All
about Ireland's only Toy Soldier Factory.
Lars Edman, owner (back row, middle of photo
with striped shirt), recalls the early days of Prince August in
Kilnamartyra Village, near Macroom town, County Cork, Ireland.
In early January 1976 my newly wedded wife and
I came to Ireland from Sweden. We had bought a factory building
in the small village of Kilnamartyra in late 1975 and now was
to time to get started. After a few days of recruiting a couple
of local people we started the factory on the 8th January. We
had brought 2 mould making machines from Sweden and the first
thing we did was installing them. It did not take long and after
a week the mould production started.
Our first employees were Joe McCarthy and Tony
Nott. I particularly remember Tony as he came into the factory,
said nothing but hello, grabbed a hammer and started to work.
We had no interview or formal agreement. He just floated in and
became an employee. Both of them have left us but the next employee,
Dan Golden, is still with us.
In the first year we sent back all our production
to Sweden for packing and sale. We had a good market in Germany
and we produced as much as we could. In 1977 we started packing
all the products and employment increased to 15 people.
The facilities at the factory was very basic
at the start. We had no heating but we were kept warm by mould
making machines. At the breaks everybody was gathering in the
only office in the building. It gave us a good chance to get to
know the local people and practice the local accent.
The telephone system amazed us most of all.
There was a handle on the phone which had to be turned fast to
get the attention of an operator. It sometime took a while to
get a reply from the local operator but then she had to transfer
the call to an operator in Macroom and that could take an eternity.
It drove us absolutely crazy. After growing up in a country where
we took automatic telephones for granted it was very frustrating
to get used to the old system. It took until 1984 before our phones
went automatic.
It is quite a contrast to think back on how
things used to be. Today we are taking mobile phones and internet
for granted. It is amazing how things have changed!
Company Law Statement:
'Prince August', 'Mithril Miniatures', 'the
Edman Collection' are registered trade names of An Grupa Edman
Teo ( The Edman Group Ltd).
Registered in Dublin #269484. Directors Lars
Edman (swedish), Margaret Edman.
Reg. Office: 1 Kilnamartyra, Macroom.
|
