Great stuff, Mike!
This is indeed such a shame, though as many of you have said, the problem set in well over a decade ago with the Candy-fication of Hoover.
However, for the (now ex-) employees, this is much worse, but having British manufacturing jobs, even if that largely means assembling foreign-designed goods, is better than no British jobs at all.
I in particular miss, as Darren has said, the amazing New Wave machines. I know they are not to everyone’s taste – and I love all of the ‘real’ Hoover washing machines before the New Waves, too
– but I feel that the New Wave series showed that a British-designed and made machine could be innovative (generally better than anything else at the time, and beyond), not too expensive, pretty reliable (from what I know
) and also look really, really nice. I still love the design of the New Waves – the colours, sweeping lines, the beautiful font used (something like Gill Sans, I believe). Please don’t laugh, but I had a dream the other night that I had one! It’s a recurring dream for me – and it’s pretty much Darren’s fault!
The fact is, the world generally wants cheap and wants it now, as we all know. Us more discerning types tend to hunt around for the real gems of the appliance world, along with those who have interests in other areas when it comes to collecting things, like cars, bikes, electronics, etc. In some ways, it’s not the world’s fault as such, but wanting ever cheaper goods and ever lower prices is just not going to work. There are some good points to products made and sold at lower prices, but I feel, as many of you do, that it’s only possible to go so far.
In some ways – and I know this may sound odd – I miss having a nice Hoover or Hotpoint washing that I remember from my childhood. This would be a machine to get excited about and something my parents could afford, though it would be a fairly substantial purchase in any case. My Dad could fix it in a few years’ time, and we would feel proud in many ways that it was British and good. Mieles? They were for posh people years ago!
In the 1990s, I wanted a New Wave and spent a long time pouring over the brochures and seeing the TV ads – and they were better than Mieles at the time – and I would have ended up with a Hoover New Wave if I had not made a mistake in the Rumbelows closing down sale and gone for something else. I had the final say on what to get, too. “Are you sure you don’t want the Hoover?” my Dad said. “It’s said to be very good.”
Oh how I *still* regret not getting one.
My only hope from all of this is that once this recession eases, which could be some time of course, there might be a greater realisation of the importance of manufacturing quality, innovative, sustainable goods at reasonable prices closer to home. It can be done, and it needs to be done not just for us, but also in order to make better use of our planet’s limited resources and to bring back a greater sense of genuine pride and excitement into goods that many see as pretty boring and a necessary evil. Why can’t white goods be exciting, trustworthy and fun for all?
Thanks for reading, BTW.
I’ve been wanting to write something for a while, as I’ve been a bit out of the loop with you guys for a while (health problems, though nothing new or serious), so my apologies for that. I’ve also been having serious problems with my Internet connection lately, for which an engineer will be coming out on Wednesday, so my apologies to any of you that I may have e-mailed more than once, or to anyone I’ve not spoken to lately.
Rob and Paul, I hope you’ve received my texts and e-mails lately.
) Don’t worry about replying – I just wanted to make sure my e-mails and texts were getting to you and a few others.
Just let me know here that you’ve received them.
Cheers!
I know you are at times charging around picking lovely new stuff up.
Makes me insanely jealous at times, I can tell you!
Take care, everyone.
Carl
