ICI MIDDLEWICH WORKS COMMEMORATIVE PHOTO 1962

ICI MIDDLEWICH WORKS in Brooks Lane. Photo courtesy of John Bailey/Bill Armsden. Reproduced with permission.

by Dave Roberts

This photograph of the ICI Works in Middlewich is dated 1962 and has been restored to near-mint condition by Bill Armsden, who writes:

This photograph, taken in 1962, is of the ICI Works which could be seen from Booth Lane and was located to the right of where the Kings Lock Pub is.

Pochins now sits where this works was.

I have cleaned up and enhanced the picture and it is now almost mint. It is hard to believe that just over 50 years ago this dominated the view from St Anns and Kitfield Avenues.

Do you remember it? I do.


Bill says that the photo has the year 1962 written on the back, and was one of many copies given out to workers at ICI Middlewich when the works closed in that year. 

This particular copy belongs to John Bailey, who now lives in Knutsford.*

I have a vague feeling that this photo may have been taken before 1962, as the buildings and apparatus on the site don't look exactly as I remember them at that time. Then again, I was only a youngster in 1962, so I may be mistaken. 

Does anyone know if this is indeed how the works looked in 1962?

Here's a different view of part of the works, courtesy of Bill Eaton

ICI DISTILLER BUILDING

And a late 1950s view of the SUC Middlewich Branch, also from Bill Armsden's collection, which includes a glimpse of the works.

CANAL SCENE FROM THE LATE 1950s

Many thanks to Bill and also to John Bailey* for allowing us to feature this historic photo.

UPDATE (4th March 2018)

From Australia, Bevan Goodall writes:

'Thanks, Dave, for making this photo available.

I left ICI Middlewich in 1960 to emigrate to Australia, so I didn't receive a copy. 

I remember working one freezing winter thirty-odd metres up the side of the distillation plant, installing some removable panels.

I had my billy-can of tea laced with rum sitting on a steam-pipe nearby.

Harry Sandbach, the foreman - a lovely guy - was in the habit of helping himself to a drink when he came around to inspect what was going on.

He had a sip of my tea.

After a 'what the heck!' it didn't take him long to have another one!

Of course that wouldn't happen today with the current 'Health & Safety' regime...'



Many thanks to Bevan for this story, and how nice that he was able to get hold of his copy of the commemorative  photo of the works, albeit electronically, 58 years on -Ed.

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* Sadly, since this diary entry was first published, John has passed away. -Ed

Bill Armsden writes:

'My dear friend John Bailey sadly passed away suddenly in September last year from a massive heart attack. It was always his intention to make a private video of 'his Middlewich' as he was Middlewich born and bred.
Sadly, that will never happen but we can thank him for the 8mm film shot in his car during the late 1960's whilst he travelled from St Annes Avenue through to Chester Zoo. The Middlewich Diary was given a copy of that film and John was very happy to do that.'

We were very sorry to hear of John's passing. Here's the link to that precious film -Ed

GLIMPSES OF MIDDLEWICH AND WINSFORD IN THE 60s

Please note that this film is temporarily unavailable, due to a technical problem. We hope to have the link restored very soon -Ed.

First published 28th February 2014
Re-published 28th February 2018
and 27th July 2018

Links repaired. Entry re-published 26th February 2021

Re-published 2nd September 2021

INTIMATIONS OF DISASTER

UPDATED 8th April 2015: PLEASE SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE

by Dave Roberts

 Like most people I have never seen a railway accident, and hope I never do but, many years ago, on a bitterly cold evening in the winter of 1962-3 the Roberts family witnessed something  which we couldn't at first account for, and the explanation for which only became clear to us as the story of a disaster unfolded before us on our TV screen.

'...caused by the last coach of the Birmingham train rearing up and
striking the overhead wires'.
Photo: Middlewich Rail Link Campaign

It was Boxing Day, Wednesday the 26th December 1962, and we were all huddled around our ten-year old black and white television set. 

Snow had started to blanket the country just before Christmas and the famous Big Freeze would set in in the New Year, lasting through until March without a break. Almost the whole of England and Wales was frozen solid for weeks on end, bringing the country to a virtual standstill (and, incidentally, delivering a crippling blow to the canal carrying industry).

On this night, which was clear and very cold, we hadn't drawn the curtains on our living room window, which overlooked our back garden, Middlewich gasworks and Seddon's salt works.

 A few miles away, beyond the town, were the outskirts of Winsford where the West Coast Main Line ran on its way from Crewe to Liverpool and Scotland. The line had only recently been electrified and brand new colour light signals, some of them automatic, controlled the new electric and diesel hauled trains.

Suddenly, shortly after six o'clock, we saw a vivid  flash of light in the night sky above the salt works.We  were all stunned for a few seconds and at a loss to account for what we'd seen. It was rather like a flash of lightning, but, it seemed to us, about ten times brighter and a deep, vivid blue in colour.

