Adding to the above my Mum was an outdoor worker, she used to make the little fans that adorned the crackers. Gold dust got everywhere in our house! My father made her 2 big carriers for her bicycle, one at the front and one at the back, in order to carry the boxes with the finished fans to the factory.

As Christmas drew near I would sometimes be up until 1 or 2am helping Mum to finish her workload. As my dad was a night watchman for Brown and Tawse, he was never aware of this as I am sure he would have been cross. Although the pay was appalling it did help immensely towards Christmas, because money was always scarce. Not that I was made aware of that fact particularly as a child. I suppose most of us were in the same boat at that time.

I think my Aunty Ada Sykes (Ayres) worked in the factory at one time (possibly before she started her family), but I remember she eventually became an outworker making the giant crackers. Her hallway was always full of the very large boxes which only contained one cracker. I think the factories mentioned were absolutely essential back in the 40/50s.

As a footnote Ada went to Australia in the late 50s on the £10 passage. My parents stayed in Laindon/Langdon Hills until they passed away.

My wife Peggy also worked at the cracker factory post war when Bill Brockwell, with whom I went to school, was manager, at this time one of her workmates was Pam Lucas, the wife of Peter Lucas who became well known locally. 

I can understand Patsy's comments in respect of homeworkers as after leaving the cracker factory my wife began making ties for a business located in the Old Fortune of War. To help her improve her production, we bought an industrial machine in a cabinet which was far superior to her small model, but in the small room of a house was very noisy and the vibrations were felt in other rooms. Peggy was forced to discontinue this work as it was affecting her eyesight and caused severe headaches. She still wished to continue working as she always liked to have some money which was her own and not committed to housekeeping and so she went to work at Yardleys until her retirement. 

Regretfully her retirement was not a very happy one as she became diabetic and suffered strokes which left her almost totally incapacitated and after a number of years I became unable to attend to her 24hr a day needs and she ended her life in the BUPA care home in Ghyyllgrove which had all the necessary equipment for her needs.

I remember going to the bonbon factory with my dad. John Wagner used to wholesale the crackers to him. His name was Arthur Noble. He would get his first lorry load towards the end of October. I remember going to Bill and Margaret Cowell's home. I think they had five children, their daughter always made a fuss of me and my sisters, I used to love going there. It was a great shock I believe Bill was struck down by a virus and died.

Oh! The Bon-Bon factory. My mother made the crackers for a few weeks to earn a some extra pennies in the early 1950's. We were roped in to help, orange & red crepe paper, glue & glitter every where. I still have a Players cigarette tin with the remains of the left over glitter flakes from that time of mums foray into out door work. I can't bring myself to throw it out as I remember her up to her elbows in the mess muttering about "Sweated Labour". Not one of her better ideas.

She tried again working for the Raincoat Factory again I think was somewhere near the Fortune, sewing on buttons to the garments. That did not last long either as collection and delivery was made by the workers and the pay really was appalling. That was the end of her foray into home work.

I have a smiled from ear to ear reading this post, I am Bill Cowell's grandchild. After a few family gatherings I have heard of the "Bon Bon" factory. I never new my Grand Pa Bill, but to read a lot more about Bill on here, and people's fond memories humbles me!

Editor: click on this link to see photographs of Elizabeth Ellerby and some of the workers at the Bon Bon factory link

My mum, Alice White, also used to work at the Bon Bon factory but as I was born in 1948 I don't remember much about it apart from the stories she told

I remember the Christmas cracker factor my mum used to make the crackers at home and my brother used to take them back to the factory we lived in Salibury Avenue until we were compulsory purchased by the council.

My mum can be added to one of the outworkers. We had a back room which was used for cracker/hat making. I can still remember the smell of all the paper and glue. Although it was hard work, it was also a time for socialising - our neighbours used to come in and give a hand to ''Pin'' (my mum's nick-name).

Hallo Wendy Barnes, I was very friendly with your dad, Billy, also with Cliff. They were both regulars at the St. Nicholas Church Saturday night dances and also on Wednesdays at the British Legion Hall, but the latter were DIY dances using a gramophone. I never saw Billy after the war but met Cliff many times and he attended my youngest son's wedding. I believe he was then working at Marconi.

