This company was formed by my father, Robert ('Bob') Read, in April 1969. He had been made redundant when Brettle Lane Foundry was closed earlier that year. He had started there on its conception in 1948 taking the uncial job of office manager. He attended various courses in Foundry work and night school for company law, eventually he was made managing director of Brettle Lane Foundry.

     Then, 54 years old, he was offered a post in Accountancy but decided to start his own foundry, using his redundancy to purchase a unit in the near by brickyard, which had also closed. In that same year he brought an 8000sq foot plot containing three adjoining buildings totalling 4000sq feet. They were the drying rooms, where the bricks used to be left to dry before going into the kiln. Underneath our floors are channels which are connected to a large fireplace one end and a chimney the opposite end, this creates under-floor heating. These buildings were built in the early 1900's.

     I, John Read, joined the company in July 1972 after leaving our local secondary school when I was 18 and have been working here, at Read Foundry ever since.