Judi (Creative Director) writes:
Whilst a lot of the country are
enjoying tennis season and Wimbledon, we have been busy filming for our latest
production, ‘Playmakers’ a short film and exhibition about the Sykes/ Slazenger
Factory in Horbury.
What a gem of a story this is.
William Sykes was only 23 when, against family advice, he married Ethel
Marshall. Using his wife’s savings William bought a saddle business in Horbury
in the 1870s. The factory has had a long and fascinating history including
being taken over by Slazenger in 1942, Slazenger were then taken over by Dunlop
Rubber in 1959 and then purchased in 1985 by BTR PLC, (both brand names Dunlop
and Slazenger were kept) the factory finally closed in 1986. Apart from during the war when the Sykes
factory made a variety of army equipment including gun parts, the main business
has been in producing sports equipment.
Last week we were very lucky to be
filming Robert Haines who was Technical Manager at Slazenger and oversaw the
build of a new product research centre at the site in Horbury. The centre was
opened in 1978 and was a hive of innovation and excellence. Tennis rackets, one
of the companies’ top products, were traditionally made from wood planks, but
the team at Horbury showed incredible ingenuity with their approach to
producing a new product which would change the face of racket sports forever. Robert
and his team lead the way in the switch over to graphite frames with the launch
of the Max 200g tennis racket, the first graphite racket, and the first to be
constructed using injection moulding. The racket made its debut in the early 1980s
as the preferred choice of world renowned players John McEnroe and Steffi Graf.
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| Bob Haines with Dunlop Racket |
Robert shared with us the
excitement of working at the old Sykes factory at this time including when the
Dunlop Max 200g went on to win lots of prestigious awards including the Queens
Award for Technological Achievement 1985. The factory site now is an industrial
park full of small businesses, but from the early days of it being a saddlery,
through to it being the home of one of the most successful global brands in the
world, the Sykes site holds some magnificent stories. The Horbury factory and
its local workforce has produced some of the UK’s most famous sporting
equipment in the world, from cricket bats to boxing gloves and including the
famous Zig Zag football used in the 1966 World Cup.
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| Bob Haines' award for Max 200g Racket Technology |
Working with Wakefield Museum we
are keen to find any interesting stories from people who worked at the Horbury
factory, we are also looking for any artefacts/items that people may have that
could contribute to an exhibition entitled ‘Playmakers’ later in the year.
If you would like to contribute to
the project in any way, please email us at One to One or ring 07901 686142
Judi Alston
Creative Director
One to One Development Trust
Creative Director
One to One Development Trust
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