A factory that had a worldwide reputation for quality products and played a role in the war effort is to be honoured with a blue plaque.

MHAIRI MACFARLANE found out more A FORMER plastics factory which provided thousands of jobs and helped the war effort through two world wars is to be recognised for its contribution to the industry.

The National Plastics factory, formerly owned by De La Rue, employed as many as 3,000 people at the height of its production.

On June 10, a blue plaque is being put up at its former site in in Walthamstow Avenue, Walthamstow, by the Plastics Historical Society and former employees.

Known as Avenue Works, it was built in 1936 on a greenfield site with school playing fields on one side and the River Ching and sports ground on the other.

It was believed to be the largest plastics manufacturing and moudling plant in Europe at that time, producing television and radio casings and car dashboards.

Walter Rouse, of Gunners Grove Chingford, worked at the factory from 1941 to 1956, apart from three years when he served in the Second World War, and has been collating a history of the factory site.

The 82-year-old recalls: “Our products went around the world.

“People used to say, if National Plastics can’t make it, then nobody can.

“We made the first plastic milk and beer crates and plastic battery boxes for cars.”

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the factory became a vital producer of moulded plastic products for Britain’s war effort, making hand grenades, helmets, telephone components and scale aircraft models.

During 1939-45 the workers, who were mostly women because many men had been called-up, found some time for enjoyment when the BBC Home Service transmitted lunch-time Workers’ Playtime shows from the stage in the Avenue Works canteen.

At the end of the war there were 3,000 people employed by the company.

Morris Phillps, 82, of Middleton Close, Chingford, said he started at the factory on a temporary placement – but stayed for 50 years.

He said: “It was like a family. When you went to work there, you didn’t leave. It was a job for life. We all met our wives there, and I have been married for 62 years.”

During the 1950s and 1960s there was a new demand for plastic casings and parts for household items such as hoovers and white goods.

A takeover by Courtaulds in 1959 led to redundancies, but under the management of managing director George Sly, Avenue Works started to prosper again and became entirely an injection moudling company, supplying dairies and breweries with bottle crates for the first time.

Martin Thompson, 65, of Princes Way, Buckhurst Hill, worked at the company from 1978 to 1987. He recalls the producing plastic handles for screwdrivers and rememberssomeone whose job was to set up moulds to print the ‘Lego’ brand on each of the famous tiny plastic bricks.

He said: “It was so impressive and really something special. North east London was one of the areas which was very important for plastics and the whole area was known for its injection moulding production.”

In the late 1970s, Courtaulds acquired Ekco Plastics, but the companies were making substantial losses during the recession, so in 1981 the decision was taken to close Avenue Works and concentrate the company’s effo-rts on Ekco Plastics in Southend.

The following year, the 1930s building was sold and demolished and 330 workers lost their jobs. The site later became a Homebase and is now the home of a Selco Building Warehouse.

Although the factory closed its doors in 1982, many former employees remain friends and meet monthly and at an annual Christmas renunion to talk over old times.