PYE at Leiston? - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

mole42uk · 21st Aug 2014, 6:57 am

I visited the Richard Garrett works "Long Shop" museum in Leiston, Suffolk yesterday and was interested to see a couple of pictures of a radio production factory referred to as the PYE works.

There is little about this in the museum, but questions revealed that, during and after WWII, the PYE company made military radio equipment in parts of the Richard Garrett factory. I am told they have 'a couple of old radios in the store' but I wasn't encouraged to go and look at them!

Does anyone know any detail about this period?

G6Tanuki · 21st Aug 2014, 9:53 am

I don't know specifically about Leiston but it's quite likely!

During WWII the Government's preferred approach was for manufacturers to set up 'shadow' factories - basically replicas of their main production facilities - to provide improved output and to guard against the main factory being lost to enemy action.

Pye (and also Ekco, it should be noted) thought different and set up a lot of small plants often in locations not usually associated with manufacturing. So you'd get small electronics operations cropping up in church halls, silk-mills, ice-rinks, even an abandoned mushroom-factory.

telstar · 21st Aug 2014, 2:25 pm

Hi. I was informed that Pye had a factory at Leiston, Suffolk in the 1950's. There were other smaller assembly factories for Pye in East Suffolk too. One of the main ones was at Oulton Broad, near Lowestoft.

Quote:

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

I don't know specifically about Leiston but it's quite likely!

Hi. PYE radio & television once had a small plant in a village called Yoxford (situated on the A12 road between Ipswich and Lowestoft), so I was once informed. There must have been many more in that area of Suffolk.
Cheers
Mike

mole42uk · 21st Aug 2014, 3:54 pm

Interesting! I'm staying in Yoxford, so I'll ask around.....

G6Tanuki · 21st Aug 2014, 4:21 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by telstar

There were other smaller assembly factories for Pye in East Suffolk too. One of the main ones was at Oulton Broad, near Lowestoft

Pye did indeed have a large TV plant in Lowestoft - which manufactured the G11 sets.

it subsequently went through the inevitable Philips and then Sanyo ownership and closed for good in 2009: http://www.ertonline.co.uk/Default.a...0f.Lang-EN.htm

From memory, there was also Pye Marine (Lowestoft) Ltd, which was the old Rees-Mace operation which Pye bought up some time in the late-1940s/early-1950s.

Regarding the Pye "Richard Garrett" Leiston facility - a bit of research shows that it was where the C12 transceiver (replacement for the WWII-era 19-set) was produced: http://www.pyetelecomhistory.org/pro...s_Set_C12_1955

telstar · 22nd Aug 2014, 12:51 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by telstar

Hi. PYE radio & television once had a small plant in a village called Yoxford (situated on the A12 road between Ipswich and Lowestoft), so I was once informed. There must have been many more in that area of Suffolk

Hi. I can not confirm that it was actually Pye, but I do remember once someone saying that there was a small electronic construction employer there in the 1960's, it may be that it was Pye. As the other person on this forum quoted, there were many small assembly plants set up in Suffolk and other parts of East Anglia on behalf of Pye.
I used to live in an area near Saxmundham from 1962 to 1967, so I know the area very well!
Cheers
Mike

telstar · 3rd Sep 2014, 3:55 pm

Hi. Have you visited the Long Shop Museum in Leiston? They may have a section about the time of when Pye had a section at Garrett's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mole42uk

Interesting! I'm staying in Yoxford, so I'll ask around.....

Hi. Did you find out about PYE in Yoxford (Suffolk)?
I may ask someone that I used to know, with regards confirmation of the factory location there.
Cheers
Mike

mole42uk · 3rd Sep 2014, 4:14 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by telstar

Hi. Have you visited the Long Shop Museum in Leiston? They may have a section about the time of when Pye had a section at Garrett's.

See post 1 above! They have nothing about any of the radio assembly work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by telstar

Hi. Did you find out about PYE in Yoxford (Suffolk)?
I may ask someone that I used to know, with regards confirmation of the factory location there.

Unfortunately not. I was there for only a week, and although I asked a couple of older locals no-one knew anything (or weren't telling!!)

telstar · 25th Sep 2014, 12:40 pm

Hi Richard. I found that there was a book that includes Pye at Richard Garretts at Leiston, Suffolk. It is by R.A Whitehead and called "Garrett 200 Bi-centenary". Someone in the East Anglian Daily Times informed me.
Cheers
Mike

telstar · 3rd Oct 2014, 11:37 am

Hi Richard. I have been informed that there were satellites of PYE radio in various villages and towns in Suffolk. I tried to p.m & email you earlier, but no response.
Cheers
Mike

telstar · 10th Nov 2014, 12:47 pm

Hi. Just to confirm that the assembly plant at Yoxford was not actually run by PYE, but was a small company manufacturing small components (inductor windings,and so on) for PYE, and other companies.
Cheers
Mike

Micro-waver · 3rd Feb 2016, 10:48 am

Hi, My late father worked at PYE at Leiston, just after the war. He was in charge of a group of ladies doing assembly work, presumably radios. no other info available, but working on it... Anyone know of a good clairvoyant or an old valve set that can pick up late 1940's transmissions! regards to all. Chris

AC/HL · 3rd Feb 2016, 11:53 am

I do remember a newspaper article, some years ago, where a woman was convinced that she got yesterday's radio programmes. Turned out that she had her newspapers mixed up. It was presumably a slow news day. Other than that, for 40's material it's CDs or the Internet.

