In this short film, Bert Ely’s daughter, Caroline Meek, recalls her father, who rose from being an apprentice in 1924 to become the head of the company’s Experimental Department in 1946.
A farmer’s son from Morton Valance, he was “highly thought of” by company boss Jim Fielding.
In the audio clips above it, Walter Organ recounts a light-hearted story of Bert’s ingenuity. Arthur Rigby remembers what happened when a game of cricket in Baker Street broke the windscreen of Bert’s car. And Michael Hogan recalls some of the work done in the Experimental Department by Bert and Stuart Pope in the mid 1950s.
If you remember Bert Ely or the Experimental Department please share your memories by adding a comment at the bottom of this page.
Comments about this page
I spent some time with Bert as a young apprentice.
I was fascinated about the things that he had invented and ideas he shared. A very clever man. I also remember how he was always smoking and would light one cigarette from another!
I remember Bert Ely well, I worked with him on a number of projects. The design of the tooling for the railway sleeper press for India; The design of the moulds for producing garage panels on a single mould concrete press, are two that come to mind. Great fellow.
New clip of Michael Hogan’s memories of Bert Ely, Stuart Pope, and the Experimental Department in the 1950s added to Bert Ely’s page!
New clip of Arthur Rigby’s memories added to Bert Ely’s page!
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