Memories of city firm who were a cut above

I WAS interested to see the article on the Derby Racecourse in the Derby Telegraph “Horses for courses” (December 4).

Having been brought up in Chaddesden, the racecourse was always a green haven between the city and the suburbs.

The particular picture which drew my attention was the one of the 10 “field testers” and pet dog with a version of the Qualcast Concorde. In the late 1970s when this picture was taken, I was assistant design manager for Qualcast Lawnmowers at Sunnyhill, so had a keen interest in the testing programme being the proof of our designs.

I do recognise one or two of the staff but cannot recall names after 40 years. Testing was carried out at a number of venues around Derby including the Racecourse, the Qualcast sports ground on Haslams Lane (now Derby Rugby Club), Markeaton and Darley parks and at the Sinfin Centre.

It was a big help to us, particularly on the two super-hot summers when grass didn’t grow, but also to the city council in keeping parks tidy. In the 1980s winter testing would take place on the golf courses in the Algarve; it was a hard life!

Qualcast purists would argue the mower pictured wasn’t really a Concorde, even though our marketing team used the name! It was mostly designed at our sister factory in Stowmarket and after the original electric Concorde. The Concorde was I believe, the first lightweight, mass-produced electric mower.

Designed in Derby, it was the making of Qualcast Lawnmowers selling 250,000 in the best year. It was a traditional spiral blade, front grass box machine which cut the grass, rather than hack it like a rotary mower.

The second Concorde was also an electric, spiral blade mower and had a more open-front grass box. It never performed or sold as well as the original, but in our view, our sister factory were never as good as Derby – there was fierce rivalry. It made it all the harder to bear when Stowmarket was chosen as the factory location when the business was restructured and the Sunnyhill site used by our owners, Blue Circle, for housing. Thirty years later, most of the manufacturing is done in the Far East – such a loss.

Phillip Bounds, Shelton Lock