Former IBM Havant director, John Huffell, shares memories of Queen's visit to the plant nearly 50 years ago

John Huffell, 90, says he ‘started up’ the Havant manufacturing plant in 1966 where he was responsible for managing it for 16 years.

In 1974, when John was 43, staff invited the Queen to see the premises for herself after their immense success, exporting a quota of ‘£40 million’ worth of goods every year – which John says was the ‘second largest export’ in the UK at that time.

The plant has since ceased trading and closed its doors in 1994, after being just one of two sites in the UK to manufacture IBM computers and computer parts.

John, from Old Portsmouth, said: ‘We invited her because we were doing extremely well.

‘We were very happy but we didn’t expect it to happen! We were very fortunate and it was a real privilege.

‘One looks forward to this day and then when the time comes you feel a little tense but it was so easy.

‘I didn't know how easy it was going to be to talk to her and we just chatted. It was very relaxing.’

The whole team of IBM staff made the effort to ensure the premises was smart and polished before the Queen’s arrival.

‘We did our best to make it look good and I spent an hour and a half showing the Queen around and she was talking to the people employed there. They were all excited about her coming,’ explains John.

At the time the Queen visited, IBM employed about 2,000 people at the Havant site.

At least 500 people were waiting outside the offices on her arrival, with families of employees lining the car park waiting in anticipation for the rare occasion.

A staff member’s six-year-old daughter presented the Queen with a bouquet of flowers on her arrival, which John has pictured at his home in Old Portsmouth.

‘It was such an exciting day,’ he said.

‘I took [the Queen] around the location to look at all the various things we were making and on a couple of occasions she had a little go herself with the wiring because she was so enthralled by what she saw.

‘The computers were absolutely full of wires – they were bulky back then – and we have these assembly lines and on that particular example there were guys wiring it from one point to another. The Queen was fascinated because she didn't realise there was a centre that told them to go from one to another.

‘She was just interested in how it was all done.’

The Havant plant was responsible for manufacturing the central parts of computers marketed across Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.

IBM have since discontinued their manufacturing of computers and solely focus on IT services, enterprise systems and software.

Following the Queen’s visit, John received a letter addressed to all the IBM employees at the plant thanking them to say how much the Queen enjoyed her visit.

‘She was very pleased and interested,’ John explains.

‘As far as I know she had never been around a location making computers.’

John went on to work at IBM’s head office in Lakeside, North Harbour, in Cosham until he retired in January 1990.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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