Thomas Gameson & Sons – 200 years in business and tinning all the time!

For Thomas Gameson & Son the year 2018 is quite a landmark in the company’s history as this will be their bi-centenary…….quite an achievement today.

As a lad growing up in Walsall in the 1950s one place that was always full of intrigue for us kids was the Gameson site in Dudley Street and the surrounding areas. Even on Saturday afternoons or Sunday mornings when the site was quiet there was always a plume of pungent smoke or steam being emitted from one of the many chimneys…….and then there was the permanent smell!

1782 map — This map from 1792 shows the ‘Meeting House’, home of Thomas and John Gameson and where they started their business from in 1818. Some 29 years earlier in 1763 the site was the first independent Meeting House of the Congregational Church in Staffordshire, a 200 year anniversary was held at Gameson’s factory in 1963 to celebrate the occasion.

During the first week of December 2017……..yes 2017, Lawrence Gameson the current managing director, who I had known for several years, contacted me to ask if I could produce a calendar to celebrate the company’s 200 years in business. I am pleased to say, with Lawrence’s help, the calendar will be sent out to his clients in mid to late January, a little later than we would have liked but given the time scale, not bad!

Gameson factory 1950s — *This 1950s image is for me one of the great images of a Walsall long gone. The Gameson factory is across the middle with the premises of John Shannon & Son in the background.*

The two companies in the picture above were removed from the Walsall skyline in totally different ways. Gamesons became the victim of a compulsory purchase order in the 1970s “to make way for the new ring road”! In August 2007 the empty Shannon’s building became yet another victim of the Phantom Flame Flinger of Old Walsall Town in August 2007. The site is now occupied by the Asda car park and where the Shannon’s factory stood, well, that’s just a mess. Progress in Walsall appears with good intent but inevitably finishes up with the town taking many steps backwards!

The following images show the 16 pages that make up the A3 calendar produced to celebrate the company’s bi-centenary.