BRIGG PRODUCT ONCE ENJOYED BY ROYALTY

 

Things were far from sweet in Brigg 40 years ago - April 1980 - with the famous Springs preserves factory having closed the previous month.
This was a major loss to the local economy. Spring & Company Ltd, better known locally as Springs, had been a leading employer for many decades, operating on a site overlooking the Old River Ancholme, close to the County Bridge.
Spring & Company Ltd was founded in 1885 (or 1875 according to some sources) and by the mid-1960s provided jobs for about 120 regular workers engaged in canning and preserving fruit and vegetables.
During the summer, when fresh fruit was being canned and jammed, seasonal workers were taken on, increasing the workforce to more than 200.
Women formed a considerable percentage of the workforce and were a familiar sight in Brigg town centre at lunch-times, wearing their distinctive Springs issue protective head-scarves!
Springs started in a humble way in one of the town centre courtyards (perhaps Coney Court) with a cottage industry-style operation.
Queen Victoria, no less, enjoyed Springs horseradish sauce with royal joints of beef towards the end of the 19th century!
Springs sent Christmas puddings (and honey) to troops serving abroad during the First World War.
Products in the 1930s included grapefruit butter, natural fruit squashes, mincemeat and calves' feet jelly.
Springs paid for a castle-like temporary arch in 1953 - erected over the County Bridge to mark the Queen's Coronation.
In 1965 a new packed product, Fish in White Sauce, was launched.
Springs was the originator of the very well-known Ma Made brand - water being added to a mix to provide wonderful marmalade, free from preservatives.
Its lemon curd, or lemon cheese, also sold in huge quantities - and Springs made jam from every type of fruit harvested in the UK.
Oranges grown in Spain - ideal for marmalade - were packed into railway wagons and then brought across Europe by train and ferry until they reached sidings at Brigg station.
Springs workers then unloaded them onto trucks and they went to the factory for processing.
John Morrell & Co - a major concern from Liverpool - acquired Springs in 1973. It was suggested at the time that major investment was required.
However, the factory closed in 1980, to be followed by redevelopment of the site.
The Springs name can still be seen in this part of the town today.
A row of shops created in the 1980s from surviving buildings is called Springs Parade. And those people who venture along the Ancholme Way path from the County Bridge can see the stone Springs Delights sign - safely removed from the front of the old factory - preserved in the brickwork on the side of what is now the B&M store.

The factory viewed from the County Bridge in the early 1970s.

Spring's Delights products from the 1930s - sometimes the apostrophe was used, something not.

Part of Springs Parade - fashioned from former warehousing in the 1980s.