October 2021 marked 100 years of Wright Engineering Co Ltd in Stratford upon Avon and we celebrated this milestone on 5th November 2021 at The Crowne Plaza, Stratford upon Avon with staff and customers.
The company was founded by Walter Wright, a former publicans son brought up in The Rose and Crown, Sheep Street, joining him in the business was his son Norman Wright and then upon the death of Walter his other son Mr Cecil Wright joined the business. After a time in Ely Street and then Windsor Street the company moved in 1929 to Mulberry Street and then finally in 1979 under the guidance of the Directors Mr David Wright and Mr Robert Wright the land in Masons Road was leased and the current factory built, which the Company moved into in 1980. During the early years the company concentrated on work for local farmers and company’s.
With WW2 there came contracts from war production departments for parts machined to go into Lancaster, Stirling and Mosquito Aircraft. We also machined tank parts and produced fittings for a device designed to check the weight of individual bullets as they passed at 70 rounds a minute.
With peace came many changes and the Company put it’s knowledge to use in the production of hydraulic equipment for earth moving and mining. With mining production moving abroad in the early eighties the Company diversified again into the production of Petro Chemical fittings, supplying parts to Berry Technologies, PFS Fueltec Ltd, WEC Leeds Ltd, Kiowa Ltd and Park Hose Ltd to name but a few.
During the pandemic we managed to keep working through by making changes in new working practises, making sure we were all tested regularly and running staggered shift patterns.
We are also celebrating Mr Robert Wrights 60th year of working at the company and currently we have 11 employees who have been with the company for over 20 years, a number of those straight from school.
Following the passing of Mr David Wright in 2001 his son and daughter, Mr Paul Wright and Mrs Kathryn Milward, are guiding the company into the future with also a 5th Generation family member working here Mr Tom Milward.