Next year will be Standard’s 115th Birthday. We would have a cake, but with so many candles we would be fearful of burning down our factory!

Back in 1944 with Herr Hitler being soundly thrashed by the Ruskies in the East and Uncle Sam in the West (the Brits might have been there too, but I only know my history from Hollywood movies) Standard celebrated their 50th anniversary.

A commemorative book was produced detailing Standard’s history to that point. This book, known to the old timers here as “The Big Book” was added to over the years following 1944 to honour the people and machinery, which made the company distinct.

For a few years “The Big Book” went missing. It was feared that it had been accidentally discarded during the couple of moves the company underwent in the last decade. Happily it was rediscovered recently, still in it’s protective wooden box.

Seen here are some photographs from the book, showing the quality and love which went into its production.  One of the photographs shows some of the machinery produced by Standard back in the mists of time. Hands up who still has one of these machines in their shop!