NEARLY 67 years ago Blackburn businessman Gordon Woolley was thrust into the epicentre of a manufacturing phenomenon.

It was in 1948 that Mr Woolley and his father Ewart Woolley – chairman of the Secto Company of Blackburn – played a pivotal role in the introduction of the first commercially available aerosol in Britain.

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It is hard to conceive of a time when the product did not adorn our shelves in its present form, but prior to that time the all-important valve top did not exist in either Britain or Europe.

Mr Woolley, now 86, of Pleasington, explains how he got involved: “We were responsible for marketing the first aerosol in Britain – Secto Fly Aerosol.

“Prior to that, we were packing the product into tins and then we had a hand pump device.

“But we completed an extensive research and development programme to launch the first all-British manufactured aerosol.”

It was Secto’s relationship with another British company, Metal Box, which provided the key to production.

“Metal Box had contacts in America where the valve was patented, Mr Woolley added.

“Metal Box provided us with our pumps and we had to bring in CFC propellants, the valves and initially the aluminium can from America to make the product a viable one.

“We were the testing ground in Europe and we were doing pioneering work in the field.”

Mr Woolley then had to sell the idea to customers, a process that didn’t take too long.

He said: “The fly aerosol was distributed throughout the UK to the chemist trade and it proved an immediate success.

“Our first year annual figure of production in 1948 of Secto fly killing aerosol was around 45,000 units and we were one of the founder members of the British Aerosol Manufacturers Association.

“It was astonishing to see the reaction of seasoned head office buyers when I pressed the rubber grommet aerosol button and released the micron-size particle spray.

“The novelty and vast superiority of the propellant system sold the aerosol, although the high price was a setback and economies of scale with volume sales later became a price reduction factor.”

Secto went on with its pioneering work in later years, the Blackburn firm achieving another pioneering first when it made the first aerosol paint in the UK and Europe.

Mr Woolley said: “I received a phone call one day from a Dr Materna, who said he had read about our manufacture of aerosol.

“He had been ejected from his paint factory in Prague by the Russians but told me he had been working for several years in developing the paint formulation to put into CFC-propelled aerosols.

“He was a true visionary as no other aerosol paint had been developed at that time.

“We agreed to co-operate with Dr Materna on paying him a royalty on unit sales under our Leaf aerosol brand name.

“I went down to Birmingham where I knew the head buyer at Halfords and presented him with our aerosol product.

“He nearly jumped out of his chair and called it amazing.

“Needless to say I obtained a substantial order.”

Measures against CFCs in Britain meant the company eventually had to look elsewhere for the fulfilment of its butane filling contracts and a deal was eventually secured with a Dutch company operating in an isolated location on the Baltic coast.

The company also diversified into pet products, including a whole range of lines which included aerosol introduction to the trade, before Mr Woolley sold the company to William Sinclair Holdings in Lincoln.

But the entrepreneur still talks of the time when Europe’s aerosol future had Blackburn at its centre.

“The town was a great centre of innovation in those years and there was a lot going on in Blackburn,” he said.

“We had the expertise and the scientists from the Second World War and then worked to our benefit.

“Our technical director, Francis Bradburn, had worked at the chemical research establishment at Porton Down and during my national service I was with the Army Education Corps studying to be a teacher before taking a business studies diploma.”

He went on: “There’s a lot more international competition now but education is still the key in the science world.

“It’s essential and you can see how important it is with how China are developing at the moment.

“The youth there is highly motivated and disciplined and that’s the potent mix we had after the war.

“Other countries do the groundwork in education. A lot of effort is put into it and you can see the results in places like America and the Far East.

“I went to Los Angeles about 15 years ago and was shown around some schools where children as young as six or seven were using computers.

“Teaching skills at such an early age is so important and enables you to compete later in life.”