# Racal Electronics, Seaton. Demolition Photos. June 08.



## Foxylady (Jun 4, 2008)

Thanks to Tonyque2 for sending me a pm about this. During a drive past the factory he saw that demolition was well under way and wondered if I knew about it. I didn't as there had been no mention of it in the local papers. Sneaky!
Anyway, I went down to the site as soon as possible to take some photos...and it's a good job I did as the crew were busy putting up hoarding around the perimeter.







Before taking pics I had a chat with the boat builder next door and he told me that plans for the site include luxury riverside apartments (no surprise there, then!) and a path with picnic areas alongside the river. Oh, and it hasn't been bought by Tesco either! So, not quite so bad after all. 

Here are a selection of the photos.









































More to follow.


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## Foxylady (Jun 4, 2008)

I took a walk down to the end of the hoarding (at the bottom of what was once the car park) but it was too far away to get any decent shots of the remaining buildings. However, the God of UE must surely have been pleased by my devotion as, lo and behold, when I walked back I saw this had happened.






There was a chap standing the other side so I stayed out of sight and hung around for a bit. A few minutes later a truck came trundling up and was let through, after which the chap came out. I asked him if it was possible to poke my head around and get a photo and he told me to go in and ask the site foreman. 
The foreman gave me the go-ahead.











When I walked back to the front of the building I saw that the UE God had indeed smiled upon me as there was the opportunity to take a parting shot (my last one on the film!) through an open window. 






Cheers
Foxy


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## tonyque2 (Jun 4, 2008)

Hi Foxylady,
Glad you managed to get some good pictures of the demolition - only just in time by the sound of it.
Teach me a lesson for not taking my camera with me !!
Will pm you later. Cheers Tony


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## chelle (Jun 4, 2008)

*Well done Foxy*

Glad you have charted the progress or is it the demise of this place and Warners too...when the much needed luxury flats,sorry apartments have been there for a year or so,folk will quickly forget about what used to occupy the plots.
regards
Stu


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## Foxylady (Jun 4, 2008)

Cheers Tony and Stu.  It was such a surprise as I thought there would be plenty of time yet. With the hoarding going up, and the speed with which this particular company are working, I won't be documenting it in the same way I did with Warners. So very glad I got some pics though!


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## Neosea (Jun 4, 2008)

Some great photo's, Thanks Foxy


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## King Al (Jun 5, 2008)

Thanks for the update foxy, I would loved to have got in there before all this


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## Foxylady (Jun 5, 2008)

Thanks, Neosea.  I know what you mean Al. I was hoping to do another explore there before it went and possibly get inside again. At least I got one inside shot of the offices!


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## MD (Jun 5, 2008)

good pics foxy

most of the stuff round your way gets demo,d!!! fast


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## Foxylady (Jun 6, 2008)

mattdonut said:


> good pics foxy
> 
> most of the stuff round your way gets demo,d!!! fast



Cheers matt.  
I know! Tis a little disturbing! All that area's been earmarked for so-called regeneration for some years mind, so I suppose it had to happen sometime.  The Devon Dive Centre's the next to go. I might see if I can get permission to take some pics inside before it goes. I've already got pics of the outside ones, which is far more interesting, imo...it would be good to get a complete record though.


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## smileysal (Jun 9, 2008)

excellent pics Foxy, I'm glad you managed to get pics of the demolition in progress. Was nice of the site foreman to allow you access to get them all. Not many places nowadays let you do that. 

Cheers,

 Sal


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## kieronm (Jun 10, 2008)

So sad to see it finally being demolished although I suppose it is all in the name of progress! I was hoping to get down there again one day to see the old place but it looks like I left it too long. Oh well, never mind I still have my memories

Kieron


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## Foxylady (Jun 10, 2008)

Thanks for your comments Sal and Keiron. Yes, it was sad...I could hardly believe it was happening. 
Still haven't seen Coral or Richard around since we last spoke, Keiron. I'll be sure to mention you if I do.


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## mr_bones (Jun 10, 2008)

Really well documented, always a shame when our favourite exploring haunts go under the bulldozer! 

Great photos anyhow!


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## BigLoada (Jun 10, 2008)

Sad to see this go. Racal made some of the finest radio comms equipment for the navy and GCHQ used their HF receivers too. Wish I'd got to see this place.


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## greenvan (Jul 22, 2008)

Hello everyone, I'm new and the Racal subject brought me here. Big hello to Kieron. Nice chap. I worked between 89-99 on testing mainly portable transceivers notably the Jaguar and Couger sets. Overall the company had a good reputation for working conditions, pay and a pension that firms in the big bad world outside fail on. Summarising - production and test downstairs and design, management and canteen upstairs with lovely views all round. Any more info I could write pages...
Regards
William


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## Foxylady (Jul 22, 2008)

mr_bones said:


> Really well documented, always a shame when our favourite exploring haunts go under the bulldozer! Great photos anyhow!



Cheers Mr B. Thanks to Tonyque2, I just managed to get the photos as it was happening and before the boards went up. It was sad, but it was also exciting to see parts which were only revealed by demolition, if that makes sense! 



Lithium said:


> Sad to see this go. Racal made some of the finest radio comms equipment for the navy and GCHQ used their HF receivers too. Wish I'd got to see this place.



Yes, I would have loved to have seen more than I did. Got some lovely memories of chilling out around the grounds whilst exploring though, plus the photos of course. 



greenvan said:


> Hello everyone, I'm new and the Racal subject brought me here. Big hello to Kieron. Nice chap. I worked between 89-99 on testing mainly portable transceivers notably the BCC66 and Couger sets. Overall the company had a good reputation for working conditions, pay and a pension that firms in the big bad world outside fail on. Summaring - production and test downstairs and design, management and canteen upstairs with lovely views all round. Any more info I could write pages...
> Regards
> William



Hiya William. Thankyou very much for the additional info about Racal and what happened where. It must be sad for those that worked there and enjoyed being part of the company. Welcome to DP, btw. Are you a local guy? Apologies if you've already made a post in the intro section...I'm way behind in catching up with the posts.


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## Seahorse (Aug 19, 2008)

greenvan said:


> Hello everyone, I'm new and the Racal subject brought me here. Big hello to Kieron. Nice chap. I worked between 89-99 on testing mainly portable transceivers notably the BCC66 and Couger sets. Overall the company had a good reputation for working conditions, pay and a pension that firms in the big bad world outside fail on. Summaring - production and test downstairs and design, management and canteen upstairs with lovely views all round. Any more info I could write pages...
> Regards
> William



You didn't manage to get over to Northern Ireland in the mid 80's for the Cougar trials, did you? I well remember freezing my bits off on hilltops while some lucky sod from RACAL got to drive around in a nice warm Sierra monitoring signal strengths.

EDIT: _SILLY ME. Just noticed you said 89-99, NOT 80-99._


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## thecollector (Aug 19, 2008)

Hi Foxylady 

You mention using 35mm, doyou convert to jpeg and cd when printing. Is it any dearer than digital.



A fart has no nose!


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## Foxylady (Aug 19, 2008)

thecollector said:


> You mention using 35mm, doyou convert to jpeg and cd when printing. Is it any dearer than digital.



Hi tc,

I get my film processed by local printers then scan the prints onto my computer in jpg format. I don't bother with getting them put onto cd as I like to have the prints. The prints are very clear...something I love about 35mm is that you don't need a tripod and can get daylight-effect pics in dark places for only 30th of a second. You do lose a bit of resolution by scanning but I get some of that back by resizing smaller. Hope that answers your query.


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