THE JOURNAL OF THE PLYSU GROUP No. 9 Summer 1973

HOW WE MADEAN EXHIBITIONOF OURSELVES!

SHOW them what you're worth ... that's Plysu Chief Designer Mike Dickins and hishow the saying goes. And that's what Plysu's team, attracted a lot of attention. And thebeen doing. result? More orders for our ever-growing

At the Housewares Fair in Cologne, at firm.Nor thpack in -Leeds, at the H-a-rdwar-eTrade= --New-te -have -a-Ieok for yOl:J~s-el-f--at-the-- -Fair in London customers looked - and liked displays that so impressed the experts, turnwhat they saw. to the centre pages. There you'll find pictures

The stands at these shows, planned by and stories of the three exhibitions.

The day George joined the tea set ...

-.

BOWING out after 21 yearswith the company ... PlysuHousewares National FieldSales Supervisor, GeorgeGardner.

And to make sure he'snever short of something tobrew up a retirement cuppain, Plysu sales force memberscontributed to a silver tea setand tray for him.

The picture shows CliffAtkinson (left), PlysuHousewares Sales Director,handing it over.

He shouldn't be caught outfor words, either ... hiscolleagues also gave him acomplete Oxford dictionary.• George flies high: Page 2.

They could hovedonced 011 night!

ABOUT 120 staff memberswith their guests attended thesupper dance held recently inthe Plysu Restaurant. For thisevening, the usual canteenatmosphere was transformedby means of gaily colouredtablecloths and curtains andindividual table lamps whichgave an intimate atmospheremore in keeping with a social

occasion. During and after theinformal buffet supper dancingcontinued non-stop until I a.m.to the excellent sound of For-mula Five, backed up by thelatest in disco music. Thosewho were not too exhausted toexpress an opinion at the endof the evening seemed tohave enjoyed themselves.

At the hop . . . Plysu people enjoyingthemselves over a table - and on the floor.

-GEORGEFLIESHIGH .. •

GEORGE GARDNER has been insales most of his life and duringthe war he found that his salestechnique and experience werevery useful when appointedTraining Officer in the RAF.

He realised that the two jobswere very similar in theapproach they needed.

Reminiscing over his yearsin the hardware field he says"gone are the days when theproprietor shuffled out in-to theshop with his slippers on whenthe door bell rang.

"The buyers these days arefar more professional and thisnecessitates a more professionalapproach by the salesman."

CarsWhen George started off as a

sales representative none ofthem had cars (or even horses!)-all calls were made by publictransport or by foot.

But fortunately manufacturershad the foresight to realise thatif their salesmen had cars theycould make more calls in a dayand have more time with thebuyers as well.

But these are not the onlychanges he has noticed .. Whenasked about the products them-selves, he commented that therehave been amazing advances inquality and appearance.

ChangeMost buckets, bowls and so on

were made of galvanized tin orat the very gayest white enamelwith a blue rim.

Kitchen utensils have seen abig change -too-George remem-bers with a smile how they allhad handles in cream with twogreen lines around - and laterfor a little extra you could havecream and red.

"But the use of plastic hasrevolutionised all this now,"adds George. "Products can bemoulded to almost any shapeand now at last the public canhave a rectangular washing upbowl in a rectangular sink - asmall point but quite a break-through!"

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111IIIIIII!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!IIIII111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!IIIIIIIIII

Now meet the Vice-PresidentAT THE annual meeting of the Hardware Manufac-turers' Association on May 14, during the NationalHardware Conference at the Imperial Hotel, Tor-quay, members confirmed the election of CliffAtkinson as Vice-President.

He was the unanimous choice for the post ofthe present Hardware Manufacturers' AssociationCommittee, and he takes the place of Keith Woolley,Marketing Director of Yale Security Products Divi-sion of Eaton Corporation, who was elected Presidentof the same meeting.

