Monday, April 10, 2017

Polychrome England

Polychrome England         By Mr. Bob Gumbinner

As Ilford did not actively pursue the sales of the presensitized plates, we opened a sales office in London. Soon after, we hired Tom Heckels to manage the office. In order to do some manufacturing, we rented space in Watford. Tom Heckels and his wife, Shiela, who came from Aberdeen, Scotland, lived in Watford. I went there a number of times to set up an operation to cut, punch and package paper offset plates. These were coated in Yonkers and the rolls sent to Watford. I also set up facilities to mix and bottle various solutions used in offset printing and printing inks. To get to Watford from London I usually took a train from Eustis station. Once I took the Metropolitan tube subway line.


To better serve the United Kingdom printers, Mr. Halpern decided to construct a plant in England as a subsidiary of Polychrome GMBH to manufacture presensitized plates. Tom Heckels, who had visited the plant in Yonkers several times and was familiar with the operation, was asked to locate a site for the factory. He chose a site in Berwick upon Tweed. This was in northern England on the border with Scotland. The authorities there welcomed us. They were happy to have an industry that would employ people. I worked with Tom Heckels and several people sent from Osterode to design the line. While it copied some of the features of the C-line in Yonkers, we left space to make electrolytic grained plates. Mr. Halpern and I went to the plant for the grand opening. A member of the Royal family was there as well as all of the Berwick officials.


We advertised for a chemist and hired Robert Armstrong, who had lived in Berwick. On one of my trips there he took me to a bar where we had fresh caught poached salmon. They had been poached - i.e., stolen - from the Tyne. When Berwick was closed, Armstrong and several others were relocated to the plant in Columbus, Georgia.