We had to assume that it was some kind of strange meteorological phenomenon. There seemed to be no other explanation, but the experience was, somehow, deeply unsettling.

We continued with our television viewing (I'd love to know what programme was on that night. We only had a choice of two channels - BBC TV and Granada (with ABC TV at the weekends). I wonder what we were watching?)

I do know that, about an hour after we'd seen the bright blue  light in the sky, the programme was interrupted by a newsflash - something which doesn't seem to happen often in these days of 24 hour news but was a fairly common ocurrence back then when something really important happened. It was always rather nerve-wracking, especially when the NEWSFLASH caption was kept on screen for several minutes before any announcement was made.

This particular report brought us dreadful news.

A diesel-hauled Glasgow to Euston express had run into the rear of a Liverpool to Birmingham train at Coppenhall Junction, near to the former Minshull Vernon Station, just four minutes away from Winsford (drivers on the road to Nantwich pass close to the site when they cross the bridge a few yards away from the Verdin Arms).

Frozen points at Crewe had caused delays and the Birmingham train had been halted at a red signal. The driver of the London train had also been stopped by a red signal further down the line but, fatally, decided that this was a fault with the signalling (he had tried to phone the nearest signal-box but couldn't get through). He moved forward and, failing to see the train in front of him, crashed into it at about 25 miles per hour.

The bright blue flash we had seen just after six o'clock was caused by the last coach of the Birmingham train rearing up and striking the overhead wires. Eighteen people were killed and 34 injured in the crash.

This, it has to be remembered, was the time of transition from steam hauled trains to diesel and electric ones (although there were still plenty of steam-hauled trains on this and other lines in the North-West where steam wasn't phased out until August 1968) and the drivers and signalmen involved were all from an older tradition where things were done rather differently. 

The driver of the London train was used to steam locomotives which could not 'make up for lost time' as easily as the new diesels and electrics, and was thus very anxious to be away. 

The fact that the next signal ahead was at red should have told him that there had to be another train there but, unfortunately, this changed to a yellow as he approached. The brightness of this yellow signal apparently made it difficult to see the tail lights of the train in front. These factors, coupled with the atrocious weather conditions, had conspired to cause this terrible accident on one of the safest railway systems in the world.

The 1962 Minshull Vernon crash was the first major British railway accident which did not involve a steam locomotive.

It wasn't the first time that disaster had struck this section of railway. It had happened before, in 1948, and was to happen again (though with much less serious consequences) in 1999.

But none of us will ever forget that strange vivid blue flash in the sky all those years ago.

A more detailed account of the crash can be found here (pdf file) on the Railways Archive site,  and the definitive accounts of both this and the 1948 Winsford accident are featured in Disaster Down the Line by J.A.B. Hamilton (George Allen & Unwin Books 1967)


Facebook Feedback:

Philip YearsleyAs we had got off the train at Winsford after returning from Runcorn, I have often wondered about the facts of this accident.
I seem to recall hearing that a soldier on his way home on leave was travelling on the first train, and, as he lived in the Minshull Vernon area, pulled the emergency stop cord, then fled off over the fields.
Thanks for the info, Dave.

Geraldine Williams Yes, that was the tale we heard Philip. It must have been a rumour that spread round Middlewich. Glad to know it wasn't true.

Dave Roberts Sadly the story of the soldier is true, but it relates to the 1948 crash and not the 1962 one (the Winsford area has had three train accidents, 1948, 1962 and 1999). The soldier was coming home on leave and, realising that he was near his home in Winsford but that the train was not scheduled to call there, pulled the communication cord to stop the train. He then ran across the fields to his home. He later came forward and owned up. All he was trying to do was save himself the additional journey from Crewe Station back to Winsford. But he didn't cause the crash. A train brought to a standstill like this should be perfectly safe, but the train crew didn't take the necessary precautions to protect it and the crash happened. That soldier must have blamed himself for the rest of his life, but the train could have been stopped for any number of reasons. It was a million to one chance that his actions should have resulted in disaster.

Lindsey Daniels Thank you for publishing this story. I didn't know about it and found it an interesting read

UPDATE (2013)

Richard Maund contacted us during 2013 with a link to more information on the circumstances surrounding this tragic accident (see 'comments'). Here's a direct link to that information:

http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_Coppenhall1962.pdf

The Ministry of Transport report 1963

UPDATE (DECEMBER 2014):

Following our re-publication of this diary entry on Boxing Day 2014 (the 52nd anniversary of the accident), Geraldine Williams wrote:

...this brought back some memories. We lived in Kinderton Street at the time and Jonathan (Jonathan Williams, the late Middlewich Town Clerk - Ed) was only seven months old. Father Down, our Parish Priest, called to see us on his way back from the Post Office. He'd just arrived when the Newsflash came on, so he had to rush off back to the Presbytery, as he was expecting he would be called out to the scene of the crash.

