A company that was once the biggest employer in Great Yarmouth has celebrated 80 years in business.
Spectrum Control, on Fenner Road in South Denes, has had various name changes over those eight decades - and most people probably still know it as C-Mac or Erie Resistors.
At its height in the 1970s, the factory employed more than 4,000 people, or approximately 10pc of the town's workforce.
Most families had at least one member who worked there.
The company - which manufactures microelectronics and microwave products for the aerospace, oil, gas and space industries - has its origins in Pennsylvania in the USA, where the Fryling family established the Erie Resistor Company in 1929.
Three years later, they opened a UK branch in London, making resistors and parts for radios and early radar systems.
In 1939, the outbreak of the Second World War brought increased demand for such equipment and more production at the factory - but fears that Nazi missiles would be aimed at the factory and other essential industries around London meant that alternative sites had to be found.
In 1943, Arthur Dyson, managing director of Erie Resistor Ltd UK, visited a factory in Lowestoft but it was not considered suitable.
READ MORE: Accountancy firm merger 'ensures future' of village business
He then had lunch at the Star Hotel in Great Yarmouth. When he realised he had some spare time before his train, he decided to take a look around to check whether any suitable sites were available in the town.
He was shown a property in South Denes which was originally a rope factory to meet demand from the local fishing industry.
Mr Dyson was impressed and on the spur of the moment made up his mind to move his business to the site.
Before the war, the factory had made clothing and footwear and dominated female labour in the town.
Now Erie was able to offer further employment for female workers.
At its height in 1972, the factory employed more than 4,000 production staff and 250 office staff. The South family had no less than six daughters working for Erie at the same time.
It now employs 130 staff.
READ MORE: Traders old and new moving into Great Yarmouth's new marketplace
On Wednesday, July 20, the company marked 80 years in business with an event at the Boathouse in Ormesby St Michael, with the mayor of Great Yarmouth, Penny Carpenter.
Neil Snowdon, managing director of Spectrum Control Ltd UK, said: “It is an amazing achievement to celebrate 80 years of continuous business here in Great Yarmouth, in the shadow of the Britannia Monument.
"When the business was first established in the area back in 1943, there were no computers or smart phones, electronics was in its infancy and the development of radar was a new concept.
"The site at Great Yarmouth, which now specialises in microelectronics and microwave products, has been through many changes as the electronics industry has adapted, surviving the test of time.
READ MORE: 'A glass of sherry at lunchtime' - Secret of long life for Norfolk woman, 109
"In the early days it manufactured electronics for the Erie Resistor Company as part of the war effort, over the years it has employed generations of local people and in the 1970s boasted employing 10pc of Great Yarmouth’s working population.
"Today it supports primarily aerospace and defence, oil and gas and space industries and employs around 130 dedicated and skilled staff, who continue proudly to keep the long-standing traditions of providing high quality, reliable electronics to satisfy very demanding requirements and environments.
"We thank those who have built the business before us as we put our efforts in today’s technology and look to the future," Mr Snowdon added.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here