Hartley118 · 3rd Feb 2016, 1:40 pm

The Pye PCR communications receiver was said to have been assembled in village halls all over East Anglia. Here's an extract from the Virtual Pye Museum site http://www.pyetelecomhistory.org/pro.../military.html

"Pye Ltd was initially contracted to produce a quantity of 5000 PCR1 and 12000 PCR2/3 units at a rate of about 800 per month............The Pye equipments were manufactured on an out-work basis by teams of assemblers in the "Pye Village Industries" scheme in village halls and other buildings around East Anglia. Once a week the sets would be collected by a man in a van called Fred and taken to Cambridge for testing and despatch."

Martin

telstar · 3rd Feb 2016, 4:18 pm

Hi. Yes there were many radios assembled in village halls in Suffolk on behalf of companies such as PYE. As someone who once lived in Suffolk in the 1960's, I remember seeing small companies having logos on village halls for the companies that they made appliances for. With regards to PYE at Leiston, I also remember that factory, it was near Richard Garrett's Engineering Factory.
Cheers
Mike

21st Aug 2014, 6:57 am	#1
mole42uk Nonode Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Resolven, Wales; and Bristol, England Posts: 2,614	PYE at Leiston? I visited the Richard Garrett works "Long Shop" museum in Leiston, Suffolk yesterday and was interested to see a couple of pictures of a radio production factory referred to as the PYE works. There is little about this in the museum, but questions revealed that, during and after WWII, the PYE company made military radio equipment in parts of the Richard Garrett factory. I am told they have 'a couple of old radios in the store' but I wasn't encouraged to go and look at them! Does anyone know any detail about this period? __________________ Richard Index: recursive loop: see recursive loop

21st Aug 2014, 9:53 am	#2
G6Tanuki Dekatron Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Wiltshire, UK. Posts: 14,007	Re: PYE at Leiston? I don't know specifically about Leiston but it's quite likely! During WWII the Government's preferred approach was for manufacturers to set up 'shadow' factories - basically replicas of their main production facilities - to provide improved output and to guard against the main factory being lost to enemy action. Pye (and also Ekco, it should be noted) thought different and set up a lot of small plants often in locations not usually associated with manufacturing. So you'd get small electronics operations cropping up in church halls, silk-mills, ice-rinks, even an abandoned mushroom-factory.

21st Aug 2014, 3:54 pm	#4
mole42uk Nonode Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Resolven, Wales; and Bristol, England Posts: 2,614	Re: PYE at Leiston? Interesting! I'm staying in Yoxford, so I'll ask around..... __________________ Richard Index: recursive loop: see recursive loop

25th Sep 2014, 12:40 pm	#9
telstar Octode Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 1,593	Re: PYE at Leiston? Hi Richard. I found that there was a book that includes Pye at Richard Garretts at Leiston, Suffolk. It is by R.A Whitehead and called "Garrett 200 Bi-centenary". Someone in the East Anglian Daily Times informed me. Cheers Mike

3rd Oct 2014, 11:37 am	#10
telstar Octode Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 1,593	Re: PYE at Leiston? Hi Richard. I have been informed that there were satellites of PYE radio in various villages and towns in Suffolk. I tried to p.m & email you earlier, but no response. Cheers Mike

10th Nov 2014, 12:47 pm	#11
telstar Octode Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 1,593	Re: PYE at Leiston? Hi. Just to confirm that the assembly plant at Yoxford was not actually run by PYE, but was a small company manufacturing small components (inductor windings,and so on) for PYE, and other companies. Cheers Mike

3rd Feb 2016, 10:48 am	#12
Micro-waver Diode Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 1	Re: PYE at Leiston? Hi, My late father worked at PYE at Leiston, just after the war. He was in charge of a group of ladies doing assembly work, presumably radios. no other info available, but working on it... Anyone know of a good clairvoyant or an old valve set that can pick up late 1940's transmissions! regards to all. Chris

3rd Feb 2016, 11:53 am	#13
AC/HL Dekatron Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 9,642	Re: PYE at Leiston? I do remember a newspaper article, some years ago, where a woman was convinced that she got yesterday's radio programmes. Turned out that she had her newspapers mixed up. It was presumably a slow news day. Other than that, for 40's material it's CDs or the Internet.

3rd Feb 2016, 1:40 pm	#14
Hartley118 Nonode Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK. Posts: 2,198	Re: PYE at Leiston? The Pye PCR communications receiver was said to have been assembled in village halls all over East Anglia. Here's an extract from the Virtual Pye Museum site http://www.pyetelecomhistory.org/pro.../military.html "Pye Ltd was initially contracted to produce a quantity of 5000 PCR1 and 12000 PCR2/3 units at a rate of about 800 per month............The Pye equipments were manufactured on an out-work basis by teams of assemblers in the "Pye Village Industries" scheme in village halls and other buildings around East Anglia. Once a week the sets would be collected by a man in a van called Fred and taken to Cambridge for testing and despatch." Martin __________________ BVWS Member

3rd Feb 2016, 4:18 pm	#15
telstar Octode Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 1,593	Re: PYE at Leiston? Hi. Yes there were many radios assembled in village halls in Suffolk on behalf of companies such as PYE. As someone who once lived in Suffolk in the 1960's, I remember seeing small companies having logos on village halls for the companies that they made appliances for. With regards to PYE at Leiston, I also remember that factory, it was near Richard Garrett's Engineering Factory. Cheers Mike