ONE of Thurrock's heritage groups, which is slowly coming around to 'business as normal' after the pandemic is hoping it may be able to win some more financial support from a local company, organisation or donor.

The Bata Heritage Centre in East Tilbury celebrates the decades of BATA industry in the local community and the creation of the modern day village.

The organising committee was recently able to meet in person for the first time, following a a successful open weekend and chairman Mike Tarbard has reported that the centre is planning for the future and return of regular visitors as well as expanding the base of interest in the BATA legacy.

Mike reports: "We are 'open for business'. Thurrock Council have recently revised their risk assessment with the result that both East Tilbury library and the Bata Heritage Centre are fully open with no restrictions apart from opening days being limited, as before, to Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday morning.

"Our Open Day last month went very well with many new visitors – we assume they saw our social media posts. We are concerned that many of our "regular" visitors did not make it but we hope, as time moves on, that they will come back.

"This applies not just to individuals but also the groups and universities that we have had contact with over the last few years. We are establishing a "local non digital" address list so if you know of someone who had previously visited the Centre and/or our Open Days but has no internet access then please let me know and we can add them to this list.

"Because of the relaxation in the rules, we were able to hold our first "face to face" committee meeting in the Centre since February 2020 – yes 20 months. Thank goodness for Zoom and open-air meetings in the Bata Memorial Park during this period.

"At the committee meeting we decided on a date for our next two-centre Open Day.

"It will be on Saturday 23 April 2022 in the usual venues (Building 13 reception area in the former factory site from 10am to 1pm and in East Tilbury library from 10am to 4pm). I realise that this is a long way off but please "save the date" and add it now to your calendar/diary.

"We also talked about our finances and the level of our running costs. For example, the 2020/21 software and insurance premium costs were about £825 and £425 respectively. In other words, the best part of £1,250 before we do anything. There was little or no income in that year but in 2018, 2019 and 2020 our income was around £900, £550 and £1,025 respectively.

"We are unable to cover our running costs without dipping into our funds. Although the Bata family have been very kind to us over the years and have financially supported us, we are reluctant to use these funds for the day-to-day expenses as we may need them for larger projects.

"We came to the conclusion that we, perhaps, should try and look for a sponsor to help us cover these costs. If you know of someone who might be interested or you might feel able yourself then please contact me ([email protected]) so that we can discuss a way forward."

[H2]About the Bata Heritage Centre[.H]

In 1933 a factory was opened on the Essex Marshes at East Tilbury by the Bata Shoe Company. The company was based in Czechoslovakia and had been founded by Tomas Bata, who was killed in 1932 in a plane crash.

Over the next 70 years Bata was an important part of the local economy and an international community grew up on the Bata Estate with houses built for the workers by the company. The people who lived and worked in this community have many memories of both the good and bad times and the Bata Heritage Centre collects and curates those memories.

This has led to the creation of a significant collection of artifacts and photographs pertaining to British Bata which are available for all to see within the Bata Heritage Centre.

In April 1993 the Bata Estate and Factory at East Tilbury became designated as a conservation area as it was realised what an important place it is. To complement the conservation area a Reminiscence and Resource Centre was been built within the local library to house the memories of the people who have been a part of this community, as well as photographs and artifacts donated by them.

The Bata Heritage Centre was opened in April 2002 by Mrs Sheila Plampton who was the first baby born on the Bata Estate that organisers were able to trace. Since its opening the Bata Heritage Centre has gone from strength to strength and the collection has grown rapidly.

The Centre now has sections about all of the subsidiaries in the UK as well as a small amount about other Bata Communities around the world.