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Description
Programme entitled 'Investiture of HRH Prince Charles as Prince of Wales at Caernarvon Castle 1 July 1969: Programme of Celebrations in Pontypridd'. Contains a full page advertisement for Aero Zipp Fasteners based at Treforest Industrial Estate, Pontypridd, one of the Jewish businesses invited to Britain prior to World War II.
Aero Zipp Fasteners Ltd (original name London Metal & Refining Zip) was founded in 1939 by Joachim Koppel, an Austrian Jew who spent many years of his life in Berlin and fled Nazi Germany during the 1930s. Aero Zipp produced metal zip fasteners. At the outbreak of World War Two, they began working on aircraft components and gauge making (tool, jigs, fixtures) for the Ministry of Supply and the Ministry of Production. They also produced lighters, powder compacts, aluminium knitting needles, small engineering parts, stamping. The factory was located at A.1 Treforest Industrial Estate, Pontypridd. Aero Zipp Fasteners Ltd ceased to exist in its own right in the early 1970s when it was bought by an American zip manufacturer, Talon Division of Textron Inc, based in Massachusetts, USA. Talon closed the Treforest plant in 1982 and ceased trading in the UK at the same time. There is currently an Aero Zipp Ltd trading in Merthyr Tydfil, which acquired the Aero trademark in 1989. However, this company has no connections to the original family.
About Treforest Trading Estate
Treforest Trading Estate was set up as part of the Special Areas Act of 1934. The Act was created to help parts of Britain with high unemployment, and it offered support to businesses to set up in these areas. When the Nazis began seizing Jewish businesses in Germany in the years after 1933, many Jewish refugees fled here to establish their businesses with help from this scheme.
By May 1940, 55 businesses started by Jewish refugees were running at Treforest. They provided jobs for around 1800 local people.
Source.
Grace's Guide to British Industrial History, File:Im1949BIF-Aero.jpg [accessed 4 March 2022]
Depository: Rhondda Heritage Park.
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