The Reyrolle Story: Fourteen - Zis eez not zee playhouse, zis eez zee workhouse!".
Robert Owen, in his history of the giant engineering firm Reyrolles, tells of apprentices playing practical jokes on each other.
"Jack Hull recalls the prank of gaining access to a mate's sandwiches, lacing them with Keene's Cement and then just waiting for lunchtime!''
To read earlier chapters of Robert's story please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/the_reyrolle_story/
To purchase a copy of his book visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reyrolle-Story-History-Co-Ltd/dp/1905295073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245678876&sr=1-1
With a huge surplus of labour outside the gates, Reyrolle attempted to impose high standards of behaviour on its workforce, especially the apprentices. Tom Clayton recalls, "During my apprenticeship, sixpence was deducted from my wages every week for expected good behaviour. This was returned to me at the end of my apprenticeship if I had kept a clean sheet."
This incentive didn't stop apprentices playing practical jokes on each other, Jack Hull recalls the prank of gaining access to a mate's sandwiches, lacing them with Keene's Cement and then just waiting for lunchtime! George Shearer joined Reyrolle in 1930 and remembers a French foreman named Louis Le Maitre. If he caught anyone fooling about, he would rush up and say "Zis eez not zee playhouse, zis eez zee workhouse!".
Perhaps to provide a meeting place for its many apprentices after finishing time, Reyrolle bought a large terraced house in nearby Victoria Road West. Opened as a Recreation Centre and equipped with table tennis and billiards tables it became known as the Boy's Club. The Company also owned a number of houses in South Drive, Hebburn. Situated adjacent to the New Town Works and overlooking the sports field, they quickly became known as Reyrolle's Houses.
During these years; Reyrolle also expanded via acquisitions and manufacturing agreements. In 1928, the Newcastle firm of J. H. Holmes (who supplied the original work in 1880 for Lord Armstrong's Cragside home to be the first in the world to be lit by electricity) was purchased following liquidation. This was significant because it was the first acquisition of another business by Reyrolle and it represented a diversification, as the major products of the Holmes factory were now rotating machines and general purpose motors. About 200 personnel were employed and in 1930, production was transferred to Hebburn.
J. Holmes & Co. brought to Reyrolle an interesting design that was to be much in demand during the future tears - a traffic control system. In 1932, a Reyrolle Mobile Show van toured major cities throughout the country, to demonstrate the equipment to Chief Constables. Many traffic control systems were sold but by 1935 the market became too crowded and manufacture stopped.
