According to Kelly's directory, Elm Plastics was based at 22 Motney Hill Road in Rainham, now a series of warehouses for James Wellesley Kitchens. The Managing Director was a Polish gentleman called Mr R Michalkiewicz (sometimes known as Mr Michaels) who is mentioned in the Lower Rainham Coronation Party newspaper article of 1953 as having given souvenir books to the children at the party.
The only online info I can find about the factory is this announcement in the Edinburgh Gazette in Sept 1968, ‘... that the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity hereby gives notice that, during the month ending 30th 11 September 1968, she has made special exemption orders relating to the employment of women and/or young persons at the following Factories: Elm Plastics Ltd., Motney Hill Road, Rainham, Gillingham…’ It was reported by several people that the factory had a poor health & safety record with a number of workers losing fingers and at least one losing an arm in various accidents. Phil Stanfield recalled that his mum started a worker’s walk-out one winter because they had no heating in the building! The factory made many popular toys of the time and there are fond memories of families being brought home items such as a Muffin the Mule and a Pea Shooter Gun which were made there. The factory also made Loony Links and the original Mr Potato Head toys.
Babs Brown writes: Mr brother who still lives in Rainham recently sent me a of your magazine featuring Elm Plastics. I worked there in the early sixties many fond memories. I met my husband there we are still together he is 85 and myself 78. I am enclosing a photo taken outside. It was owned by Mr Michaels and Mr Tomasheski excuse the spellings. Mrs Dingle ran the assembly room with her supervisor Dot I believe that was her name her mother and father owned the shop on the corner. I used to spray paint pineapple ice buckets just like the ones you can still buy today. In the photo I am standing on the right linking arms with the young man. We also sprayed dolls faces made lampshades
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Elm Plastics was based in Motney Hill Road in Rainham Gillingham Kent. These photos show some of the workers there in the 1960s or 1970s. Can you identify any of the people in the photos? There could be a member of the Knight family in at least one photo. The Managing Director was Mr R Michalkiewicz and is mentioned in the Lower Rainham Coronation party article in 1953 as having given souvenir books to the children at the party.
Update - 4 people identified so far. Thanks to Jane Absolom, Sandra Perkins, Emma Wilson & Rachel Davis!
Back row , second from left is Hilda Hook, middle is Jean Stitt, Ethel Black on right in yellow.
Front row - middle - Jean Sabey in red
Her friend Lil Grant will be in it somewhere
The only online info I can find about the factory is this announcement in the Edinburgh Gazette in Sept 1968:
IN accordance with Section 117 of the Factories Act 1961, the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity hereby gives notice that, during the month ending 30th September 1968, she has made special exemption orders relating to the employment of women and/or young persons at the following Factories: Elm Plastics Ltd., Motney Hill Road, Rainham, Gillingham
They are mentioned again in 1982 for the same exemption for women and young people.
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Some weeks ago I was shown some postcards of the Rainham Mark area. Having spent most of my teenage years living at 140 Hawthorne Avenue memories of this familiar place in the 1940s and 50s came back into focus. ln the war years and immediately afterwards the collection of shops at Rainham Mark were like a mini High street. The Beehive Stores, run by an elderly couple, stood on the comer of Caldew Avenue and the A2. This was a little goldmine that sold anything that didn’t need a ration book. Vegetables spilled from sacks and battered boxes on the floor whilst an old flypaper dangled from the light fitting above. Next door was Highlys, the butchers, where queues of hatted wicker basket carrying housewives formed when off the ration offal was available. Nearby was Mr Beards Post Office, he also sold writing paper, ink, coloured pencils and Gloy glue. Mr Beard had the most impeccable copperplate handwriting, no matter how long the queue if he was not satisfied with the way he had written a form whilst seated on his high stool like a character from Dickens with his trusted dip pen he would throw it away and start again.
Between the post office and the butchers was Rainham Marks wartime equivalent to B&Q. Miss Bunton’s open fronted shed style shop sold everything in the hardware trade from brooms and brushes to hinges, paint, distemper, creosote, pegs, washing lines, garden spades and forks plus nails and screws sold by the pennyworth and wrapped in newspaper. One essential also provided at this emporium was re-charging accumulators which were used to power wireless sets which could not be plugged into power sockets but relied on these heavy appliances about the size of a modern car battery. I can still see Miss Bunyon in her ladies style, faded blue, bib and brace boiler suit, hessian apron and woollen hat.
The chippy just towards Gillingham is perhaps the only shop which has survived for well over sixty years, however it has lost its ‘bring your own newspaper’ sign. The Vets was on the opposite side of the A2 at the side of a neat bungalow. Down Hawthorne Avenue is Ashley Road which links to Pump Lane. l can’t remember with any accuracy what the row of shops were but just after the war the newsagents on the corner was called Milligans. I delivered papers for them, my round being the whole of Begonia Avenue to where it ended in a cabbage field long before Twydall Green shopping centre was built.
