| Oh the British weather! Sure enough, there have been some decent days but, in keeping with May 2024, this must be one of the dankest, wettest Junes of recent years.
The best part of a year ago, ATC, the loudspeaker and electronics people based near Stroud, started trailing their 50th birthday celebrations. A summer party was planned. ‘Save the date’ they said. Beyond this, we had no idea what they had in mind.
Being of an economical bent and with some history working in transport, I suggested we Dovetail the imminent delivery of a new Accuphase DP 770 CD / SACD player to a customer in Tadley (near Reading) with the trip to Stroud. Then, on Friday, the opportunity came to also take an ex dem REL Carbon sub to a buyer in Bracknell. Efficiency in all things!
The perils of tight scheduling is something I also remember from my haulage days and it all came back to me in spades as we sat in endlessly crawling traffic on the way to Bracknell, let alone getting to ATC. The event kicked of at 3PM Saturday and suffice it to say that we were fashionably late.
The party was located in a field behind the ATC factory buildings, Bob Polley who was co-director with Billy Woodman for many years, had taken charge of the arrangements. It was genuinely remarkable with a full fairground encompassing Wall of Death, Helter-skelter, Merry-go-Round, live music of various kinds, free drinks, excellent free food, oh, and a tent containing at least part of their historic vehicle collection. The rows of deck-chairs looked rather forlorn on a grey, damp and chilly day. How amazing it would have been had June performed as it should.
Much of ATC’s customer base is the professional world and they have some very high profile musicians on their user list. I looked carefully around but failed to spot any members of Pink Floyd, Dhani Harrison or even the Stones munching with us.
It’s a good few years since we’ve met Bob Polley but, astonishingly, he recognised us instantly “the amount of hassle you gave me, how could I forget?!”. There was a sad note, though, and this was addressed in the speeches. Company founder, Billy Woodman died in 2022. His son, Will, is now in the chair.
It’s great to see that ATC is becoming ever more vibrant and forward-looking but having the ‘main man’ around for these celebrations would have been lovely.
Andy and I had a brief look the ATC factory site a few months ago and learned something of their plans. Kevin and Mick really ought to visit too and we can perhaps get them to write up a description.
I expect Kevin will shoot a video . . . |
