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BADHAM,
Leonard (1923-1992) was the first person outside
the two founding families, the Salmons and
Glucksteins, to be appointed Managing Director of
Lyons. He was appointed to the board in 1965 and
served until his retirement in 1987. Len Badham was
born in west London on 10 June 1923 and was
educated at Wandsworth Grammar School. He was one
of the first teenage trainees brought into the
company as 'fast stream' management potential. His
career began in the Stock Department in 1939 when
he was sixteen and his ambition at that time was to
become a tea-taster. He soon showed an aptitude
with figures and became involved in the
form-filling bureaucracy of wartime rationing. He
was conscripted into the Royal Artillery and soon
received a commission He served in Burma and later
transferred to the Royal West Kent Regiment. By the
end of the war he had been promoted to major. On
his return to Lyons in 1947 he became an office
supervisor with Hayes Laundry in Peckham then
transferred to the Statistical Office working with
directors and John Simmons in virtually every part
of the business. Management accounting on the
restaurant side occupied much of his time (as well
as the development of the LEO computer under
Simmons) during the 1950s and he helped to make the
Corner Houses profitable for the first time since
the war. In 1960 he moved back to Cadby Hall as
assistant chief comptroller and within five years
was appointed to the Lyons board. There followed a
difficult period for the board when the decision
was taken to change Lyons from a family run
business to one having professional management.
Badham played a pivotal role in the implementation
of these difficult decisions and he eventually
became executive director finance and
administration. In 1971 he was made assistant group
managing director at a time when Lyons was
embarking on its ambitious expansion overseas. This
expansion was to lead, in part, to the downfall of
the business. Len Badham became responsible for the
hotel and catering operations, US based companies
and those in Europe. In 1975, following a
management reshuffle, he was appointed deputy group
managing director and in 1977 group managing
director. By the mid 1970s soaring interest rates
and a falling pound caused financial meltdown at
Lyons and by 1978 discussions had started with
Allied Breweries Ltd. After the Allied takeover Len
Badham continued to work under the new chairman and
chief executive, Alex Alexander, until his
retirement in 1987. He died on 11 June 1992 and his
funeral took place at Mortlake. He left a widow,
Joyce, whom he met at Lyons in the early days of
the war and married before embarkation, and two
daughters. Len Badham was a humane man with an
affinity to the 'ordinary' man. He was
approachable, a good listener, and was not overawed
by the big occasion. He was liked and well
respected.
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BASSAM,
Richard (????-1975) joined Lyons in 1930 and died
on 10 February 1975 following ill-health. He
started as a carpenter's mate in the Construction
Department at Cadby Hall where he worked on teashop
maintenance and alterations. In 1934 he became a
qualified carpenter and moved to Teashop
Maintenance at Herne Hill. Between 1941-1946
Richard Bassam was with the RAOC and REME first as
an armourer and then as a clerk. He was promoted to
sergeant and served in north Africa, India and with
the Chindits in Burma as a special duty clerk with
General Wingate. After a short spell with Teashop
Maintenance after the war, he returned to Cadby
Hall as clerk to Charles Fenn, then building
manager. He then moved to Cadby Hall Building
Department where he was secretary/clerk to the
building manager. From here he progressed to Cadby
Hall Works Control as a building progress clerk.
When Works Services separated from the Works
Department in 1965 he became a planned maintenance
and records clerk. In 1969 he took on the role of
production scheduling clerk with Lyons Bakery's
Manufacturing Division..
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BECKLEY,
Frederick Richard (1907-1997) was a Secretary and
Director of Strand and Cumberland Hotels having
spent 45 years with the company. He was born on 18
January 1907 and when he left school started as a
trainee in the Account Department at Cadby Hall.
The first five years were spent in the Private
Ledger Office. From here he transferred to the
Wages Department where he introduced some
mechanisation and worked on time study in the
bakeries. In 1934 he joined the hotel companies,
initially as a Manager of their Wages Department
and introduced mechanisation here. In 1939 he
became Secretary of Cumberland Hotel Ltd and became
a Director in 1951. In 1959 he was appointed
Secretary of Strand Hotels Ltd and in 1966 was made
a Director of that hotel company also. He died on 1
March 1997 leaving a widow and two sons. His home
was at Moor Park, Hertfordshire.
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BLIGHT,
John A. (1893-1947) died from a heart attack in
Blantyre Hospital, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)
on 1 March 1947 aged 54. He joined the Checking
Department direct from school in 1907 and was
transferred to the Tea Buying Department the
following year. He served with the Royal Artillery
during the First World War and on his return to
civilian life continued his career with Lyons in
Tea Tasting. In 1926 he was appointed Indian Tea
Buyer and in this position he represented the
company in Calcutta during 1928-29, supervising the
buying and creating an understanding between both
Houses, which proved of inestimable value over
following years. At the time of his death he was
acknowledged to be one of the leading authorities
in the tea trade, as borne out by the many letters
of sympathy received, according him a high
tribute
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