The Smiths Security Services collection.
Smiths security services of Basingstoke and Newbury share an extencive vintage locksmith collection with our parent company. Over the years a small selection of this collection has been avalable online via the Abbey Gate locksmith museum. With the the next chapter of the Smiths story underway we are now in a position to share more of the collection on the Smiths website, all of which is unavalable to view anywhere elce
Locks through time
Images from the past
Left and Right: Paperwork is often quit dull, yet for our collection we really are happy to still have original paperwork from the mid 90’s including invoices, letters and receipts. even after all these years we are still keeping to data protection laws so we can only show you the basics.
Right: In the 90’s before the internet and social media marketing was done very differently. Every house had at least one phone book (the search engine of its day), and some companies even provided folders with invoices like the one pictured. The cover shows a range of services including CCTV, Safes, Security lighting, Alarms and security guarding. On the subject of historic marketing, Silvia Underwood (the mother of company director Stephen Underwood) worked for Yellow pages as a proof reader and eventually Print manager. Nice to keep all our history alive.
In 1992 Smiths Security Services along with the Thames Valley Police, Reading Borough Council and Reading Busses joined forces to launch the safer Reading campaign bus. The bus looked like a giant jam sandwich, sporting a friendly policeman and distinctive Smiths “S” logo. It was launched at a promotion event held in the Battle Hospital car park on the Oxford Road (now a super store). The event concluded with a “team charity bus pull competition” between the parties involved, the result remains disputed with all teams claiming first place!
Its hard to tell or even see but the image to the left is a photo, probably unique, of one of our vans in action in Reading in the mid 1980’s
By looking very carefully you can make out the logo on the van itself
Some letters of thanks from the past
26 April 1988, letter of recommendation
17 May 1988, letter of thanks from Reading Neighbourhood watch scheme
26 August 1998, letter of thanks from Whitley Neighbourhood watch
24 June 1993, letter of thanks from a work experence student.
Smiths Security Services, the locksmiths, are part of Abbey Gate Locksmiths and Security Engineers. Our parent company has engineers based in Reading, Newbury and Maidenhead. For more information visit their website here