Most households had their papers, magazines and comics delivered through the letterbox. I recall quite clearly receiving seven and sixpence a week (37p in todays money). I’m informed £25 is the going rate today. In the middle of the row of Ashley Road shops was Coopers the grocers and at the end Miss Chapman’s greengrocers. She ran the shop with her brother George, a D Day veteran who in winter always wore his army great coat. Giving up the paper round I then worked for Miss Chapman and George. On Friday evenings after school I did local deliveries on the shop bike and boiled the beetroot (much to my mothers disgust due to the smell).
On Saturdays starting at 6.00am with another lad from Pump Lane and George we loaded the ex-army Fordson open truck with a canvas cab ready for the green grocery round through Twydall, Eastcourt, Woodlands and Lower Gillingham, all for the sum of £1. The bonus of this job was that l learnt to drive this old army truck. Seven years later as a National Serviceman RASC driver I was driving an identical truck in Suez ~ this time legally. Happy days.
John K. Austin
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The attached photo was taken in the quad at Rainham Girls School, Orchard Street, c. 1941/2. My mother is shown second from right in the back row. She annotated the reverse with "Village scene from school play" and included names.
Front row L-R
Jean Muir
Marie Lavenda
June Glover
Audrey Foster
Joyce Pack
Back Row L-R
Daphne
Joyce Shipley
Joyce Parker
Jean Greg
Pat Packham
Eileen Hales
Stephanie Porter
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This list of Rainham Telephone Numbers from 1908 was compiled by David Auger from British Phone Books. These show the local Rainham businesses in the early 20th Century and the growth of the telephone between 1908 and 1925.
July 1908
Rainham 1 PUBLIC CALL OFFICE E. Cozens
Rainham 10 ADIE Charles , Jobmaster “White Horse”
Rainham 15 ASSOCIATED Portland Cement Manufacturers
(1900) Ltd ( Clay Manager ) Newport villas
Rainham 2 BARRON & Co. Ltd, Portland Cement Manfrs Falcon Cement wks
Rainham 12 BRICE S.J. & Sons Clay Merchants Tufton rd
Rainham 8 BRICE W. & G., Clay Merchants Station rd
Rainham 4 CO-OPERATIVE Society Rainham
Rainham 9 CURLING Walter Philip , Handicapper Lion hotel
Rainham 5 KEMP Bros, Builders & Contractors Rainham
Rainham 14 KNIGHT Alfred Joseph , Brick Manufr Otterham quay
Rainham 11 MARTIN, Earle & Co. Ltd., Cement Mnfrs Wickhm Rchstr
Rainham 6 PENFOLD Fred W. H., Surgeon Maidale house
Rainham 3 POLES H. N. Cement Manufacturer Rainham
Rainham 13 SCOTT Fred , Farmer Rainham
Rainham 7 WAKELEY Bros, Corn, Brick Mrchnts Rainham
Rainham 16 WAKELEY Joseph Moor st ho
July 1909
Rainham 1 PUBLIC CALL OFFICE Cozens, E.
Rainham 10 ADIE Charles , Jobmaster “White Horse”
Rainham 2 BARRON & Co. Ltd, Portland Cement Manfrs Falcon Cement wks
Rainham 12 BRICE S.J. & Sons, Clay Merchants Tufton rd
Rainham 8 BRICE W. & G., Clay Merchants Station rd
Rainham 4 CO-OPERATIVE Society Rainham
Rainham 9 CURLING Walter Philip , Handicapper Lion hotel
Rainham 5 KEMP Bros, Builders & Contractors Rainham
Rainham 14 KNIGHT Alfred Joseph , Brick Manufr Otterham quay
Rainham 11 MARTIN, Earle & Co. Ltd., Cement Mnfrs Wickhm Rchstr
Rainham 6 PENFOLD Fred W. H., Surgeon Maidale house
Rainham 3 POLES H. N. Cement Manufacturer Rainham
Rainham 1 POST Office (for Postal facilities ONLY) High st
Rainham 13 SCOTT Fred , Farmer Rainham
Rainham 16 WAKELEY Joseph Moor st ho
Rainham 7 WAKELEY Bros, Corn, Brick Merchants Rainham
January 1910
Rainham 1 RAINHAM High Street Cozens, E.
