Description:On the left is Daphne Warrington with her sister Barbara Warrington on the right. They are pictured at an Open Day at the English Electric’s Main Works site on Lichfield Road, Stafford.
In this scene several musical instruments are placed on the ground which suggests the band may have gone for refreshments. The photograph was taken on an area known as The Hough Cricket Ground which was located in the centre of the Main Works site. In the background on the left are the Main Offices, next is the Cricket pavilion, then the gable ends of the original part of the Siemens factory, adjacent is the Fabrication office building and behind is 12 shop and 656 shop, also known as the Tank shop which manufactured large tanks often for Transformers and during the Second World War assembled armoured vehicles which included the Covenanter, Centaur, Comet and Cromwell tanks. The buildings on the right are part of the old Canteen which was demolished in the 1960s and replaced by a new Canteen and Theatre Hall complex known as Stychfields Hall, this in turn has since been demolished to make way for a large housing development.
Additional information on the Lichfield Road site: The Stafford Works was renowned for its electrical equipment products including generators, transformers and switchgear. Siemens Brothers purchased land by the Lichfield Road in 1901 and built a factory and offices which were ready to start production in 1903. In 1918 Siemens merged with several companies, including Dick, Kerr and Co., to become The English Electric Co. Two years later in 1920, The English Electric Co bought the Stafford Works. The English Electric Co. merged with GEC (The General Electric Company) during 1968, and the Lichfield Road Site became part of GEC Power Engineering Ltd. On 22 March 1989 became part of GEC ALSTHOM, an Anglo-French Joint Venture. On 22 June 1998 this in turn became part of ALSTOM with global HQ in Paris and on 2 November 2015 the Stafford Grid and Power Businesses became part of GE (General Electric, an American Company).
Between 2006 and 2021 a large part of the former Main Works site was demolished and redeveloped as a retail park and a housing development. However, on a separate but neighbouring site the Transformer Works remains and is still operational (July 2026) as part of the GE Vernova group.
Photograph kindly provided by Nicola Godley. The picture is thought to have been taken by her Grandfather Albert van Cortlandt Warrington, who was a former employee of the English Electric Company.