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Here are some reminiscences and stories of life at the Trojan works through the years. As told by former employees and their families. If you have any stories or memories of life at Trojan please get in touch.
The Cigarette Lighters
As told in 1993 by Fred Andy.
During the 1940s, when Trojan was working flat out for the war effort, several nightshift workers came up with an ingenious plan to make a bit of extra money and use up some of the waste metal from the works. They started manufacturing cigarette lighters. Because of rationing these were highly sought after and became successful. The demand was so great that their production became a significant industry and developed its own logistics and supply chain. All went well for some time. Until in the production of one particular batch the flint wheels missed their hardening stage, resulting in defective lighters. The buyer of this consignment was not too pleased and wrote a letter of complaint to the works. Unfortunately this letter was missed by the entrepreneurs and ended up in the works complaints file.
One day, as was his custom. Basil Monk, the managing director, picked up the complaints file to see what problems his customers had reported, only to find a complaint about a product they did not manufacture! Things got a bit sticky and cigarette lighter production came to a sudden end.
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