Cliff Atkinson, Sales Director Plysu House-wares, is considered to be of the "young generation"in the hardware industry. But he has a wealth ofexperience, having worked for 25 years in the in-dustry. He joined the present company 22 years agoas a sales representative, rising through the ranks

to his present position. Born. and bred in Yorkshire,he moved south 12 years ago with his wife and twochildren. He is a keen member of the Institute ofMarketing, and his interest in boats and water, shownby his earlier career in the Royal Naval VolunteerReserve, is reflected in his continuing to sail dinghiesat least weekly. In addition to sailing he is keenlyinterested in amateur operatics and is currentlyChairman of Milton Keynes Amateur OperaticSociety.

His most notable work for the Hardware Manu-facturers' Association has been his work as Chair-man of the Conference Project Group for the plan-ning of national conferences. His success is shownby the unbroken string of record attendances at themfrom the time at which he assumed thisresponsibility.

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111I1111111111111IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!III1111rlllllllllllllllllllllllll!11111111111111111111111IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

With Plysu housewores,o home owoy from home

MY HUSBAND has got a three-yearcontract in Australia, so my son andmyself are accompanying him to Ade-laide and then to Woomera.

To help combat homesickness, I amtaking with me a wide range of Plysuhousewares.

The Aussies, I am told, are coffeedrinkers. But being a tea-drinkermyself, while drinking my cuppa andlooking around my Plysu kitchen, mythoughts will dwell on such things asthe outing to s-ee Pyjama Tops, dancesmy whole family have enjoyed at Lake-side, birthdays and Xmas celebrations.

Especially I will think of mydaughter's wedding - so many of youworked so hard, and what a successit was. I am going to miss Midge andher Moppers, Mary with my Macky,and many more very much.

I have been told by a certain fairlady that when I am scrapping out mymud hut in stained slouched hat pulleddown over my ears, long skirts downto my knees and tied round the waistwith string and clay pipe upside down,I'll be wishing myself back as amopper.

I reckon I can tickle the soles ofyour feet from Down Under with arendering of I'll Be Calling You. Makesure you all answer. - Rene Hoptroff.

SUCCESSI WROTE to you last December in-forming you that the Bedfordshire 21stDetachment of the British Red CrossSociety had been successful in takingthe preliminary Home Nursing Exarni-nation.

I am now pleased to inform readersof your magazine that the same group

-.

....••..----------.my heartiest congratulations. - F. G.Bowles, Edgbury Hospital, WoburnSands.THE following employees were amongthe successjut British Red CrossSociety Nursing examinations en-trants ...

C. R. E. Phillips (Commandant)-passed the nursing proficiency ez-amination.

Michael Rose passed the hig'herexamination - a remarkable achieve-ment after only one year's membershipof the Red Cross.

Arthur Seyner re-pcssed the initialnursing examination.

Four other members who are notcompany employees also passed thehigher examination.

Since the last issue of the magazine,ward nursing duties have been carriedout at Edgbury Hospital and at theChesh'ire Home at Ampthill.

YOUWRITE

WHAT do you thinkabout Plysu People?About Plysu its elf ?About . . . well, any-thing? Let us know.We're offering SOp forevery letter published. .. and £1 for the bestin each issue.

of people have undertaken a furthercourse of lectures for the HigherExamination and once again have allbeen successful. One member evenwent as far as taking the proficiencyexamination - the highest award thatcan be gained - and passed.

This confirms my previous remarksthat you have an efficient group ofnurses working for your firm. I offer

THANK YOUI WOULD like to thank everyone forthe kind thoughts and good wishesthat you expressed in your "happyretirement" card and the extremelygenerous present that you gave me andmy wife.

As the present was Spanish goblets,we drank a toast to you all in Spanishwine and the Spanish language. -George Gardner, Langmead Drive,Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire.AS A former member of the DrawingOffice, I would like to sincerely thankeverybody who contributed towards theleather briefcase with which I waspresented on leaving the firm recently.- H. J. Purser, Curraghs Road, Bal-laugh, Isle of Man.