Hello Wendy, you will not remember me, however you may remember my sister Beryl who was on occasions your baby sitter when you lived in Nicholas Lane. I was in your sister Linda's classes all through our school years. Still in touch occassionally with her, I also remember your brother Eric.

I am Bill Cowell's daughter and it has been wonderful reading the memories that many people have of the cracker factory, John Wagner and of course my father. Unfortunately dad died in 1964 leaving my mother Margaret with five of us aged between 5-18. Dad's brother Cliff also died a few years ago. I still clearly remember being taken to the factory as a child and it seemed like some kind of wonderland! My elder sister Linda used to trek from school (Laindon High Road) to the factory every afternoon and pick up the post then walk all the way back to the postoffice with it!

Hello Mr Diment, I am so glad you remember the dancing at the hall as you say "a most unlikely venue" but I must add all our family wedding receptions were held there in 50s and 60s. Will I ever forget after each wedding walking down the grass hill to the hall for the receptions.

The Saturday morning jumbles there were also a must visit. The last time I recall using the hall was for a party I arranged for the Pound Lane residents for the Queens Silver Jubilee. Does anyone else remember that? We all had a great night.

Hallo Gloria Sewell, you report on the ballroom dancing at the St. Nicholas Church Hall. Despite amost unlikely venue, there were some very proficient dancers prewar, apart from John Wagner and quite obviously your mother there was Frank Gammon and his partner, a young lady from Westcliff whose name I cannot remember, but whom he later married. The people who attended were regulars and it could well have been called a club. The hall was something of a community centre and other regular functions which took place there were male gymnastic classes on Thursdays run by Eric Barfield and Fred Tallboys. A similar ladies class was held on Tuesdays. There was of course Sunday School classes and post war cubs and scouts which prewar were hel d at St. Peters hall. I have memories one of which I have recounted in respect of Mr. Hope the caretaker and verger.

Hello Mr Diment, I can remember my mother Violet Davies then telling me she used to go ballroom dancing in St Nicholas hall. She was a lovely ballroom dancer and won some competitions this would have been about 1938-1942 I will never forget watching her in awe as she danced the foxtrot to Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered. Beautiful!

Further to Colin Ferrier details about the cracker factory, I am sorry that Bill Cowell died. He and brother Cliff were also regulars at the dances at St. Nicholas Church Hall. His father Ray I knew well as a Bipol player and if my memory is correct moved into the Rayleigh Area and I may have played cricket aginst Colin at Rayleigh.

Bill and Cliff Cowell were my mother's two brothers, her name being Elsie Cowell. John Wagner was a long standing friend of the Cowell family and lodged in the 40s and 50s with my grandmother and grandfather in Samual Rd. 

The family also assisted John prior to the war in establishing his original factory, Primrose Lodge which was on the right hand side of Langdon Hills High Rd at the start of Crown Hill (just past the Berry Lane turning). I believe Primrose Lodge closed at the beginning of WW II. Whilst I cannot recall when the Arterial Rd premises closed, I do know that it was a short time following the tragic death of Bill Cowell. Some time later cracker production restarted in a factory unit in Rayleigh but ceased following the death of John. Hilda Negus, whom I remember well was certainly the forelady.

The factory was opened pre-war by John Wagner in  a large house in the High Rd., Langdon Hills.  I knew John fairly well as an accomplished ballroom dancer who regularly attended the Saturday night dances at the St.Nicholas Church Hall. After the dance finished as many as possible would climb into his Triumph Dolomite and others follow on foot to a large wooden cafe adjacent to the Fortune of War, where we would drink tea and continue dancing to an old wind up gramophone. 

When war came, John  was interned.  The A127 factory came into being after his release. The manager of the new factory was Bill Brockwell, with Billy and Cliff Cowell as assistants, although Billy was one of his prewar employees. The forelady, if that is the right word, was Hilda Negus. 

