“ '-■12" 'Cli'lheroe Advertiser and Times, September 9th; 1976: WE OFFER A


FIRST CLASS SERVICE in


LETTERPRESS


LITHOGRAPHY and • ■


DUPLICATING


'leaflets, brochures, price lists, COMMERCIAL PRINTING STATIONERY FOR WEDDINGS etc.


SANKEY (Nelson) LTD CENTRAL WORKS


ir 1 i i


B I


B fl.


B


BACK SCOTLAND RD, NELSON Tel. 65833


QUALITY PRINTERS OF LETTERPRESS PRINTING


★ DUPLICATING BOOKS ★ LETTERHEADS ★ INVOICES. ★ BUSINESS CARDS ★ TICKETS FOR ALL OCCASIONS ★ NCR SETS ★ LEAFLETS ★ BROCHURES etc.


THE TRADER (Burnley) LIMITED


6 CLITHEROE ROAD, BRIERFIELD


Telephone Nelson 65377


PRINTING CO. Stationery, business cards


book-colour leaflets self carbon stationery.


GALAVA PRINTING, a complete and professional print service on your doorstep!


When your problem is printing you should consult GALAVA for PRICE, DELIVERY, and most of all QUALITY. Remember no matter what your printing


*


requirements GALAVA, on NELSON 6 7 9 2 4 Should be your first call.


GALAVA PRINTING CO. LTD HENDON MILLS, HALLAM ROAD NELSON, LANCS. 67924


MISS GILLIAN DAWES operates a modern litho earner a/platemaker which develops, fixes and dries at the touch of a button, in F. H. Brown’s Helena Street mill.


From Caxton to computer in 500 years


'IT all began . 5D0 years ago when a small, bespectacled gentleman crossed the Channel from the Port of Sluis and arrived in Londoij. ,


With him he brought an


invention which was to rock the British way of life for. generations to come. His name was William Caxton, and his product, the first British printing press.


try. is one of which Britain can justly be proud. In terms of value of output


Today, the printing indus­


it is the seventh largest in the country, ahead of mining, shipbuilding or brewing. In terms of numbers employed


Advertising ‘ feature. by


• Shirley Hamer


it is the biggest industry in. Western Europe, and, accord­ ing to the latest available


Cooke Taylor, describing his first visit to Burnley, in the wake of the Chartist move­ ment, wrote: "I found them all Chartists, but with this differ­ ence. That the block printers and the handloom weavers united to their Chartism a hatred of machinery which


mentions: “The first print works are beginning to grow up on the rivers which form • the tongue of the land i on which the town (Burnley) now stands." • And 18 years later, Dr


areas the history of the indus­ try goes, back well over 100 years, although many records have, been lost or destroyed. In 1824, Baines Directory


figures, • has a substantial trade balance of £99,000,000. In the Burnley and Nelson


was far from being shared by the factory operatives.” ...-


•. machines, hung,' like a poised axe, over th e■heads of the workers. A comparatively new indus­


no different from any other industry in Britain, in that the th rea t of unemployment through the introduction of


Printing, at that time, was FOR r


MORE THAN A CENTURY


try had been built up in the area which brought a precious ■life-blood to the depressed . North, and anything likely ’to cause loss of jobs — machines — had to be destroyed.


the industry only date back to 1871 when the Burnley and District Branch of the Provin­ cial Typographical Society was formed.


The first detailed records of


meeting, but; as the old maxim goes, great oaks from little acorns grow, and by 1899 th e re were 100 paid-up members on the society's books.


Only 15 people attended the


. THE pleasant ivorking atmosphere makes Coloroll’s Nelson factory anj ideal place to ivork. This particular machine can make as many as 40,000 carrier bags in one shift.


•


ing houses in the area, and wages, although higher than in the cotton industry, were still poor.. ,


part of the National Graphical Association, changed its policy slightly, in that, instead of giving the names'of each member on its balance sheet, it listed the firms.


area covered by the society,, that is, Burnley, Padiham, Nelson, Colne, Earby . and Barnoldswick, compared with the present 37. .


There were then 25 in the Many of the old companies


‘ mated. Of those original . 25, only


five are still in existence, the best known being Spencer Bros of Padiham and Coultons of Nelson.


PIONEER In Nelson there were four


thing else in its pioneer days, was large, slow and often inef­ fective. They were all hand- fed, and in this field, women and girls played a very impor­ tant role. Sex discrimination was completely unheard of. At the turn of the century


much larger town than its neighbours, had a greater demand for printed matter from the cotton firms and mining companies. The machinery, like every­


printing companies, Colne had three, Padiham four and Burnley 14. Obviously, Burnley, being a


closed, many were replaced, and several either changed ownership or were amalga-


In 1906 the society, now There were very few print­


both the Manchester and Liverpool chapels issued a motion to the effect that “girl labour, for the working of m a c h i n e s , should be abolished.” But after long discussions, the motion was rejected by 102 votes to nine.


