William (Bill) Fleming – Radio Constructors Centre
Organisation: Radio Constructors Centre 1960’s
 – Radio Constructors Centre – 363 Westborough Road, Westcliff-on-Sea (Same shop 50 years later SS0 9TS) |
| Home Location:
363 Westborough Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. Located between Hildaville Drive and Fleetwood Ave |
| Types of involvement: Pure kindness |
| Comment / History:- |
| Bill and his wife Jean ran a very busy Radio shop. On Saturdays the queue of radio buffs waiting to buy parts for their latest projects would often run outside the small shop and into the street.
Living within a stone’s throw of the Radio Constructors Centre Steve Taylor grew up with Bill as one of his mentors. Bill was an incredibly sympathetic and knowledgeable person – he would not only stop serving in his very busy shop to explain to Steve how to solve his latest technical problem, but he would often provide the spare parts virtually free of charge. From the age of 8 years Steve & Chris had began repairing simple faults on old domestic broadcast receivers and black & white 405 televisions The Radio Constructors Centre being the main source of spare parts. The inside of Bills shop was jammed floor-to-ceiling with component drawers and racks of valves. Outside the front of the milky green shop the pavement was adorned with boxes and boxes of surplus electronic components old radios and ex-military equipment for people to see and sort through at their leisure. It was always a hive of activity attracting people from far and wide. Bill continued to help and provide us with parts for many years until his retirement. Bill had three children, Monica, Jim and Jennifer. In the later years Jim took over the shop, however, the era of the home constructor started to fizzle out, and like so many local shops the Radio Constructor Centre sadly closed down. N.B. If anyone has any old photos of the Radio Constructors Centre, we would be more than happy to add them to this site! |
