Sometimes headlines do something special: they capture your attention. I know, all headlines are supposed to do that. But "Factory Wins New Contract" is not half as captivating as "They Manufacture Silence." Well, it worked for me.
A Herts Advertiser article in 1966 opened with this paragraph:
"Firms have sold refrigerators to Eskimos and sent coals to Newcastle. But in a noise-conscious age a St Albans' firm, Dawson Insulations Ltd, of Guildford Road, has built its success story on SILENCE."
This firm, then, were so quiet that I hadn't even heard of it. Begun by Mr Charles Dawson at Hemel Hempstead, the firm moved to St Albans c1960. The article gives no further information about its location along Guildford Road, but 2 million square feet of insulating material per year will not be possible in a domestic garage.
The article continues: "Rockets, motor cars, trains, road drills, aeroplanes, computers [computers in 1966!] and washing machines all create noise and vibrations. A range of high-efficiency noise-damping or sound barrier materials, made by Dawsons, help deal with the problems created by noise and vibrations."
The firm had 20 employees, and its production manager was Mr Martin Pascal.
The article continues to detail a few contracts where noise has been a considerable issue, and how the company managed to reduce it. I hope it used its products to dampen sound from the machines it used at its own factory!
Were you one of those twenty employees, or was another member of your family? How long did they remain at Guildford Road? Which building did they work from? So many questions, but it would be great to know more about the success of this "quiet" manufacturer. Its history deserves to be recorded.
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