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Ron Levett, born in Alfriston, East Sussex, enlisted in 1943, and whilst posted to the British Liberation Army, took part in the liberation of Germany. He then returned to England, setting up his own electronics business and developing an interest in the new entertainment of the time - television.
We met an engineer called Bert Siggs, who worked at a firm in East Hoathley called Aeroservices Ltd. They were a manufacturer of precision components for the aero industry. He asked if we would be interested in carrying out the electrical work for the firm.
We met his boss, who told us that they were moving into new premises, which were some quarter of a mile from the existing site. This was quite a large job and kept us busy for a time. Luckily, Dennis Boys had just been demobbed from the RAF and had joined us, he soon to become the works foreman.
We installed the machines complete with all their starter gear, connected up to conduit that was fed from overhead trunking. Heavy-duty switchgear was needed to control the large currents involved.
We got to know Bert very well and supplied him with a TV and aerial at the house he lived in just North of East Hoathley. The owner of the factory had a very attractive secretary and there were many guesses as to how close she was to the boss!
The site that Aeroservices moved out of was an old chapel, actually being called Chapel Works. A new firm moved in there, as it's first premises, called Satellite Engineering. The Hook family owned the firm; the Managing Director's name was Brian.
His brother-in-law was the firm Secretary, and Brian's father also helped in the factory. Their business was making aluminium extrusions. Small discs of aluminium were placed into a very large machine, which squeezed them into the required shape, depending on which die had been used.
Brian asked us, while we were still moving Aeroservices equipment out of the Chapel works, if we would be interested in carrying out the installation work for his firm. We, of course were only too delighted, we were taking on all the work we could find at the time, and were expanding fast.
So started a long and rewarding friendship with the Hook family in general and Brian in particular.
After the aluminium cans, which the discs became, were completed they had to be placed in a degreasing machine. This suspended them in an atmosphere of Carbon Tetrachloride, the fumes from which cleaned all the natural grease form the metal.
The machine was rather primitive and used three 3KW immersion heaters fitted in the bottom of the tank. The cans requiring degreasing were then suspended in a wire basket over the vapour rising from the liquid.
Of course, there were the usual jokes about the vapour causing sterility and/or impotence, but I never heard of any dire consequences.
About a year after starting the business, Satellite Engineering told us they were moving to a new, purpose built factory at Hackhurst Lane, Lower Dicker. We arranged with Seeboard for a 3-phase 500A supply to be installed and we set up the necessary main switch and fuse boards, with trunking runs on both floors.
Some of the extrusion machines that were placed on the lower floor were really huge. It seemed funny to watch the amount of effort that was required to produce quite a small can, a huge machine and a lot of noise, almost like an elephant giving birth to a mouse!
There were offices built, with washrooms and toilets for both sexes at one end of the upper floor, with a separate staircase for the office staff, a staff dining room and a sumptuous office for Brian, as Managing Director.
At more than one planning meeting that necessarily required input from Electrical Contractors, Frank and I both attended. After the meeting we were entertained to lunch and the wine flowed liberally. I can't remember driving back to Alfriston!
Satellite bought a new degreaser, a large commercial model, fitted with 6 immersion heater elements. This was installed on the lower floor of the factory. The maker's installation engineer arrived at about 9 o'clock in the morning and told us that he had another machine to commission the following morning in South Wales!
We set to with a will, running a 100A supply for the heaters and the motors. This model had a system of metal baskets to hold the components being degreased, which the operator could load while the machine was carrying out the operation on the previous basket.
The job of wiring it up was very involved and took all day. We eventually finished wiring at about 10.30 pm and the engineer then had to commission it. This was quite a long job because of the time it took for the liquid to heat up, but it was finished just on midnight.
Brian had sent out for champagne and we toasted the new machine in Moet & Chandon. The engineer, of course, had to drive all the way to Wales, so he had to make do with coffee.
Ron Levett, 2001
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