3

YES, THAT'SInwords and pictures PLY

turns the spotlight (big exhibitions Icompany has t

recent

SHOW BUSINESS • •PLYSU Chief Designer MikeDickins and his staff almost suc-ceeded in totally obstructing themain entrance to the Northpackexhibition in Leeds.

They incorporated into the standdesign a very dramatic semi-circularscreen, 18ft. high, formed out of thewell-known Plysu logo. As a result,our stand (right) was, without ques-tion, the most dominant feature of thewhole show.

Northpack, held every two years, isa regional packaging exhibition on amoderate scale and attracts buyersmainly from Birmingham, Manchester,Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle.

The centre of attraction on ourstand was the display of R.70 con-tainers in five gallon, 20 litre and 25litre sizes, combined with the 25 litrejerricans. The R.70 five-gallon con-tainer was shown in three differentweight versions.

WelcomeThe stand was staffed by Jack Mart-

land and Peter Malia, Plysu's tworepresentatives in the North, JohnSpeller, Containers Sales Manager, andJohn Eastaff, Managing Director of theContainers Division.

The weather was bad - a mixtureof snow, gales and rain - but allvisitors to the Plysu stand received awelcome which was both warm andcordial.'. Around February every year it isimpossible to find a vacant hotel room

anywhere within 80 kilometres ofCologne. This is international House-wares Fair time, probably the mostimportant housewares exhibition in theworld. Nearly every important Euro-pean manufacturer and buyer is there.

This year to mark Britain's entryinto the European Economic Commu-nity, Plysu made a special effort andexhibited the attractive range ofpatterned housewares (below left).Inquiries from European companieswishing to sell this range in nearlyevery European country reflected theuniqueness of the products.

PolicyPlysu already enjoys expanding sales

in Holland, Switzerland and Norway.Further afield you can buy Plysuproducts in Cyprus, Malta, Kuwait,Saudi Arabia and many 0 the rcountries.

Now, as part of Plysu's policy ofexpanding into foreign markets -Europe in particular - and as adirect result of our Cologne efforts,we are starting to place Plysu in theimportant markets of France andBelgium.• Plysu Housewares as usual occupieda very prominent position at the Hard-ware Trade Fair in London this yearwith a striking stand (below right).

One of the main features of thestand was a large display of house-wares in the gay new fashion colours-lilac and spice brown. These arouseda great amount of interest from buyers,who were delighted to see that Plysu

were keeping abreast with the furnish-ing trends and again leading the wayin the housewares colour field.

Cliff Atkinson, Sales Director ofPlysu Housewares, who was responsiblefor the introduction and launch of thenew colours, was also greatly encour-aged by the enthusiastic responsefrom the Press, who were shown thefashion shades at a special press con-

fereMajourandally

Otthebatof \\patt

SUPEOPLE>nthe threen which theaken part intonths ...

•

tee on the first day of the fair.r prominent women's featureralists attended and gave the lilacspice brown ranges an exception-warm reception.aer new products on display were.atest additions to the patterned'oom and kitchen ranges, manyhich were shown in entirely newrns.

~"""III""""""""Memo to men whoare mainlyhere for the beer!

= by JOCK McGILL

CHEERS . . . How many times an of it, you may want to try makingevening do you say that in your your own beer to just the flavourlocal? you prefer.

If counting your yearly expendi- My own taste is satisfied with theture looks like putting you off ale following recipe ...for the rest of your life, why not 2 hoz. ops.make your own ? 1 packet bTewing salts

It's a very simple operation - so 3 lb. dried. maLt.simple that my wife now makes all 4 Lb. gmnuLated suqarmy beer for me. The only part of 2 Campden tabletsmy hobby left to me is the enjoy- 1 packet yeast.ment of drinking it. Now for the method ...

The many fine home-brew kits I simmer the hops in three pintsnow on t~e market cover .most of water for an hour, having already

_ tastes, ~nd if you follow the slm12~-J::>lac~the-(}ther-ing-l'ed-i:ents -in -a---Iiistructions a fine beer should container large enough to hold fiveresult. gallons.

