Retail Efficiency

In a recent trade-press advertisement we featured our Powers-Samas department so instead of going ‘around the factory’ in this issue we thought you would like to know a little more about this time and headache saving department.

In our advertisement we stressed the theme of retail efficiency because this remarkable system not only ensures that our warehouse carries the stock that our customers will want, but in fact, does many things. It produces invoices, planning, analysis and many other types of records automatically without laborious headwork and endless typing. The system is based on small cards measuring 2^3/4” X 2” with a different colour of card for each job to be recorded: Invoices, operators’ earnings, etc. Everything to be reecorded is punched in the form of holes in the cards on machines with keyboards rather like a typewriter. In invoicing for instance, the position of the punched holes in each card will indicate the style number of one pair of shoes, its size, colour and retail price. Every pair of shoes that we make is represented by one card in the system. New cards are put into the stock file daily against fresh deliveries from factory to warehouse. Cards are drawn from the stock file against customers’ orders and put through the ‘tabulator’ – an ingenious machine which ‘reads’ the holes and interprets them into words and figures. The Tabulator adds up the information from the cards and prints each line of invoice in one operation, and at the end of the invoice, produces the total. Thus, endless hours that were spent in the past in typing and calculating invoices are now saved.

                If this is automation in the office  - we like it. Throw away the ready reckoner and the aspirins!

The Tabulator at work	The order filing racks	The punching & sorting machines

Forthcoming Marriages

Miss Margaret Harris (Closing) to Mr. Derek Neal at 10.30 a.m. on July 11^th at Park Road Baptist Church, Rushden

Press Room

Mrs. Mitchell has received a letter of thanks from the secretary of Wilfred Pickles for her scrapbooks to the Spastic Children’s Hospital, praising her kindness and consideration for others.

We welcome the return of Frank Pugh after his illness and sincerely wish him a continuation of better health.

Billy Talbot is a very proud man these days. The Raunds Fire Brigade have acquired a new and up-to-date fire engine and he is looking forward to further success in the various fire-fighting competitions later in the year.

Shoe Room

Mr. and Mrs. D. Stacey celebrated their Silver Wedding on February 24^th. Members of the Shoe room gathered at the Stacey home to celebrate. Presents included a clock and a vase.

Rough Stuff

Mrs. Loveday has just become a grandmother for the third time, her daughter Joanne has achieved the unusual experience of having each of her three children born in a different country – England, America and France where her American husband is now stationed.

Wood from a Shoetree

A lot of people in this world spend their days chopping down trees. Other people, also meaning well, go to elaborate lengths to chop them up again. Mr. Sid Coles for one. Doubtless being a craftsman in wood, Sid would object to the word ‘chop’ but we hasten to add that by it we mean shape, plane, saw, mould and generally fashion into shape, for like Engineers, Sid is another ancillary to shoemaking. Ready to apply his skill with wood at the chop of a spokeshave in any part of the factory, Sid can be found in his carpenter’s shop, Sharp edge to chisel, plane at the ready, eyes bright with achievement – like all craftsmen. We hasten to add for the benefit of our Lancashire readers that we do not make clogs!

Factory Profile

‘Archie’ Berrill - Although he belies his three score years and ten ‘Archie’ has been a maintenance engineer with the firm since 1921, having previously been with The Standard Rotary Engineering Co., before that company was taken over by the present British United Shoe Machinery Co. A very keen member of the Park Road Baptist Church, and the present Treasurer of the Rushden Temperance Society. He has done much good work for needy causes. As a pastime he interests himself in beekeeping and a favourite joke of his is ‘Customers have no fear of being stung if they buy ‘Oral shoes’’.

Departmental News

Office

Mrs. Ann Coward, typing, who came to Rushden from Nottingham last Autumn has some good news – an addition to the family is expected! We welcome in her place Miss Brenda Dilley.

Miss J. Cutmore is leaving Oral to become a nurse at Kettering Hospital and we wish her every success in her new vocation. Also Mrs. Law of the Powers-Samas department. Her husband’s work has taken them from the district.

We welcome Miss Jenny Harris to our Powers-Samas department and hope that her association with us will be a pleasant one.

Clicking Room

Pattern cutter Ron Stuttley left Oral during December to take up a new position in Kettering. Well liked by all, he was one of the most unruffled characters ever to work in the Clicking room, and we all wish him well in his new job

. . . . and a welcome to Mr. H. Lumbers who has taken over.

The future of pattern cutting and designing is very important because even outside the world of high fashion, the buying public is becoming more and more conscious of design and colour. Today, design plays an increasingly important part in making the sale whether it is a kettle, a new gas cooker – or a pair of shoes.

Finishing Room

Mr. A. Tansley, in addition to his Christmas presents, was presented with a daughter Karen on December 26^th.

Lasting Room

Congratulations to M. Slack and his wife who now have a baby son, Kim, who arrived on the 22^nd November last year. Mr. Slack is still serving with H. M. Forces in Cyprus.

Shoe Room

On Friday, December 19^th, the girls of the Shoe Room enjoyed a dinner and party at the George Hotel, Kettering. It was voted a very successful preliminary to the Christmas festivities.

We offer our heartfelt congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Newitt on the celebration of their Silver Wedding on the 21^st October last. We are sorry that owing to an oversight this news was omitted from the last issue. Mrs. Newitt became a grandmother for the third time on February 10^th.

Closing Room

Retirement

Mrs. Ethel Cross, who has worked at Oral for 12 years, retired on January 23^rd. She has been our sample hand for 10 of those years and we all wish her every happiness and all the best in her retirement.

Making Room

On Thursday, January 22^nd, Peter Swords had to report to Quebec Barracks, Northampton, to do his National Service with the Army.

It is with deep regret that we record the death of Mr. Leo Tobin, who died in Kettering General Hospital on December 21^st after a long illness. He was 60 years old and had worked in the Making Room for 36 of those years, and was well liked by all his workmates. Always a keen football fan he also played cricket for his native village, Wymington.

Weddings

Congratulations to Mavis Felce and Barry Smith, R. N. of Finedon (pictured left), who were married at St. Peter’s Church, Rushden on December 20th. Mavis is the Editorial representative for the ‘Oracle’ and we wish her lots of happiness ahead.

Engagements

Miss Margaret Harris of the Closing Room is engaged to Mr. Derek Neal of Rushden. The engagement was announced on December 24^th.

. . . and on December 20^th Miss Carol Lamb of the Closing Room announced her engagement to Mr. Terry Baxter of the Clicking Room.