When the factory closed, Bill Brockwell entered the licence trade and did part of his managers training at the Fortune of War, Cliff Cowell obtained a position at Marconi’s but I do not know where Billy Cowell went to.

Hi Joe, you asked about James garage. If you look on the message board under "Laindon Service Station" there is some more imformation on it.

I worked at Wagners from 1962 to 1965. My name then was Pam Atkins and Hetty Eldridge was my supervisor. My mum was Lou Atkins and she made up the parcels for the outdoor workers with Ethel Scurrel and Pat Harrington. I have photos of some of the girls and some names I can't remember, here goes with those I can. Sisters Vera and Betty Green, Lil Marshall, Pat Richer, Barbara Jackson, Betty Godard, Paula Glass, Dolly Jacobs, Maud Meggs, Eve ?, Betty ?, Nell ? (who was Welsh) and her friend Miriam ?, Elsie Oliver, Hazel Gray, Gladys Goodwin (I think). Some of these girls worked with Joan Hartley: Jean Clark (Bob's sister), Olive from Colchester. Hazel Sheppard who worked downstairs, was my mum's friend and neighbour.

Does anyone remember James Garage on the other side of the A127 just at the top of Kings Road

Does anybody remember the day of the Cracker Factory raid? It happened one beautiful sunny Sunday morning in May 1967. We heard a rumour via our telephone that the owners had gone bankrupt and had announced to the children of Laindon that they could go and help themselves to the remaining stock. My brother and myself decided to walk across the field to see for ourselves (we lived just a field away from the ‘Bon Bon’ factory). We looked through the hedge and sure enough, dozens of children including some of their parents were taking away boxes of crackers, some being loaded into the back of cars. A couple of hours later, we received a second telephone call saying that the rumour had been a hoax and the Police had been called. We decided to take another walk and on peering through the hedge again, we could see the parked Police cars and the Policemen shooing away the children and their parents. I never found out the truth about how the incident came about, but do know there were a few extra crackers to pull in Laindon that following Christmas.

My sister Sylvie and I would make the crackers for mum as well. Everytime I pass the building in the car I recall it all so clearly!

I helped my stepfather in the Sixties to stoke and clean out the boilers at that bon-bon factory there was the anodising plant on the same site.

I remember bon bon factory my mum used to do outwork for them, I remember helping her make crackers. She also used to do outwork doing ties how Laindon has changed since those days, not for the best I can't help thinking.

My mum (Joan Newman) worked at the cracker factory and was working there when she got married in 1949. She was presented with a set of silver and white crackers for her wedding guests. My aunt also worked at the factory (Lou Hunt).

John I recall the tie factory at the side of Kentex cleaners this was I think in the Forties/Fifties a couple of my aunts worked there. Whether it was the same tie makers I'm not sure?

I remember this cracker factory very well my mum was one of the outworkers. I recall our hallway being full of boxes, and I would have to come home from school and make a certain number of the crackers before I was allowed out to play. Mum later went to work at the dartboard factory as a silk screen printer, and I think this factory was on the same site.

The Christmas Cracker or “Bon-bon” Factory was situated on the south side (London bound carriageway) of the Arterial Road (A127) west of the New Fortune of War roundabout. It was close to the “Keep Dry” Dartboard Factory, with the SX Tools Engineering works last in line travelling westward. It is definitely known that, of the three, SX Tool was turned over to manufacturing components for military use in WW2, but were the other two? Oh, and talking of manufacturing, what was done at Pavie’s Necktie works at the Old Fortune of War during the same period?

When we first moved into King Edward Rd about 1948 my mother used to get outdoor work from the cracker factory. We used to have a room full of toys, hats and motives she would have a metal roller a pot of glue and a box of elastic bands we would all muck in in the evenings to help make them. We had a very large hall just as well because it used to be full of boxes of crackers. My brother Fred and I could have any little toys that were left. I recall a big white lorry would come round to collect and deliver them, quite a number of families used to make them at home.

I remember this factory very well, only we referred to it as the Bon-Bon factory. My friend's sister worked there and we could always tell which colour crackers she had been making as the crepe paper stained her hands.