Welcome to the web site of the Woodall-Duckham Club. Our object is to allow former employees of Woodall-Duckham Ltd, companies absorbed into W-D, and companies formed after take-over by Babcock International, to maintain contact and socialise with each other.
If you have found our web site and are not a member of the club, please send an E-mail to wdclub@btinternet.com. This mail box will be checked regularly for any mail. Note that, since AMEC have their own long-service Club, the W-D Club is happy to accept any former employees of Woodall-Duckham Ltd, Babcock Woodall-Duckham Ltd or Babcock Contractors Ltd as members.
The AGM and Lunch with Partners, at Southwater Sports Club, will be held on Wednesday, 8th November 2023. |
First Wednesday of each month at the Half Moon, Warninglid
Informal lunch for former management members
See details here. Contact Terry Harper for further information.
First Wednesday of each month at the Tavern on the Green, Peterhouse Parade, Pound Hill, Crawley, RH10 3BA
Get together of Engineering types
See here for directions. Contact Alan Ramsay for further details.
A sit-down buffet lunch at Southwater Sports Club, with partners. Note that Annual Dinner in Crawley has been discontinued. The next will be held in April 2024.
Buffet lunch and the AGM, again with partners, will now be held each year on the second Wednesday in November. Venue to be Southwater Sports Club again on 8th November 2023, at 12 noon for 1.00 p.m.
Results of the latest event can be found here. Details and pictures of the 2020 event can be found here.
The next event will be on 26th September 2023 at Rookwood, starting at 12:30pm. Contact Dave Russell for details: djr261210@aol.com
Reports of the Annual Dinners, Luncheons and AGMs can be found here.
The latest Report and Photographs can be found by clicking here |
Members may be interested in the proposal to convert Woodall-Duckham House in Crawley into 173 flats. The report can be found at this page.
Lawrie Harris came across this entry in Stanley Gibbons Catalogue. It was sent to Woodall-Duckham Ltd in 1931 and is available for �4,500.
I am hoping you can help me. My father apparently worked for Woodhall Duckham construction company limited back in 1961/1962. I am trying to find out whether anyone remembers him from back then? Here is a photo too which may help of my Dad back at that time which may jog people's memories.
Click for picture.
Karen Griffith, karengriffith@yahoo.com
Im sorry to bother you , I have recently purchased a gold omega watch with the inscription on the back reading "presented by woodhall - duckham limited to Ronald Wood on completion of 25 years service 23rd january 1974" I assume poor Ronald has passed away now, just wondering if any of your members knew him? It would be nice from my point of view to know a bit of history about the man who was given the watch. I apologise for the intrusion.If anybody can help, please reply to Jeff at bigpickledegg@googlemail.com
Best wishes
Jeff Smith
South wales
Hi Terry, I hope this eMail finds you well. I am the great grandson of William John Fraser b:1830 d:1912. In 1860 as an engineer he employed 60 men and 10 boys in his engineering business. In the late 19th century the business was formed into a family partnership including my grandfather and great uncles. When William John Fraser retired, probably around 1890 his son Leslie McGegor Fraser took over management of the engineering business. It became a world wide public company. In September 1963, my great uncle, Leslie's son Keith advised my mother and aunt and I'm sure all shareholders that WJ Fraser & Co Ltd would merge with Woodhall-Duckham Construction Co Ltd. I am writing short biographies of my grandfather and all my 9 Fraser great uncles and aunts who all would have been shareholders of WJ Fraser & Co Ltd when it was merged. I thought you might know of someone who may have kept archival records of WJ Fraser & Co Ltd. I look forward to hearing back. I live in Australia on a farm 300 kilometers north west of Sydney where my Fraser grandfather migrated to in 1910. RegardsIf anybody can help, please let Terry Harper know, and he will provide the contact details.
JAMES HORN
PO Box 433
SCONE NSW
AUSTRALIA.
Hello ~ I'm hoping someone may be able to help my search for information on my grandfather, William Henry Musgrave (Harry) ~ 1892-1928; he worked for Woodall-Duckham probably pre 1914-18 war and certainly after his return. He was a bricklayer building retorts and, as such, worked all over the UK although his home and family were in Hull, Yorkshire. He resigned from the journeyman work and returned to Hull in mid 1928 but was sadly killed in a motor accident in December 1928. I would be grateful for any information or advice on where to make enquiries. A rather odd piece of trivia ~ my family emigrated to New South Wales, Australia in 1951 and settled in the northern beaches area near French's Forest and the first thing we saw was a Woodall-Duckham business premises (brickyard ?)..... Look forward to hearing from you. Regards, Susan Smyth.=Please contact Susan at susansmyth1944@gmail.com
John Moor's proposals for the future of the Club are reproduced on a page of this web site. Click here to see them, and Click here to see the constitution, as revised on 22nd September 2004.
Click Here to see News of former colleagues.
We have now set up a Yahoo Group to allow members to share information with each other. To join the Group you must be registered with Yahoo in the first place. To do this go to http://www.yahoogroups.com and follow the links to "Register". Our Group is called "wd21club" and is found under the heading "Friends". Find the group and then click on the link to "Join". Membership has to be approved by the Moderator (Terry Harper) and all postings are moderated to avoid any undesirable messages. If you already belong to Yahoo, you can join by sending a blank E-mail to wd21club-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
New Book by Alan Catharine, "Cats in the Fire", is available on Kindle. Should any members wish to read it, Alan will be more than delighted. The cost is only £2.56.
For details of an enquiry about this, see this page. Any help will be mosty appreciated.
Page created by Terry
Harper, Website Coordinator
Last modified 24 Aug 2023