Facebook Feedback (2014):

Darren Roberts That was a good read and very interesting. I'll admit I've not heard about this before. It just goes to show how easily mistakes can be made in bad conditions on the railways as well as the roads.

Facebook Feedback (2015):

Joan Barnes I remember this train crash well, as I worked at Northwich Telephone Exchange when it happened. it was awful.

Jacqui Cooke I was only 12 years old, but my brother worked at Winsford Station signal box at the time.

First published 26th December 2012

Updated and re-published 26th December 2014, 8th April 2015, 26th December 2016, December 17th 2018. Re-published 26th December 2018, 

Updated and republished 26th December 2019

THE CLOSURE OF ICI MIDDLEWICH, 1962

Mike Jennings writes

Hi Dave. I am not sure we have seen this photo before? I have  found with it the letter my father got about the closure of Middlewich ICI.

Actually we have seen the photo before. It's the commemorative photo given to employees of ICI Middlewich when it closed in 1962. We last looked at it in this Diary entry which dates originally from 2014 and was re-published last July. Bevan Goodall, who left the works in 1960 and now lives overseas was able, belatedly, to obtain his copy via the Middlewich Diary. There are also links in this Diary entry to other photos of ICI Middlewich:

ICI MIDDLEWICH COMMEMORATIVE PHOTO

But we've never seen the accompanying statement from ICI concerning the closure of the works and strongly suspect that former employees won't have seen it either since its original distribution in 1962. It's very simply produced (most likely on a Gestetner or Roneo stencil machine - the usual technology at the time for producing bulk copies of anything) and undated, with no ICI logo or letterhead and no signature, and appears to be a simplified version of the company's Press Release to 'national and local press' concerning the closure. It was probably included in employees' wage packets.

What's interesting is that it not only announces the closure (without actually giving a firm date) but also gives reasons why the works is closing, and how the company proposes to maintain production of soda ash at Lostock and Winnington (now itself closed).

Because the text in the original is a little difficult to read, we've transcribed it here:

CLOSING MIDDLEWICH WORKS

STATEMENT FOR NATIONAL AND LOCAL PRESS

The Alkali Division of ICI announces with regret that owing to a change in the pattern of the alkali trade brought about by the increased production of electrolytic caustic soda it has decided to shut down its Middlewich works towards the end of 1962 or early in 1963.

Middlewich is one of the smallest of ICI's works in Mid-Cheshire and accounts for less than 10% of ICI's soda ash capacity in the U.K.

Supplies of soda ash will not be affected as production is to be transferred to the much larger works at Lostock and Northwich, which have recently been modernised and extended.

ICI will offer alternative employment to as many as possible of the 250 employees affected and it expects to be able to place most of them. Those to whom alternative employment cannot be offered will be treated under the normal ICI arrangements for redundancy, each according to his individual circumstances.

The Division employs nearly 10,000 people, over 8,000 of them in Mid-Cheshire.

Future expansion of sales is likely to be met from the large plant at Winnington where at present all of the sodium carbonate produced is converted to caustic soda and other alkali products. With increasing supplies of caustic soda as a by product of electrolytic chlorine production sodium carbonate capacity is being released at Winnington. It is proposed to install modern plant there to produce soda ash for sale.

In more recent years most of the old ICI Middlewich site has been the location for Pochins Ltd and some of its associated companies. The collapse of the company was recently announced. The southern end of the site was, from 1971 until the year 2000 the location for ERF's Service Centre. Those buildings are still being used by the motor industry, but it is unclear what will happen to the area used by Pochins. A few of the former ICI buildings remain on the site, as do the wrought iron gates situated behind the modern Pochin office block.

In a poignant ceremony in July this year, the recently re-furbished works war memorial and memorial garden were formally re-opened by Lord Grey of Codnor.

THE MIDDLEWICH YEAR: OPENING OF THE BRUNNER-MOND MEMORIAL


 

ICI WORKS, EARLY-MID 1960s

This murky scene of industrial dereliction shows the old ICI Middlewich works in the process of being dismantled in the early to mid 60s. The works closed in 1962 and the demolition seems to be in a fairly advanced state, so the photo, taken by Jack Stanier, probably dates from around 1964-5. The large building in the middle of the shot was retained by Pochin Ltd when they took over part of this site in the late 60s, as were many other buildings on the site. At least one survives today, running along 'Road Beta' and adjoining the wrought iron works gates which still also survive largely intact. The other end of the site, filled with railway sidings in ICI days, was completely cleared and became home to ERF's Service Centre in 1971. The old ERF buildings also still exist but have been reclad and are anonymous and nondescript in their present guise. The structure to the right was part of the works' limestone crushing plant and to the right of that, out of shot, was (and still is) the King's Lock pub. If you look closely at the slide you may also be able to pick out the cast iron canal signpost which directed boats to Chester via the SUC Middlewich Branch