Memories of By Danny Corns keen to be involved. I picked him The passing of Rolf Noskwith earlier in the year prompted me to up the next day to visit the museum when he said could we go along recall the Charnos of my youth. Although I never worked there, coming off Crompton Street, as it was called then, I passed the factory five days a week on the way to school. Situated at the top of Corporation Road, I always thought it was one of the best designed and attractive 1930s style industrial buildings in the area. Why it was never listed I don’t know! Friends who worked there told me they were excellent employers. Coming off Crompton Street I was always destined to work at Stanton. There was a wartime pill box manned by the South Staffordshire Regiment and the Home Guard that stood on the corner of Coronation Road and Longfield Lane, just above the factory. It was there to guard any approach by the enemy up Corporation Road and Longfield Lane. Once the soldiers had departed in 1945 it became a great place for us Hallam Fields kids to pretend we were soldiers (has anyone got a photo of the pill box?). The field above the factory during the 1950s contained a football pitch where I think Nottingham Road Athletic played. Charnos Football Club, for some reason, played behind the Rutland Cottage pub. Perhaps the pitch wasn’t very good although I don’t remember the Rutland Cottage pitch as being all that good. Around 1950, there was a fire at Charnos which, from memory, took place around Christmas time (I’m sure a reader will put me right – anyone got a photo of the fire?). I met Rolf Noskwith around seven years ago when he was 90 years of age and still working. He had an office on the Crompton Road Industrial Estate. I called by appointment to see if he would like to help out in putting on an exhibition at the Erewash Museum using his collection of photographs and Charnos memorabilia. After calling him Mr Noskwith, he straight away said, “call me Rolf”. He was very
Merlin Road rather than Corporation Road as he didn’t want to pass the spot where the factory had been. I get the same feeling when I walk along Crompton Road, too many memories, I suppose. Due to staff changes at the museum, however, the exhibition was put on the back burner and never picked up again. A pity! I did try to broach the subject of Bletchley Park but it was obvious he only wanted to talk about Charnos. A very modest man was Rolf. Rolf’s time at Bletchley Park is well documented. This article is really about the legacy that Charnos left to Ilkeston even though it’s a few years since the factory closed its doors for the last time in December 2002. Charnos arrived in Ilkeston in 1936 when Mr C H Noskwith of Nottingham purchased land at the top of Corporation Road for £500. The modern factory was erected and machines of the latest design, speed and gauge were installed. Ilkeston was an obvious town to start up this type of business as it was the centre for textiles, hosiery, lace and contained a very experienced workforce. Charnos didn’t have any export market in 1938, possibly due to trouble brewing on the Continent but by 1949, 70% of its production went overseas. The labour force was above 325 by then with the principle products being fully fashioned ladies stockings, nylons and pure silk. A book was written in 1949 titled ‘The Charnos Story’ although I’ve never read it. In the early 1950s a new type of ladies stocking was designed when nylon crepe non-wrinkle material was discovered with Charnos being the market leader in the use of this. The company exhibited yearly at the Savoy Hotel in London, the centre of the fashion scene. A further extension to the factory was built to cope with the demand for its products, with Marks and Spen-
The Charnos factory on Corporation Road cer being a strong customer. In those days Marks and Spencer were very choosy and only bought from the best British companies. The 1950-60s were great years for the company. They set national records by being the first with 60 gauge 15 denier nylons, and fully fashioned mesh nylons along with fine stretch nylons. With Charnos already a leading hosiery manufacturer they branched out into lingerie in 1958. Lingerie proved so popular that a new building was required for its production. On the company’s 25th anniversary in 1961, a new separate building was erected and extended in 1965 due to the success of Charnos at that time. The workforce had arisen to around 1,000 people by then occupying a 10 acre site. In the early 1960s the radio programme ‘Workers Playtime’ came to Charnos. Top stars of the day appeared such as singer Vince Eager, entertainer Two Ton Tessie O’Shea, comedian Derek Roy, trombonist Don Lang and ventriloquist Peter Brough with dummy Archie Andrews, to entertain the workforce. I saw at least three ‘Workers Playtimes’ in the main canteen whilst working at Stanton during the 1950’s. The Beverley Sisters along with Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson were among the performers. I believe Petula Clark and Frankie Vaughan also visited
Young thoughts in verse bitions, I know I will do it. I am a mysterious girl with big am- I say I care, bitions, I dream the undreamable. I wonder if I will ever see the stars, I try to help, I hear the cries in the night I hope I succeed I see the future unfold, I am a mysterious girl with big amI want hope. bitions.
I Am
I am a mysterious girl with big ambitions, I pretend I have the cure, I feel the cold air, I touch the sadness. I worry about the children to come and the adults to go, I cry for cancer. I am a mysterious girl with big am-
16 Ilkeston Life, March 2017
Lara Rose Ingle Age 10 (at time of writing the poem)
World War One
grey sack. Who were these men standing tall, Who were these men who saved us all. Thank you. God bless all those souls that died for our freedom Thank you for letting us sit here today I will never forget what you did for us.
Lara Rose Ingle
Age 9 (at time of writing the poWho were these men in green and em) black, Who were these men carrying a
Booth’s factory during the 1960s, although I don’t think it was on ‘Workers Playtime’. These pop stars are largely forgotten except by people of my generation. Charnos also had its own chaplain, the Rev. Brian Mayer, a Methodist Minister. The company also had its annual Carnival and Gala with a beauty queen being selected yearly. The 1970s were starting to become difficult for these type of companies. There were rumours of possible closure in 1972 but there was no truth in those. Pay disputes took place in 1976 with the firm closing its lingerie building on Furnace Road. The company, however, kept its annual gala going with sky divers appearing in 1974. The company had many ups and downs possibly due to cheaper manufacturing taking place in the Far East and parts of Europe. This affected most companies of this type in Ilkeston throughout the 1980s and 1990s resulting in many closures. Charnos was eventually taken over by Richard Robert Knitwear and was closed in 2002. The Noskwith family were great benefactors to Ilkeston with the Charnos Jubilee Hall being opened at the Ilkeston Community Hospital in 1986 by Annette Noskwith, the wife of Rolf. Various fund raising events took place and £100,000 was raised to meet the cost of the hall. I think our area should be grateful to the family. Ilkeston was fortunate that Charles Noskwith decided to put his business roots down in Ilkeston in 1936. I was born before Charnos was built and I never expected to witness its closure in 2002, and its subsequent demolition in 2007 of which I took many photographs, and, no, I didn’t have the heart to show them to Rolf. The Ilkeston and District Local History Society are keen to hear from anyone who worked in the local factories with their memories. Either through Ilkeston Life or at the Smoothie Bar on Saturday mornings, leave your memories with Paul if you wish.