Event Details

A live online event to accompany video presentations, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Special live Q&A session with a panel of speakers to be held on Saturday 7 November 2020 14:00 -15:30 online.

Halton Mill is a historical industrial building in the village of Halton, near Lancaster, built in the late 19th century. Until 2008 it housed Luneside Engineering, established at the end of the Second World War by Polish emigre Colonel Teodor Berniski. The business initially employed other Polish engineers, but the workforce expanded to take on many local people. The company specialised in precision engineering, with a range of customers including British Aerospace, Vickers Shipbuilders and Rolls Royce, but the outputs were more varied in the early days, including mechanical elephants which provided rides for children in seaside resorts.

In 1994 the company was sold by the Colonel’s family in the hope that this would ensure its future, but in 2007 the works closed down. Halton Mill was bought by Lancaster Cohousing Ltd in 2008, as part of a site for building an eco-community. The current owners inherited much of a wonderful archive of documents, photographs and film of Luneside Engineering; this is now being researched by Halton with Aughton Heritage Group. Colonel Berniski developed the riverside site, building a garden and a riverside grotto; he also hosted social events for the workforce. There are records of Christmas parties, lunchtime football matches, river swimming, and even skating during a hard winter.

As part of the ongoing project, various expert contributors are creating filmed presentations which will be freely available for viewing on a dedicated YouTube channel from early November. You can find the link below, in the section titled ‘Contact Details’.

The presenters include Chris Coates (Lancaster Co-Housing), Dr Mike Winstanley (retired, Lancaster University), Ian Miller (Salford Archaeology), James Towe (former archivist at Lancashire Archives), Shona Legaspi (independent scholar) and John Fawcett (formerly of Luneside Engineering).

The Regional Heritage Centre is partnering with the Halton with Aughton Heritage Group to present a live question and answer session, held online on Saturday 7 November, 2-3.30pm, with a panel of speakers who have contributed to the filmed presentations. You are encouraged to watch the filmed presentations in advance, but they will also be available online for an extended period after the live event.

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