Rainham 10 ADIE Charles , Jobmaster “White Horse”
Rainham 2 BARRON & Co. Ltd., Portland Cement Manfrs Falcon Cement wks
Rainham 12 BRICE S.J. & Sons, Clay Merchants Tufton rd
Rainham 8 BRICE W. & G., Clay Merchants Station rd
Rainham 4 CO-OPERATIVE Society Rainham
Rainham 9 CURLING Walter Philip , Handicapper Lion hotel
Rainham 5 KEMP Bros, Builders & Contractors Rainham
Rainham 14 KNIGHT Alfred Joseph , Brick Manufr Otterham quay
Rainham 11 MARTIN, Earle & Co. Ltd., Cmnt Mnfrs Wickhm Rchstr
Rainham 6 PENFOLD Fred W. H., Surgeon Maidale house
Rainham 3 POLES H. N. Cement Manufacturer Rainham
Rainham 1 POST Office (for Postal facilities ONLY) High st
Rainham 13 SCOTT Fred , Farmer Rainham
Rainham 15 WADE Arthur C. , “Alindene” Century rd
Rainham 16 WAKELEY Joseph Moor st ho
Rainham 7 WAKELEY Bros, Corn, Brick Merchants Rainham
September 1924
Rainham 10 ADIE Charles , Jobmaster “White Horse”
Rainham 35 ANDREWS C. E., Estate Agent, Buses Wigmore ho
Rainham 19 Barclays Bank Ltd. Rainham
Rainham 2 BARTLETT A., Motor Engineer 4 High st
Rainham 23 BATES Edward Macklands
Rainham 12 British Standard Cement Co. Wharf rd
Rainham 15 CLARK W. A., Farmer Pump fm Lr Rainham
Rainham 37 COLYER W. E., Stores, Estate Agent Rainham mark
Rainham 4 Co-operative Society Rainham
Rainham 24x3 DICKER Rev. A. G. H. Upchurch Rctry
Rainham 22 DURRELL W. & R. Genl. Engrs., Mlwrghs London rd
Rainham 11 Eastwoods Ltd., Brickmakers Lwr Halstow Nwngtn
Rainham 42 FILMER A. E. Waverley Lwr Rainham
Rainham 33y3 FINCH Rev. J. A. The Vicarage Brht
Rainham 17y3 FOX L. J. St Josephs Maidstone rd
Rainham 31 GILLHAM E. R. York rd Wigmore
Rainham 24y3 GRAY Major M. K. East Moor
Rainham 28 GROVE F. E., Irnmngr, Hrdwre Dmstc Rainham market
Rainham 32y HALES W., Butcher Upchurch S’borne
Rainham 24x1 HARVEY Leonard , Estate Agent Ottenham farm
Rainham 18 HERROD L. M. Horticultural Chemist Rainham
Rainham 24y2 HINGE A., Farmer Horsham fm Upch
Rainham 33y2 HOGG W. H. , Farmer Bredhurst
Rainham 26 HOLLANDS Helena Maria P.O. Hartlip
Rainham 20 The International Tea Co.’s Stores Ltd. 92 Station rd
Rainham 29 JONES J. T. , Florist & Fruiterer 10 London rd
Rainham 5 KEMP Bros, Builders & Contractors Rainham
Rainham 33x1 KING Edward , Builder, Haulge Cntrctr King’s Lanley
Rainham 34 LACK W., Builder Heathfld Wigmore
Rainham 33y1 LEWIS G. I. W. , Commander R.N. Greencrt Bredhrst
Rainham 3 MATTOCKS F. T. Architect & Surveyor 111 Station rd
Rainham 36 MOAKES Charles Watling ho London rd
Rainham 33x2 MONDAY J., Licensed Victualler The Bell Bredhurst
Rainham 9 MOORE James Wm., Licensed Victuallr Lion Hotel
Rainham 24y1 O’CONNELL T. B., Brickworks Otterham quay
Rainham 38 PACKER Fred , Motor Haulage Cntrctr 33 High st
Rainham 8 POPE H. C. , Major R.M. Meresborough ho
Rainham 32x PRESLAND G. E. , Grocer & Draper Upchurch
Rainham 13 SCOTT Mrs. Fred. , Hop, Fruit Grower Rainham
Rainham 14 SIEMS & Son, Turf accountants Milton ho
Rainham 24x5 SOUTH Bert , Butcher & Grocer Halstow Sittingbourne
Rainham 21 STEWART James, Farmer Bloors pl Lr Rainham
Rainham 25 STINTON A. V. , Builder & Contractor Rainham
Rainham 17y2 SWAIN G. C. , Builder & Decorator Wigmore G’ham
Rainham 6 SYMONS Percival Washington , Medical
Practitioner Mardale ho
Rainham 43 TADMAN J. & Son, Wholesale Fruiterers Cntrctr High st
Rainham 17y1 TAYLOR Clifford John , Surgeon Karnak Woodside Wigmore
Rainham 17x3 TICKNER Mrs. K. , Tea, Tennis Grounds St Elmo Wigmore
Rainham 17y4 TURNER Edmund, Cooper Wigmore
Rainham 33x4 VELLA & Sons, Pig Breeders The Victory, Matts hill
Rainham 17x4 WAGNER J. J., Lieut. R.N. Talavera Wigmore
Rainham 7 WAKELEY Bros. (Rainham Kent Ltd.) Rainham
Rainham 16 WAKELEY Joseph Moor St ho
Rainham 27 WAKELEY Sydney Church ho
Rainham 30 WERNETT A. J. Hamilton av
Rainham 41 Wigmore & District Smallholders Club Springvale
Rainham 17x1 Window Cleaning & Carpet Beating Co. (The
Competent) Oakdene Springvale Wigmore
Rainham 24y4 WRAIGHT T. J. , Baker & Confectioner Upchurch S’brne
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