THE GREAT MULLARD MAGIC BLOG

By 1989, Access the Flexible Friend had also disappeared and THIS is what happened next:- Whatever would become of postcodes SS2 6PR, the site of the Ekco factory? well, in 2016, Bellway Homes built the Ekco Park estate with the last building works completed in 2019 In 2020, sculptor Anne Schwegmann-Fielding said: "EKCO is still so loved in Southend that it was not hard to meet people with great knowledge and stories." She went on to sculpt an artwork, called Our Eric which represents a celebration of Eric Kirkham Cole and Southend's EKCO factory with the statue depicting Mr Cole...

 Wartime brought its own challenges as Ekco struggled with essential and secret war work leading to shadow factories being established in Malmesbury, Aylesbury, Preston, Woking and Rutherglen. The Southend-on-Sea factory continued making bakelite mouldings with the remainder of the site being turned over to making  wiring looms for military aircraft .  It is estimated that by 1945 EKCO had over 8,000 people working for it across various sites and Mr Cole was a pioneer in paid holidays for employees, workplace pensions and apprenticeships which ensured a loyal and stable workforce.  Ala, the employee numbers dwindled from this point following a period...

 EKCO was founded by  Eric Kirkham Cole in 1922 and with his wife, Muriel Cole nee Bradshaw started out making radio sets in 1924. William Streatfield Verrells, a schoolmaster and freelance journalist from Southend-on-Sea, wrote an article in a local newspaper asking if it was possible to power a radio set from the mains electricity supply rather than batteries. Cole saw a possible business opportunity and set about building his battery eliminator, which he later demonstrated to Verrells. Suitably impressed, Verrells joined Cole in a business venture, with Cole manufacturing the battery eliminators, and Verrells marketing them. In 1926 a private...

I used to marvel at the postings on a vintage radio forum where the inmates would comment with a frenzied, self satisfied, superior scoffing towards anyone who incorrectly spelled  the trade name Bakelite.    If you had difficulty in spelling Bakelite then if you were tempted to move away from its trivial name, you would have even more trouble with its chemical name,  - Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, Bakelite was developed by Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland in 1907 and  patented on December 7, 1909.  We know it as the material from which many radio cabinets were made, cue Ekco, however, it had many more uses as you can see...

Perusing the panoply of valve advertisements from the halcyon days of yore, I was struck to use the above by-line.  Let me explain further...... First of all there was BTH in 1924 telling us that the valve was "the heart of the wireless" and questioning whether or not your set had "valvular disease." Then we have Marconi in 1925, also telling us that the valve is t"he heart of wireless"  i This theme continues as we see in 1945 when Raytheon  issued a hearty advert extolling the use of their valves in an electronic stethoscope. Interestingly, Mullard was "heartless" and if fell...