Contents

… at your Service

Some of the new generation.
From left to right: Standing - Rex Fleetwood, Roger
Linford, Derek Baxter, Willie Cochrane.
Seated - Stanley Wells, Bernard Ackland, Terry
Searle, Ian Milne.

So, at the eve of the year of its 50th anniversary, ROSE, MORRIS & CO., LTD. stands at the service of the Trade.  The company now has 110 employees, some of whom have been with the firm since the beginning.  The success of the business has resulted in a large part from the loyalty and dedication of its staff, and no review such as this would be complete without paying tribute to that staff, old and new.  Some of the more elderly have retired, others will be due for a well-earned rest in the next few years: the company's pension scheme will ensure that they are free of financial worry.  Some, unfortunately, have died in the service of the company: the R-M life assurance scheme has taken care of their dependants.  The company is proud to number among its employees several families, represented by brothers, sons and even grandsons of former members of the staff.  The employment of successive generations is a part of the company's tradition and itself helps to maintain that tradition.  The younger men and women coming along to take the places of those whose work is nearly done will, it is certain, carry on the company's aim, best expressed in its motto adopted nearly half a century ago:

Always with Pleasure at your Service.

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Window on the World
One thought that had been in the company's mind for a long time was the desirability of having a retail outlet.  There was no ambition to enter the retail side of the trade on any great scale, but it was felt that a shop window, in London's West End, the centre of the London musical scene, could bring advantages in the way of prestige, evaluation of new products and direct contact with professional musicians.  Such a store could be a useful showroom for visitors from overseas, who could inspect R-M products in surroundings familiar to them – a retail showroom as an adjunct to the existing trade showroom at Gordon House Road.  The prospect of the company competing with its own customers was viewed with mixed feelings: in the event, when the retail showrooms opened they were accepted by the retail trade in the area in a most neighbourly manner, and a degree of co-operation emerged that seemed impossible at first thought.  In October 1967 the Retail Showrooms opened under the management of R. J. Hannaford with a reception at the new premises - a happy event, at which friends, old and new, were present.  Situated at 81-83 Shaftesbury Avenue, W.1 - midway between Piccadilly Circus and Cambridge Circus, in the heart of London's theatreland, the new showrooms cover two large floors with storage beneath, and the double display windows are, for R-M, truly a window on the world.
By now the electronic organ business had crystallised into two distinct parts - the concert organ (which heading is intended to include instruments suitable for places of worship and for the player demanding an elaborate specification) and the home organ - a more simple range of instruments, some designed to blend with domestic decor, some with portability their essence.  Concert organs were available at the retail showrooms: for the trade generally R-M decided to cater for the large-volume demand, and set about importing and promoting home organs, less elaborate than the larger models and at prices that it was thought would appeal to a wide stratum of the public.  The remarkable success of the 'Gem' range of electronic organs was the outcome.  A separate department was set up at Gordon House Road, equipped and staffed for dealing with organs: here electronic and electrically-blown organs are tested before despatch, and service facilities exist for repairs when necessary and for service advice to retail dealers.

The Rose-Morris Showrooms at 81-83 Shaftesbury
Avenue, W.1. – a stone's throw from Piccadilly Circus.