I’ve lived in Norfolk now for nearly 58
years and Needham itself since 1963. When I came to the area a government
initiative had just been introduced to boost employment in the region, which
had been hit by the closure in 1958 of the
RAF Maintenance Unit at Pulham – the old airship site. It resulted in Howard
Rotavators moving to Harleston from
their previous location in West Horndon,
Essex. One hundred feet of the factory was constructed with parts which we
brought up to Norfolk and the remaining structure was built with local labour,
employing some 200 people from the area, some from Needham.
Initially, I was allocated a council
house in Dickleburgh.
but I
wanted to build my own house. The local district council suggested a piece of
land in the middle of Needham which had been abandoned for some time. I bought
the land and moved my family to a bungalow in Harleston while we set about
developing the plot. I submitted my design for a new bungalow and cleared the
site of brambles, weeds, the ruins of a pair of clay lump cottages – and some
chicken carcasses! I dug the foundations and with the help of my wife Eileen
(sometimes in charge of the cement mixer) the bungalow took shape and in 1963
we moved in. Over the years I’ve planted over 70 trees, built greenhouses and
outbuildings, designed a rockery and pond area and grown lots of my own
vegetables.
With the success of Harleston Industries
and the subsequent factories at Halesworth and elsewhere, I joined the Board of
Howard Rotavators and became Group Plant and Service Director, looking after 7
factories which employed hundreds of people.
My life here has been a good one and I
hope I’ve been able to give back to the area some of the benefits that living
in East Anglia has given to me.
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