Revo lights still stand but no longer shine
REVO was founded in 1907 by Frederick Harold Reeves, the company beginning its life as Cable Accessories in Groveland Road, Tipton.
The site was alongside the canal and expanded to cover over sixty acres and extended into the boroughs of both Dudley and Rowley Regis.
Frederick Reeves went into partnership with Septimus Vaughan whose father, Ernest Vaughan,
founded Vono, the nearby manufacturer of mattresses and bedstead fittings. Revo soon became very successful and produced a wide range of products, most of which were designed in house.
Products included lighting, radios, loudspeakers, cookers, switchgear, traffic lights and fans. In my time there I also recall 1 and 2-bar electric fires being produced. Our family home certainly housed a Revo cooker (model unknown) on which my mother boiled cabbage to within an inch of its life and commenced to cook potatoes at 11 o’clock for a 1 o’clock lunch!
First class
By the 1930s the firm had become a household name and the firm’s electric street lighting was widely introduced throughout the country.
There were first class working conditions in the factory with excellent medical and welfare facilities. The company also had a large sports ground, alongside the Birmingham New Road, which was accessed via Walford Street.
There was a pavilion, tennis courts, a bowling green, cricket square and a football ground that was illuminated by Revo floodlights which were erected in the 1950s. At one time the company also had a brass band.
In 1956 Revo, together with Vono, was taken over by Duport. At the time Revo was one of the three main UK manufacturers of street lights, the other two being GEC and AEI.
In 1967 Duport sold the goodwill, patents and trademarks to English Electric. The Street Lighting Division was sold to Tubes Limited who sold and developed the range
under the ‘Relite’ name. This was a sad end to such an important local company who had been a significant local employer with up to one thousand people being employed at its height.
As one of my former employers Revo Electric will always resonate with some happy memories for me. I was employed as a humble Cost Clerk and as such I cannot accept any praise for the rise of the company but neither can I accept any responsibility for its passing!
A few months ago attention was drawn to Revo by an article in The Bugle outlining the different types of street lighting manufactured in the past by the company.
Switchgear
Whenever I am out and about I am always on the lookout for structures relating to Revo and some years ago I spotted an item of switchgear that was still in use and sited on the town wall that surrounds the seaside town of Tenby.
Recently I was exploring a little nearer to home, walking in the Shropshire countryside to be exact. I was surprised to encounter not one, but two Revo street lighting columns which had been erected as features on the kerbside
fronting one of the houses on my route. The unit that once shone the way for pedestrians and motorists has now been taken over by bird life who have constructed an elaborate nest to serve as their home. How environmentally friendly!
Sadly both the site of the works and sports ground are now covered by housing.