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Report - - Wadkin Woodworking - Leicester - July 2014 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Wadkin Woodworking - Leicester - July 2014

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28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
History
Stolen from Southside Assasin and Wadkin.com

In 1897 John Wadkin founded the company alongside his brother in law Mr W Jarvis. The company was formed following an idea to invent a machine that would be so versatile that it could carry out operations that were originally done by hand. John Wadkin titled this machine, "a pattern milling machine" The partnership was not successful and Mr Wadkin eventually left the company. Mr Jarvis then acquired the help of Mr Wallace Goddard with the intention to expand the business. Mr Jarvis became acquainted with a Greek gentleman by the name of Ionades who invented an advanced carburettor. General Motors in the US confirmed that they were interested and invited Mr Jarvis for a meeting to discuss, which led to Mr Jarvis booking a place on the Titanic as a means of travel and the disastrous result that he went down with the ill-fated liner.

This left Mr Wallace Goddard with a business in Leicester and no-one to run it. Luckily he had a son that took charge and this continued until 1927 when Mr J Wallace passed away. The 1914-1918 war saw the Government ask Wadkin for help to develop a machine that could turn out wooden propellers for the R.A.F. at a high-speed rate. After the war the demand for woodworking machinery was at a tremendous upsurge. Throughout the 1930's Wadkin extended their range and entered the high technology market and began making larger, high production woodworking machines such as moulders and double ender machines.

From the 1990's Wadkin recognised the need to develop back up service support to its machine customers, and developed a nationwide network of engineers in developing its customer response team, which still stands today offering support 365 days a year. In 2010 following the liquidation of Wadkin Limited, the intellectual propert rights were purchased by Nottingham based woodworking machinery distributors and manufacturers A L Dalton Ltd. This move brought together two long established woodworking machinery suppliers who have traded with each other for over 50 years and accumulated over 200 years experience in the industry between them. Today Wadkin continues to offer woodworking machines and specalist services to the woodworking sector from its new home in Nottingham, including new machine manufacture, spare parts, tooling and training.

The Explore

I explored the site with Southside Assassin and The Lone Shadow as our second explore of the day.

The site itself is pretty well locked down and made for an entertaining ninja/SAS style explore. Many of the doors are screwed shut meaning some of the site is either off limits or only accessible by more creative methods. Security also have an active presence here so some games of cat and mouse added to the charm of this venue.

The site itself is largely stripped out however there are a few gems hidden about especially on the warehouse floor and the medical room. The Admin Area still has some furniture in place as well as the usual and expected trinkets of files, paperwork old PC parts etc.

Among the afternoons entertainment was LS opening a very noisy roller shutter by accident, Creatively navigating the Warehouse military stealth style to avoid the security cabin that wasn't a security cabin, SA going Scuba Diving in the basement and finding security enjoying a Bollywood Movie oblivious to the world.

Exit was much quicker than the entry due to us tripping a lighting PIR while comiclly looking for the exit. All the 500w Halogen Ceiling lights came whirring on at sound levels approaching a 747 taking off and we decided it was time to go :)

The Photos

1. Warehouse Floor
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2. Controls
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3. More of the Warehouse
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4. Wonkey Floor
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5. I think the insurance has lapsed a bit
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6. Medical Station
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7. Hangover Recovery Bed ;)
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8. Accident Book
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9. Company Art
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10. Admin Area
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11. I bet it runs Windows 98 :)
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12. Old IBM Server? With Backup
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13. Up on the Roof
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14. Site from Above
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15. Helpful Advice!
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16. The SAS entrance
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17. More Helpful Advice
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18. And in the roof ;)
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19. Another Large Office
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20. The Big Cheeses Office?
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21. Some Old Slides
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22. Loved the wood in this room
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23. Reception
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24. Reception
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25. Splish Splosh I was takin a bath
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27. Didn't find out what this valve did
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Ojay

Admin
Staff member
Admin
Good effort mate and I particularly like the wooden features on the last lot of pics :thumb

That floor

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JaneEyre

The clumsiest explorer in Yorkshire!
28DL Full Member
Looks like a good one, Leicester does seem to have a fair few good ones at the mo :)
Never been a fan of playing cat and mouse though!
Loving the shots with all the pillars
x
 
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