Report by Hilary Caminer
On a beautiful early summer day, about 40 LEO members and guests came together at The Queen’s Head pub in Hammersmith for a social gathering celebrating LEO. Most of those present were ex LEO people- in a variety of roles – engineers, operators, programmers and some were others of our members who never worked on LEO machines but who have a lively interest.
It’s a mark of people’s dedication that we had guests from as far as Devon, Cheshire and Yorkshire who undertook journeys of several hours to join us. Frank Land and Neville Lyons, both in their mid-late nineties reminded us of the longevity of LEO folk. Frank delivered a special message to us all from his identical twin brother, Ralph – also a LEO pioneer. We were particularly pleased to welcome another colleague from LEO’s very early days – Gloria Guy – who worked as a data inputter and has vivid memories of working with the world’s first business computer.
The afternoon started with a buffet lunch and the wonderful warm and sunny weather meant that people could sit out in the pub garden in the open air. After lunch and many meetings and chats with old friends and new, our chairman, Peter Byford, gathered everyone together. He introduced our special guests, including Richard Farthing, chairman of the Hammersmith Society. Although the Society’s members now live all over the world, it is good to celebrate the roots of our story where it all began in Hammersmith and in the pub which was a regular ‘watering hole’ for Lyons and LEO people.
A special feature of this particular gathering was the input from guests Simon Allen and Anna Ryten. Simon represents the Big Yellow Self Storage Company. BYSS are forging ahead now with their plans to replace the existing office building at 66 Hammersmith Road that was put up in the 1960s to replace, in its turn, the great Cadby Hall complex, HQ of J Lyons. Anna Ryten, the architect of the new building also attended and together she and Simon explained to us what the new building will look like – and, importantly, how it will showcase the heritage of Lyons and LEO. Anna explained how they had commissioned artist Kerry Lemon to design a striking mural for the new building. The design shows a teapot pouring out a punched tape bearing features of the LEO story into a teacup. In addition, there are currently hoardings around the site with photographs of Lyons and LEO. The Society is thrilled that BYSS are publicising our story. We would also like to thank them for a generous donation which subsidised the afternoon’s event.
Peter Byford, in his introduction to proceedings pointed out that November 2026 will mark the 75th anniversary of LEO’s first working run. As we all remember, we were unable to celebrate the 70th anniversary properly as it fell during the pandemic, so we are determined that the 75th will be marked in as big as way as we can. Peter invited ideas for this diamond anniversary!
After the presentation, members participated in our traditional raffle – with kindly donated prizes. There was also a small display of Lyons and LEO memorabilia brought in by Neville and Peter. Then, after coffee with a delicious chocolate brownie, members started to drift away on their journeys home.
My personal memories of this event will be of the charm and liveliness of the gathered members and guests, their delight in talking of old times, but also their determination to keep the LEO story alive. We had some donations of items for the archive and some interest in volunteering for tasks connected with the society. We look forward to our next gathering – and, of course, to LEO’s 75th!
A selection of photos are posted below and a a link to a larger browsable collection on Google Photos is at the foot of the page.
