and ends almost as quickly.
When I left school I joined Ayrton Saunders Ltd, a Liverpool firm of Manufacturing Chemists with considerable interests abroad, whose headquarters was in Hanover Street in Liverpool's city centre where the company had been established in 1868. The 1898 archive material gives a lively read of what it was like to visit the company's premises at that time.
I joined the firm as a trainee accountant in those same premises. I think that I lasted about 6 weeks. Accountancy wasn't for me despite maths being one of my strongest subjects. That six weeks did give me plenty of stories though.
I never set foot inside the building once I'd left and in the last 40 years I've rarely walked down Hanover Street. When CJ and I were in Liverpool during August I went to see whether the building was still there. It was.
Hanover Street is narrow so taking a photo of the building was quite a challenge. The parallax effect of viewing from so close was unavoidable so I'll call it an artistic view. The name of Ayrton Saunders can be seen underneath "Gostin Furniture" on the apex of the facade.
Oddly enough, I was going to reply to your post about Germolene, to say that, as a child in scotland, i remember ayrton's ointment. (Thick, pink and antiseptic) Could this have been a product of this company, do you think?
ReplyDeleteHi Lizzie. You've made me curious and I've been doing some research, Germolene was originally a Bayer product (now Smithkline Beecham) and the ointment is thick, pink and antiseptic. Oddly I couldn't remember what the Ayrton's ointment was like so I assume from your description they looked the same. It appears that Ayrton's Ointment is still available in NZ and Australia but not the UK. Germolene on the other hand is not, in my experience, available in NZ and Australia but is in the UK. All very curious.
DeleteI bet it was weird to see it again after so many years. Did you already know what the building was nowadays?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest Mersad I didn't even know whether the building was still standing because there has been a lot of redevelopment in the area.
DeleteA rather imposing building which also looks as if it has been modernised. Were you tempted to go inside?
ReplyDeleteI would like to go inside Jenny. I couldn't that day because I knew CJ was waiting for me. I will next time though now I know it's still there.
DeleteI find it a disturbing experience going back. I always wonder what happened to colleagues. Most will be dead of course but there must still be some around.
ReplyDeleteMost of the people I worked with in the accounts department were dead already Adrian: in mind and, in some cases, in body too. But that's another story.
DeleteYou did a GREAT job of capturing the photo of the building.
ReplyDeleteWhat memories for you....your first job.
My first job was at Barclays Bank Head Office, a formidable looking building which still remains.
Virginia I'm not sure that six weeks (or however long it was) was really a fair trial but at that age I was impatient.
DeleteSix weeks really isn't long for a job. I am curious to know what was your main reason for leaving, if you want to tell us.
ReplyDeleteMy first job lasted 6 years and would probably still be going on (at the library) if it had not been for my temp contract ending and there not being another position open. Up until then, twice in a row, colleagues were pregnant which meant my contract could be prolonged, but then nobody wanted to do me that favour anymore.
Meike I left for two reasons: I decided that accountancy wasn't going to be for me (not that I'm sure such a short trial was fair but the first weeks at college formed my mind pretty decisively) and my immediate boss was stuck in the 1930s. It's a long story but attempts to make me stay with promises for the future by the company's Accounts Director just didn't appeal to me.
DeleteI worked in the laboratory at Ayrton Saunders in 1976!
ReplyDeleteWell, Collars and Woofs, I can only guess at you being a Liverpudlian doglover. By 1976 I was living in the Outer Hebrides where I still reside although I am long retired. My time in Ayrton Saunders was in 1959. I hope that when you arrived it had crept into the 20th Century. I remember that even the accountant to whom I was responsible still had to clock in and out. I went to work in the Town Clerk's Department of Liverpool Corporation and never looked back.
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