Before I go any further, a littleadvice ... do buy a hydrometer and,if possible, a heater and thermostat.I use both the latter: they werebought from a pet shop and manu-factured for use in a fish tank. Butthey're perfectly adequate for thejob I use them for.

ExplosionsSome people I know did try to

make their own brew without thesetwo aids. The instructions said:"When the bubbles stop coming tothe top of the fermentation, thebrew is ready to be bottled."

Well, they did this, and the resultwas a series of minor explosions inthe cupboard a few nights later.

Of course, my friends gave up atthis juncture. This was a great pity,for if they had had a hydrometer,this need never have happened.

Many informative books have beenwritten on the subject of home-brewed beers, and they are obtain-able at most chemists for somethinglike 35p. They are a worthwhile in-vestment to anyone taking up thehobby.

Pre-packed kits are a good wayto start, but when you get the feel

QueriesMix your ingredients in the con-

tainer with three pints of boilingwater and then strain your hops intothis as well. Make up to five gallonswith water from the tap and addyour yeast.

Leave to ferment for five to sixdays and when ready to bottle adda level teaspoonful of sugar to eachbottle. Seal the bottles tightly andstore for at least ten days when youmay start drinking.

By the way, it will keep for upto three months, if you can leave itthat long.

One last word. T. Knowles, of themoulding room, a home brewer oflong standing. has expressed hiswillingness with me to answerqueries - and also, to give ouropinion on all the samples whichI am sure you will bring us!

So happy brewing, and your firsttoast must surely be to a past Chan-cellor of the Exchequer, ReginaldMaudling, who made a budget pro-vision for all of us who like wallopto brew our own legally.

Here's mud in your eyebeer in your glass.

. and

5

PEOPLE AT PLYSU

JILLPARKER (above) andJohn Bassett were married atSalford Church. JiIIworkedin the Industrial Departmentfor five years. She was giventhe traditional send-off -ribbons and PVC clothing toparade to the department,and the couple are now livingin Gillingham, Kent.

To them, weoffer ourcongrotulotionsENGAGEMENTS

Gillian Stringer, of the MopRoom, to Gary Rolls on April5.

Mavis Green to MichaelKeech on February 3.

Wendy Shirwood to TimKennedy on January 27.

MARRIAGESCarol Carter to J eff Roberts pe

on February 24, at BedfordRegistry Office. ..-

Sue Griffin to Malcolm Rob-I"inson at Aspley Guise,April 14.

BIRTHSTo Gerald and Loretta

Ramsay, Nicola Anne 7lb 1Uoz. on April 20.

To Susan Ruff S m i t h,Terence Peter. At BedfordHospital on March 15. Susanused to work in the ContainersStripping Department.

SILVER WEDDINGMr. & Mrs. Jean Smith on

March 27.

THINGSHAVE DISC WILL TRAVEL. - Party orwedding coming up ? Need music. Con-tact Mick Rose, or ring Ridgmont 321any evening.

WANTED.-Carry-cot in good condition.Anyone knowing of one for sale, please

-.

contact T. Lumbers.

THIS is your paper ... and these couldbe your ads. Your announcement can beincluded in Plysu People absolutely free.Just send it to Mark Suter, in the MainOffice.

THEy'RE INTHE NEWS

We welcome news andviews, comments andcarps. This is your journaland your opportunity to putpen to paper. News to:Ethel Best, Raymond Hall

-Housewares

~

nda Ingram-Containersazel Wade-Industrial

Mark Suter-Main OfficeDerek Sinfield-Moulding

.)1. Shop

. (Jean Smith-Print RoomClaude Phillips-Personne

OfficeLes Hailey-Transport V

Welcome ...JANUARY

MouldingPrint RoomMouldingMouldingCleaningUniloy PackingUniloy Packing

Peter RelfMrs. Diane DanielsDerrick JacksonJ. SpencerFrancis ClarkePeter RobinsonMelvyn Fossey

