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View Full Version : Sad news - no Blackburn Mullards any more..



aquapiranha
24-09-2009, 10:50
Very sad.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/blackburn/4642860.Historic_Blackburn_firm_in_administration/

freefallrob
24-09-2009, 11:24
It is sad, yet more manufacturing in the UK lost.....

Marco
24-09-2009, 11:53
What's going to happen to TechTube then, I wonder? :(

Marco.

Barry
24-09-2009, 16:40
Whilst saddened at the loss of yet another world class UK manufacturer folding, I'm not really surprised and to be honest, have been expecting it since I read about the start up at the beginning of the year.

I wonder how much NOS E813CC s will go for on eBay?

I shall now cherish the few Mullard valves in my collection.

Sadly yours

Spectral Morn
24-09-2009, 16:50
What's going to happen to TechTube then, I wonder? :(

Marco.

If someones got any sense they will buy that part of the company and the machines and the talented guys behind it.

Sorry I haven't had a chance to hear any. You will no doubt find out at the audio show.

Sad yes another British company gone, but also a vital company in audio history.


Regards D S D L

DSJR
24-09-2009, 16:56
Jack Straw will "give his support" to the company - yeah, right.........

I get mad when I see some genuinely innovative products being discontinued because of our shortsightedness. I bet that the few remaining TV tube manufacturers will look at what these guys were doing and do similar things themselves - probably worse....:(

I feel for the staff...

REM
25-09-2009, 10:03
Jack Straw will "give his support" to the company - yeah, right.........


I feel for the staff...

Of course we all feel for the staff, that site has been shedding jobs for the last 30 years, everyone in Blackburn has either been directly or indirectly affected and there will be worse to come as more of the 'hi-tech' spin off industries up sticks and move to the far east.
As for Jack Straw, words fail me. He had a column in last nights' LET in which he attempted to explain the current economic crisis, in the most patronising,
over simplistic and demeaning way imaginable likening the global balls up to a businessman attempting to refinance his company by remortgaging his house and the role/responsibility of the banks in all this.
FFS, just how stupid does he think we all are? Being lectured, or talked down to more like, from the likes of Straw/Brown/Darling/Hamilton and the rest who have never done a days work in their privileged and incompetent little lives makes me want to puke. To add insult to injury there wasn't one word in the article about the Micro/TubeTech closure, bloody typical and I can't find on the Lancs Telegraph website either so he obviously realises what a total twunt he's made himself look and had it pulled.
Dropped 'her ladyship' at work this morning and drove past the site at 7am, not a sole in sight or even a light on inside, all very ominous I fear.:(

anthonyTD
25-09-2009, 10:25
Of course we all feel for the staff, that site has been shedding jobs for the last 30 years, everyone in Blackburn has either been directly or indirectly affected and there will be worse to come as more of the 'hi-tech' spin off industries up sticks and move to the far east.
As for Jack Straw, words fail me. He had a column in last nights' LET in which he attempted to explain the current economic crisis, in the most patronising,
over simplistic and demeaning way imaginable likening the global balls up to a businessman attempting to refinance his company by remortgaging his house and the role/responsibility of the banks in all this.
FFS, just how stupid does he think we all are? Being lectured, or talked down to more like, from the likes of Straw/Brown/Darling/Hamilton and the rest who have never done a days work in their privileged and incompetent little lives makes me want to puke. To add insult to injury there wasn't one word in the article about the Micro/TubeTech closure, bloody typical and I can't find on the Lancs Telegraph website either so he obviously realises what a total twunt he's made himself look and had it pulled.
Dropped 'her ladyship' at work this morning and drove past the site at 7am, not a sole in sight or even a light on inside, all very ominous I fear.:(

hi ralph,
i am just sick and tired of seeing and learning of more engineering sites being closed in this country, pretty soon we wont have a hope in hell's chance of supporting our selves if there were a real crisis worldwide because we are losing all the skills and the skilled people that once made this country great and therefore able to fend for itself.:(
A...

