In 1964 I had the good fortune to meet and work for Mr Edward and his wife Dr.Barbara
Oldham.on their small Cheshire farm,Mr. Edward had spent all of his working life running
the family business of Oldham Batteries in Denton Manchester with his brother, the business
was started by his Father in 1865 and became known as one of the leading names in battery
production in the UK they had a business interest in many parts of the world.

                               ' I Told 'Em Oldham'  was a famous company slogan.

I was to manage the running of the Farm which was a small farm purchased in the Cheshire
countryside,it was to be a great interest to Mr Oldham and source of relaxation in contrast
to the time spent with his business interests.Although from all accounts the factory at
Denton which was a big employer in the area was a very happy workplace and had never
had a strike in their history,each year they used to organise an annual trip to Blackpool for
all their staff which was in the region of 1000 they hired a train specially for the purpose.
And they were all catered for on the day,this didn't come as a surprise to us at all,they
          were very generous to us as a family during the time we were there.

We had three small children,and their birthdays were always remembered with gifts of really
good quality,I remember our daughter received a red silk dress one year,which was very
                                                       special.
They used to go on a world tour of their businesses abroad and would always bring us back
                                         some momentum of their trip.
At Christmas, we would always receive a Food Hamper from Fortnum and Mason London

During our time there Mr.Oldham was spending less time at Denton,he would drive himself
there two days a week,he drove an old vintage car then. it had the old coach lamps on the
wings,It was during this time his brother died this was a big setback to him and soon after
his health started to deteriorate.He had to go to the hospital for treatment and I used to take
him on occasion, I can remember thinking at the time he would walk as though he owned the
place he had a walking stick with a metal tip on so it made a noise on the tile floor.
Everyone treated him with great respect,in those days millionaires were few and far between
                                   and easier recognised than they are today.

The farm was a mixed enterprise of dairy/pigs/sheep/and laying hens,the cows were housed
in buildings that were half tiled and were tied individually,the hens were in batteries and the
pigs were individual pens and were breeding sows.Prior to taking on the management of
the Farm I had worked as one of a team of 4 milking 350 cows on a modern dairy unit
in West Sussex In those days that was a large herd and was a showpiece for Fullwood
with its state of the art parlour,it became the norm to be milking with a group of onlookers
some with pens doing time and motion studies The Farm was owned by the Duke of
Richmond and the Queen and Prince Philip wold visit on occasion,I remember there was
a panic on the Royal helicopter was due to arrive and the cows had broken through the
temporary cordon where the helicopter was due to land we managed to clear the area in time.

It was quite common to see visitors from different parts of the world on the Cheshire farm,
Mr .Oldham would take great pleasure in bringing visitors from his overseas companies to
show them around the farm,you could always guarantee a different line in questions from
                                   non-agricultural  people which made it interesting

One of Mr.Oldhams favourite times was our monthly office meeting his accountant was always
there taking minutes of the meeting  it was all very officious and finished off with tea and cakes
but the highlight for Mr .Oldham was during the winter months he would just stand with his
back to the  open fire he only had central heating so missed the open fire experience.
The Oldham battery company was taken over in 1972 and ran on as a  subsidiary company
trading as Oldham Batteries private company.In 2002 the factory at Denton was closed.

                Mr Oldham passed away on the 23rd of April 1976 aged 83 years.
           Dr Barbara Oldham passed away on the 4th January 2009 aged 95 years.

     I have enjoyed writing this as it takes me back to special times in special company.