FEBRUARYPrint RoomPrint RoomHousewaresMouldingContainersIndustrial

M. KolicMiss Peggy EllisAndrew DaytonThomas HendyTerence FarmerMiss M. Thompson

MARCHMiss Jean Wallace Print RoomMiss K. Richardson Print RoomIan Walker CarpentersMiss Diane Darby MOP Dept.David Higgs Housewares

THE YOUNG1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

GENERATION •••11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

PLYSUATPLAY

FOOTBALL

Leaving thebest ti 11the endWITH the end of the season, theclub are in a far better positionthan had been likely earlier. Theexpected improvement in resultssaw the club rise to seventh posi-tion in Division Three of theNorth Bucks and District Leaguewith some really good perform-ances against teams who hadbeaten us quite soundly earlierin the season.

A run of six matches withoutdefeat ensured that we clearedthe bottom-of-the-division positionwe had held for JiOffi time.. .The __results from the beginning of ourimprovement were as follows:-

Westbury 0, Plysu 0; M.K.D.C.2, Plysu 2; Twyford 1, Plysu 2;Plysu 1, Grendon Res. 0; Shenley& Loughton 1, Plysu 2; Plysu 1,Westbury 0; N. Crawley 2, PlysuO. Our final league record wasplayed 22, won 7, drawn 2, lost13, goals for 28, goals against 65,points 16. We finished seventhout of 12.

This all-round improvementmeans that the club can now lookforward to next season with con-fidence, in the hope that we shallbe able to achieve our first objec-tive, that of promotion to theSecond Division.

All things considered, our firstseason of league football has beenreasonably successful. It is ac-cepted that a new club alwaystakes a certain amount of timeto "settle in". This has beenachieved with a fair measure ofsuccess.

Officials convey their thanks toall players and people who havehelped in other ways to get theclub off the ground. Their effortsare appreciated, and we can nowgo forward and fulfil some of theclub's ambitions with confidence.

B. R. LARBEY

HEREthey are ... the cutest little baby faces !The toppicture shows Hayley Jane Pedder, then six weeks old,daughter of Lynn Pedder, who used to work on theswitchboard, and her husband, Alan. Next meet one of thegrandchildren of Claira Griffin - two-year-old MartinGriffin, the son of Caroline and Brian Griffin. Claira has atwo-year-old grand-daughter, too ... Debbie Ward.Perhaps we'll meet all three at Plysu one day ... in about1990, let's say!

-.

• More sport on the back page.

7

THE CERTAIN SIGN THAT SPELLS SAFETYHOWdo you spell safety? With a V, of course.At least, that was the verdict o>fthe judges inPlysu's April safety poster competition.

All the signs pointed to success when theysaw the entry from S. Cooper. His slogan was"Guard them Well ... Or You'll Never Do aHarvey Smith." And it was appropriately illus-trated, too - with a drawing of that gesture.

This time the V very definitely stood forvictory, because Mr. Cooper's contribution waschosen as joint winner of the contest.

The other effort the judges put the finger onwas from Mrs. R. Furnival. She spelt it out forthem too, with a slogan that read: "Please LetYour Safety Be Uppermost". Initially thatcaught Plysu people's eye - and continued todo so.

Also highly commended in an entry of overallhigh standard were the contributions of P. Roweand D. Jaekson (senior). They ran the winnersclose . . . which only goes to show that in acontest like this, nobody's safe!

FISHING

The ones thatdidn't get awayWITH the season over and all matchesfinished until June, we can look baCkwith contentment or disappointmentaccording to how well we fared.

Generally speaking the season as faras match fishing was concerned waspoor in results - mainly due, I think,to the excessive weed growth andabundance of natural foods in thewaters.

