Former employees create Xerox museum

January 5, 2018

L-R: Ian Hale, Stuart Harrold, Gerald Cooke and Keith Wilding (Credit: Ross Gazette)

Ex managers and other former Xerox employees have banded together to create a museum dedicated to showcasing the history and impact of the OEM.

As the Ross Gazette reports, the team of former employees “have been putting together a history of the company and the substantial impact it had” on the area of Mitcheldean, where Xerox’s dedicated European site was formerly based.

Xerox, an American headquartered company, selected Mitcheldean to be “the supplier of all copiers in Europe”. At its height, the branch had a staff of four and a half thousand, “many of whom were from Ross-on-Wye.”

In under a decade, the village of Mitcheldean underwent rapid growth and development, burgeoning as a result of the new industrial site and its thousands of workers. New business, shops, hotels and pubs were established, as well as “small companies that manufactured components for Rank Xerox.”

Now, a collection of former employees, working together with the local council, have set up a Xerox Museum which they hope to open early this year. As well as “telling the story of Rank Xerox”, their museum will also “tell the story of the Mitcheldean Plant from brewery to micro-brewery via Bell and Howell, as well as Xerox, in a chronological timeline of history.”

The museum will feature photographs, interviews, memories and personal stories from various former staff members of Xerox.

An open day is expected to be held on 16 January 2018 at The Town Hall in Mitcheldean.