DaveK
25-09-2009, 11:21
Hi Guys,
Living near Sheffield for most of my life I've witnessed the demise of manufacturing industry and been made redundant twice because of it, so I am all too sadly aware of what is happening in Blackburn. What worries me is what will happen to our country when the ones making the money (in the middle and far east) work out how to do for themselves what the city of London does for them now. It might just reverse the immigration trends but that's another subject - will they make us as welcome as we, as a country, have made their citizens? - I rather doubt it.
The only spark of light on the horizon that I can see is, hopefully, the same will tend to happen as has happened to the brewing industry - small companies are gobbled up and disappear (in this industry manly to mainland Europe) and small artisan breweries arise to meet the needs of the people who appreciate the real thing. Hopefully some of these will flourish and grow and the cycle will resume - always assuming of course that we are left with enough money to spend on ale. Perhaps even the same thing could be said to be happening to the hi-fi industry, hence the trend to making our own kit, some of which then turns into a profitable hobby and then a mini business
We Brits are a resiliant bunch and I'm sure that we won't let it go totally down the tubes but, IMHO, any lead in that direction will start from the bottom upwards rather than the reverse. By and large our 'leaders', IMHO, are a set of self interested tossers who believe the public is there to serve them rather than the reverse - roll on the revolution!!
Rant over.
Victor, aka Disgruntled of Sheffield. :steam: .

DSJR
25-09-2009, 12:04
All this "Education, Education, Education" bull is going to affect things too. As standards "rise," so will the required qualifications needed to get there will too.

I'm gradually clawing my way into the education system as a humble TA/Cover Assistant. I was told the other day that a BSc won't be enough to get into teaching before too long. teaching applicants will have to have an MA instead. Indeed, our local High School's 6th form head is studying for his MA "just-in-case," as well as furthering his own ambitions and education. On the other hand, to be fair, support staff are actively encouraged to further their training and education as a means of progressing their career and ambitions.

Back in 1973, you needed A levels - two B's and a C - to enter medicine. I understand it's at least three grade "A's" AT LEAST now...... I hope these extremely clever students have grade "A" life skills too!!!!!!!!!

hifi_dave
25-09-2009, 12:14
I'm confused, even more than normal.:scratch:

Was this the company that started making new designs of tubes just recently ?

One of the reasons that this once great country is going down the toilet rapidly, is that we don't manufacture anything anymore. We have nothing to sell and the Government has no interest in helping companies to get started again. What about opening up the pits once more ? This wll get thousands of men back to work instead of giving them benefits and save a fortune now spent on buying in coal from Poland.

Oh, don't get me started.....:steam:

REM
25-09-2009, 13:20
I'm confused, even more than normal.:scratch:

Was this the company that started making new designs of tubes just recently ?

..... What about opening up the pits once more ? This wll get thousands of men back to work instead of giving them benefits and save a fortune now spent on buying in coal from Poland.

Oh, don't get me started.....:steam:

Hi Dave

As I understand it MicroSystems has gone tits up, I think they are TubeTechs' parent company so at the moment it looks bad for T/T. Great shame really if they had a bit more time to get established and secure some proper overseas distribution there may have been a rosy future as a hi-end supplier to the audio and pro-music markets. Instead we've got J. Straw with his platitudes and mealy mouthed worthless words and then another hundred or so families facing an uncertain future.
I happen to think that TubeTech have a potentially fantastic product and all it would take is a little forward thinking and imaginative political intervention to help get the ball rolling, chances of that happening, well I'd rather put my money on the proverbial pussycat in hell.
It seems that heritage, expertise and innovation count for nothing when you can buy stuff in from Asia Inc for next to no money, trouble is that is usually all it is worth but who cares these days?

PS The pits?? That bloody Thatcher woman finished them off for good, geology dictates that once a pit is closed, it's closed for good. That also means that we will now find it impossible to access the estimated 300 years worth of coal resources should the strategic need arise, good planning that.