However, one or two of our membersdid well in the points table, notablyMark Cannon, of Engineering, whoraced away from the field with thetop score, closely followed by oneother member, Roland Golding. Theremainder of us, I am afraid, fellbehind with each match fished. -

Congratulations again to Mark uponwinning the Claude Phillips Shield thisseason with a fine perch of lIb. 120z.from the lake, and our sympathy mustsurely go to Roland whose 141b. carpwas beaten so late in the season.

For those of you who may wonderhow a lIb. 120z. perch beats a 141b.carp, perhaps I should explain thatit is judged on a percentage of record.The record carp is 441b., so l4lb. repre-sents slightly under 1 of the record;but the record perch is 51b. Loz. andlIb. 120z. represents slightly over t.

The Angling Times winter leaguematches that we fished were verydifficult indeed. Very poor weightswere returned, especially on the canal,and the one man in our team who didexceptionally well was Michael Balder-stone, of Engineering, who came firsttwice and took second place threetimes in the six matches that werefished.

He surely deserved some recognitionfor such a fine performance, but unfor-tunately the Angling' Times's rules arebased on aggregate weight instead ofpoints, and such is the luck of thedraw that I drew one of the very few"dolly" swims in the canal and gained

enough weight to win the match andthe tankard.

Watch the notice board for somenews of the club. I shall shortly beputting up the date for the annualmeeting as soon as it is decided, andas your delegate to the Milton KeynesAssociation, I shall pin up the minutesand news of these meetings that areheld monthly.

I shall finish this column with atrue (well, perhaps) story fromAmerica, which may amuse you as itdid me ...

PLYSUATPLAY

It appears that a fisherman with theunusual name of Rachos Benily wentfishing for "tandem eels", a speciesso called because of their habit oftravelling in Indian file. When one ofthese eels sees its predecessor length-ening the space between them it dartsforward and seizes its tail draggingit back into line.

By a coincidence, Rachos droppedhis bait in front of the leader, whichgrabbed it. As he drew it towards him,the second eel, true to its instinct,dashed forward and seized its tail,and so it continued right down theline.

Dropping his rod, old Rachos beganto haul in the rope of eels hand overhand until the ground all round himbecame a wriggling mass of eels.Exhausted, he cut the rest off. Thetotal weight of the tandem was re-ported at 8501b.

JACK SORENSON

BINGO

The name ofthe gameBENEVOLENCE? What does it mean?Well I'll try to tell you. It means beingcharitable, kind and wishing peoplewell. OK? That is just what I amtrying to be, by running the bingosessions every Thursday.

It started on June 8, 1972, and quitea few people have benefited from theBenevolent Fund so far. I believe alot of you do not as yet know whatit's all about.

The Benevolent Fund is for us, thepeople of Plysu. When anyone of usis ill for six weeks or more, he orshe will receive £10 from the fund.·The bingo sessions, dance and rafflesare run so we can keep the BenevolentFund going strong.

But let's be realistic. You can't givemoney away if you haven't got any,can you? If any of our Committeemembers come around with raffletickets, remember what it's for -because anyone, even the strongest,could fall ill and be glad of the £10.

Now, bingo can be a great fund-raiser if only you, the people of Plysu,would take part in it. Don't get mewrong - quite a few come everyweek, and I am really grateful for thesupport they give us. But I am surethat a lot more of you could come.And remember, the more people weget to a session, the bigger the pay-out.

We open the doors at 7 p.m. everyThursday. Bingo starts at 8 p.m., andwe finish just after 9. So all you menwho thought they'd miss getting a pintin will still have time afterwards. Youcan bring your friends, too - themore the better. I am keeping myfingers crossed that it may be possibleto get a coach laid on for our peoplewho live too far away to get hereotherwise.

If anyone needs any more infor-mation come and see me in Containers.And please accept this open invitationto come to the Lakeside Restaurantfor a game of bingo and so help ourPlysu Benevolent Fund.

8

EDDlE WILSON

PRINTED BY THE RUISLlP PRESS lTD .. HIGH ROAD, ICKENHAM. UXBRIDGE. MIDDX.