■ 33/Gd. in place of 31/Gd., and that the working week be 51 hours instead of 52.”


Ten years later the wage


had increased to 40/- plus a war bonus of G/Gd.


1940 when 45 of the 268 members were in the Forces, a number which rose to 112 by the end of the war.


COMMERCIAL


industry has had its ups and downs, yet the Burnley and District Branch of the Typog- raphical Society has the largest membership in the area. There are 4G2 members compared with Accrington's 278 and Blackburn’s 252. We can also boast of the large: t and be t equ pped


Since then the printing


infancy when war-broke out, and in the Burnley Advertiser of 1919, it was reported that 107 members of the Typog­ raphical Society had served in the Forces and 10 had been killed., A similar situation arose in


The industry was still in its


to review the wages situation, and, following this, a memo was issued to the Master Prin­ ters requesting that “from October 1st of that year, the minimum wage for jour­ neymen printers, other than machine compositors, shall be


In 1907 a meeting was held


printing house in the form of the family business of F. H. Brown Ltd. The company, with its modern equipment and forward-looking attitude, employs almost 300 people in its premises'in Burnley, Nelson and Leeds. The company first saw the


. pounded away on a portable typewriter at his parents’ home in Coal Clough Lane, Burnley. Since those early days, the 1


light of day in the dismal pre­ depression year of 1927 when 14-y.ear-old Fred Brown


tained an optimistic view of the industry and even when companies have been folding up around him, he has kept a sharp eye to the future.


TRESSES Ho said: “Over the past 18


hit by the high cost of post­ age, but even considering that, our turnover is rapidly approaching the £2m. per annum mark, which is abo'ut £1,000 per working hour.”


months, the printing industry, in common with many others, has been very quiet. But I feel that we have now turned the corner and are making good progress. “We have been particularly


constantly being introduced. For example, type matter set on film or paper is now replac­ ing metal type for many kinds


New t e ch n iq u e s are


company has gone from strength to strength, and apart from general commer­ cial printing, they also buy and sell office furniture and stationery. Mr Brown has always main­


used in scanning machines to facilitate the production of colour pictures by separating them into the four printing colours so that separate print­ ing plates can be made for each colour.. Looking ahead,' micro­


of work. Computers are used to mastermind high speed phototypesetters, some of which can set whole pages in a few seconds. Corrections can be made on a device that looks like a television screen and layout can be done in a similar fashion. Laser beams are now being


printing is an important area of development, given the need to store over-increasing amounts of printed matter in ever-decreasing storage areas. And all this because one


PRINTING by


The -


CRAVEN HERALD LIMITED


* ' * r « - . v' ^


*


>


- -r . K.., IN-*'


Telephone Skipton 2577/78


for all your require­ ments


quiet, scholarly, businessman realised that printing presses were considerably more effi­ cient than the human hand. William Caxton, we salute


you.


A N D E R S O N S PRINTERS & STATIONERS


STILL “STATIONERY” AT


PARSONAGE MILL (Keighley Green)


BURNLEY. Tel. 26858.


Printing, like'Topsy, has grown. At its inception, a revolutionary movement that was to


bring the ideas of the greatest thinkers to the poorest person; to the present, flowing as life blood through industry and commerce. We have come from the simple and laborious techniques of the earliest days of printing to the intricacies of


electronic control, modern magic that gives the printed word at a speed society takes for granted. Electronic timesavers, but not facesavers! The,skifi and pride of the craftsman is the very important


bridge between the cold indifference of the printing press ’ and the stimulus of the printed word.


The years have given us essential skills and unchanging'


values; society’s need for print has demanded new techniques; and, as never before, the ability to blend those


\


time honoured skills with twentieth century techniques is the difference between good print and bad: . The skill and vision of pioneer printers through five.


hundred years of constant development is an object lesson to every printer. So we blended old skills with new techniques to give


birth to what has become one of our favourite words. Printability. It means a balanced, flexible service that, somewhere,


has an important something for you. At the right price, and the right quality.


FH Brown Limited Sandygate Mill, Burnley, Lancs BB111RP Telephone 0282 26622 (10 lines)' Telex 63161/


ifiOo/ ii'i- O' r


J wi l l fiJJlMfL.. VW Bi. -


■ 3r* ' iS


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