PAPERmaking! g FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY Volume 6, Number 2, 2020 Editions Edited Francis M. Bolam Feb. 1960 – Apr. 1970 R.L. Ballard June 1970 – Oct. 1974 J.M. Wilson Dec. 1974 – Sept. 1976 R.S. Maxwell Fendt Oct. 1976 – Apr. 1984 Don Attwood (acting) Aug. 1984 – Dec. 1985 Margaret Marley Feb. 1986 – (Dec. 2009) EDITOR
Figure 11: Magazine Editors (period 1960-2000). Behind the scenes, despite much discussion, PITA and PIRA remained together a decade; Don Attwood, and PITA Manager Tom Bolton, were two significant personalities that kept the ship afloat during this long association. Upon the final dissolution, in 1994, PITA left its home in Surrey and went north to its current residence, in Bury, under the direction of John Clewley (Figure 12), its new Executive Director. 44 The move meant that long-time Surrey office staff members Lesley Heard and Tara Doyle left, to be replaced in Bury by Sandra Evans and Joanne Jost, 45 and a year later they were supplemented by ‘Girl Friday’ Helen Sudhurst, 46 who would in time marry John Dolan – and the rest, as they say, is history. (Helen Dolan is the longest serving PITA staff member, and has just celebrated her own Silver Jubilee! - DCC)
Figure 12: L to R: John Clewley (PITA Executive Director 1993-2007), Sandra Evans, Joanne Jost and Helen Sudhurst. To conclude this part of the story, having weathered two brutal recessions that saw significant mill closures in the 1970s and 1980s, being cast adrift from its founding Association, and faced with an ever-shrinking workforce from which to draw membership, PITA got to the new millennium in much better shape than it had been for some time. With eight decades already behind it, what would the new millennium hold? Appendix 1: Paper Museum – Rise and Fall In 1957 a committee was formed to organise a national museum dedicated to the industry. The Trust Deed was drawn up by April 1960, the three trustees being H.R. Balston, Rémy Green, and P.H. Prior, and it was reported that offers of old machines and apparatus had been received and earmarked for the museum; indeed, it was hoped that these would include the experimental Inverform machine. 47 In less than a year a site was found: Joynson’s Mill, St, Mary Cray, operated by Wiggins Teape Group under the auspices of Vegetable Parchment Mills (Delcroix) Ltd. 48 The following chief exhibits were held: Hand Press; Waterleaf Dryer; Waterwheel; Rag Beater; Mould Rinsing Tank; Wooden Rag Duster; Stamper for Washing Felt; Stuff Chest and Vat Pump; Vat with Agitator and Bridge; Couch Stool, Felt Stool and Ancillary Drying Equipment; Rag Boiler; Copper Vat Heater; Strainer; and Dandy Roll. There was also a model of the press part of a Fourdrinier machine, and an exhibit recounting development work on the Inverform machine. So it is immediately obvious that the vast majority of exhibits related to hand manufacture of paper; there was little noted as regards machine making.
Article 16 – PITA History Parts 1-3
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