Oral history recording of Alan Rickman (Sainsbury's engineering department)

Oral history recording of Alan Rickman (Sainsbury's engineering department employee, 1932-75). Interviewed by Bridget Williams (Sainsbury's Archives). Topics include development of refrigeration from 1920s to 1960s, lighting in stores, Blackfriars head office/depot complex.

Summary of recordings:
55A/56A: Engineering department. Refrigeration 1920s cold stores in warehouse manual. Explanation of cooling system. Stamford House. 1933 refrigeration to be made available to every branch. Frigidaire. Ilford. Hoxton. Kentish. Process of convert old cold stores. Still converting in the 1950s. Ammonia. Specialist meat branches 1930s. Next big development Birdseye frozen foods pre 1939. 1947/1948 Mr Salisbury and Jimmy Sainsbury frozen foods. Cabinets in windows. Stan Tanner in Architects Department. Rented Birdseye cabinets from Unilever. Served frozen foods from windows Golders Green. Fluorescent lighting. Paddington Harlow luminated ceilings. Colour lighting. Ruby reflectors. Tungsten lamps. Recovering heat from refrigeration Richmond 1958. Institute of Refrigeration reverse cycle. Lewisham refrigeration and water cooling tower. Crystal Palace. Mid 1950s syndicate trip to US. Development of idea of self service. Indoor skating rink. Out of town shopping centres. Decentralisation. Work study Peter Ruff. Buntingford. Basingstoke. Hoddesdon. Charlton. Ammonia problems. Incident at Stamford House in 1930s. Freon refrigerants. Green issues.

55B/56B: Freon. R22 Buntingford. Chilled foods pre 1939. Meat from Argentina. Union Street. Post 1945 meat at premium. Timothy Sainsbury. Wakefield House. Window dressing display team. JB and SE Smith. Sign writer. Butchers' blocks in yard. Engineering in basement. Rabbit skins. Horses yard. Tuppenny workman's return from Stockwell to the Cut. Wage 1 guinea a week in 1932 age 16. Ambition. Changes to delivering quarters of meat. Complete refrigerated chain.