DaveK
25-09-2009, 13:25
Back in 1973, you needed A levels - two B's and a C - to enter medicine. I understand it's at least three grade "A's" AT LEAST now...... I hope these extremely clever students have grade "A" life skills too!!!!!!!!!

Hi Dave,
Hope your quest to get back into education is successful but .....
a friend of mine took the same option when he was made redundant a few years ago and I don't have any reason to believe things have got better (my daughter is a teacher (Asst. Head actually) in the midlands). One particular Science teacher told him that he had given up trying to teach some classes and looked to his Teaching Assistant to help him maintain discipline - a lesson without discipline problems was regarded as a successful lesson - where is that education system going to get the country? - I despair!!
They say that a cynic is someone who looks both ways when crossing a one way street - under that definition I plead guilty, but I suspect that the medical schools have not raised their standards but rather the examination boards have lowered theirs. My 'inside' source of information definitely thinks so. All the medical schools are trying to do is ensure that the money spent on training Doctors is not wasted on the less able, IMHO, trying to 'skim the cream' such as it is with our education system.
Disgruntled 'Victor' of Sheffield.

bacobits
25-09-2009, 15:13
Damn, that's too bad.
I had been following what and when their offerings were going to be available.

hifi_dave,
"One of the reasons that this once great country is going down the toilet rapidly, is that we don't manufacture anything anymore. We have nothing to sell and the Government has no interest in helping companies to get started again."


Yup, agree, exactly the same here in the US.
WTF are we going to do?

DSJR
25-09-2009, 17:12
DaveK - AlexM and I are very fortunate to be living in the "cozy duvet" county where, even in Ipswich, the vibe is slower and more "sixties retro." - if you disbelieve me Alex, go and live in Luton or Bedford for a few years - Ipswich is wonderful by comparison!!!!! In "my" area, the kids are usually pretty good on the whole, the schools are pretty good (on the whole) and the schools I work at are very keen to raise standards, especially the High School, where the young and infectiously dynamic new head is determined to make the existing school (and the two-schools-joined-up new-build we HOPE to have soon) an outstanding one and is keen to attract staff from all backgrounds, encouraging career progression..

I have high hopes, although the three extra hours I've been given, starting today (eight and a quarter paid hours per week - wow!!!!!) will be deducted from the JSA payment :( :violin: :unfair: :wah:

REM
25-09-2009, 17:58
Hi Dave

As you're working with kids may I offer some advice, always and I mean always have a witness;)

Cheers

DSJR
25-09-2009, 18:15
Taken on board and thanks for the reminder ;) - discussed this week regarding my cover-supervision role as it develops. Pupils with special needs often want help on a one-to-one basis and concerns have been raised as the learning-support centre is in a separate sub-block and it's often necessary to have the doors shut in this little facility. This is being re-considered............

Alex_UK
25-09-2009, 19:07
...even in Ipswich, the vibe is slower and more "sixties retro." - if you disbelieve me Alex, go and live in Luton or Bedford for a few years - Ipswich is wonderful by comparison!!!!!

Well I did move here from good old Norfolk, or as I like to call it, the "cul-de-sac of Britain" - Ipswich is so fast paced in comparison! But, I did live in North London and commute into the City for a while, so I am acutely aware how lucky I am! Sounds like your Head is forward thinking and full of enthusiasm - let's hope that continues, I'll not get on my high-horse, but sounds like he's doing the right thing.

DSJR
25-09-2009, 19:23
I hope you don't have to do this, but once or twice a year, we have to go to visit family in Beds. God, what a dump of a county - dirty, characterless, dusty and, well, poluted... Fleeing back down the A14 causes much relief once the Suffolk border is finally passed (for the second time :D). Once the Orwell Bridge is traversed we really feel we're "home."

Sadly, I don't think there are any old radio and TV shops left in our area any more. Central Services in Ipswich are great TV repairers, but can only get new valves. the other big TV dealer (Matthews) has an external service engineer I think (or is that only for B&O?).