You've probably found this page already, Mike, or
even if you haven't it's probably not telling you
anything much that you don't know already, but I thought
it might interest other readers : a letter to a
local paper in August 2000, entitled "Remembering the
first
raid".<br><br><a
href=http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/local_london/archive/2000/08/25/kingston\
opinion1RM.html
target=new>http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/local_london/archive/2000/08/25/ki\
ngstonopini
on1RM.html</a><br><br>It suggests that the bomb which destroyed the Venner
factory was the first to fall on London during the Second
World War, though apparently there's some dispute about
this (presumably as to whether or not Shannon Corner
is in London, rather than the date or whether or not
it was a bomb).<br><br>A friend told me tonight that
Venners made time-switches in Greyhound Lane, Streatham,
after the war, though he's pretty sure this factory no
longer exists either. There are some examples of Venner
time-switches at <a href=http://www.clock-museum.co.uk/time3.htm#c67
target=new>http://www.clock-museum.co.uk/time3.htm#c67</a> ,
and another at
<a href=http://www.simoncornwell.com/lighting/rest/esla/esla1.htm
target=new>http://www.simoncornwell.com/lighting/rest/esla/esla1.htm</a> for
those of you who are fascinated by street
lamps !<br><br>My phone-book includes numbers for a
couple of Venners in the Croydon area ; I won't post
them here, but mail me if you would like to contact
them and have trouble getting hold of the correct
edition.<br><br>Hope this has been useful to you, Mike. I'd quite like
to see some more local history trivia on here.