88-year-old Notts man reveals lost projects from across the county

Thomas Bow City Asphalt built many of the iconic buildings, housing estates and schools in Nottinghamshire and as part of its 150th anniversary celebrations the firm has been delving into its history and came across an unexplained void in its past.

Finding a gap in the archives during World War II Thomas Bow put a call out for ex-employees to come forward and share stories of the company that had such an impact on the county’s landscape.

88-year-old Kenneth Steele from Clifton, who started with Thomas Bow at 16 years-old, has unearthed that, during WWII, Thomas Bow rebuilt many bombed Nottinghamshire factories. One project for the company was the William Dixon & Co. factory in Hounds Gate it also worked on camouflaging the roof of the Royal Ordnance Factory to blend in with the surrounding buildings.

Of the company’s work during the war, Kenneth said: “In my opinion Thomas Bow’s enormous impact on the city’s landscape and its instrumental role in rebuilding of the city during WWII is not generally realised by the Nottingham public.

“The firm worked on a number of sites which were directly affected by the war and needed immediate attention to keep the county running as it needed to.”

Perhaps the most significant project was the rebuilding of Newark’s Ransome & Marles bearings factory – and later an adjacent office block – in just three weeks after it was devastated by an air raid on 7 March 1941. The raid left 41 people dead and another 165 badly wounded. The day of the bombing came to be known as Newark’s Black Friday.

Kenneth Steele (left) and co-worker at Ramsome and Marles factory site

Kenneth started working for Thomas Bow alongside his father as an apprentice brick layer in 1945 but was shortly called up to serve in the armed forces during WWII. After being demobbed, he re-joined the company as a brick layer and later promoted to foreman. He progressed through the ranks to safety supervisor and worked closely with the senior management team.

He said: “Because my job took me on every Bow building site to ensure that all scaffolding and plant safety obligations were met, I became the first safety supervisor at Thomas Bow.

“Thomas Bow was a first-class organisation to work for. There was no better company within the industry and I especially had a really good working relationship with Thomas Bow, or ‘Mr Tom’ as everyone called him. Over the years I developed a very close working relationship with Mr Tom, Mr Bede and Mr Bill and, with their backing, the firm developed a safety culture second to none.

“When I left the company in 1969, Mr Tom called at my home to wish me luck and he gave my son Andrew a quick ride in his Jaguar. I have very fond memories of my time with the company.”

Alistair Bow, sixth generation managing director and chairman at Thomas Bow, said: “We have very limited records of Thomas Bow’s activity during WWII so for Kenneth to share his experience and uncover our previously lost projects is immensely valuable.

“To find out that, as a company, we reconstructed the Ransome & Marles bearings factory in just three weeks is astounding. Naturally, keeping records was not a priority during that time and the only way we can find out about the work the company did then is through individuals such as Kenneth. Without him, we would still be in the dark regarding much of what was done during that time.

“I feel so passionately about making Thomas Bow a great place to work and to hear from Kenneth that previous generations had the same outlook is very special.”