Cooling Post connects Emerson with its past

UK: Leading international compressor and controls manufacturer Emerson Climate Technologies is to reconnect with its past thanks to the Cooling Post.

Best known in Europe for a range of hvac products including Copeland compressors and Alco controls, Emerson Climate Technologies is to sponsor Prestcold Cricket Club after the company found out about the existence of the club on the Cooling Post website (Prestcold lives! Owzat? – June 25)

Formed in 1981 by employees of the legendary British refrigeration equipment manufacturer, the cricket club was just one facet of a range of social activities encouraged by the former Reading-based manufacturer.

Sadly, the company was split up in the 1980s, the social club closed and ground sold off, bringing to an end most of the social activities. Prestcold was eventually bought by US compressor manufacturer Copeland, which itself became part of Emerson.

For a while the Prestcold name survived as a brand but eventually disappeared in the 1990s.

News that more than 30 years on from its foundation Prestcold Cricket Club still survives, touched a chord with the mighty Emerson corporation which has now offered to help out with the Club’s finances by sponsoring the team.

Emerson Climate Technologies technical sales manager Terry March, one of only two remaining employees from the Prestcold days, and himself a former member of the cricket team, brought the article to the attention of his employers.

Craig Vicary, the company’s sales director UK, Ireland & Scandinavia commented:  “When Terry brought the Cooling Post article to my attention, I was impressed that the Prestcold name lived on in such a way.

“Prestcold eventually morphed into the organisation that is Emerson Climate technologies today, but the legacy in the UK is strong both in terms of the number of high profile individuals over the years who spent at least some of their career with the Prestcold organisation, but also in terms of product. One of Emerson’s most productive factories today, globally, is our Cookstown plant in Northern Ireland. It was set up by the director of our Theale and Thatcham Prestcold plants and produces 90% of the refrigeration scrolls which have been so successful in retail refrigeration in the UK over the last 15 years.

 “So for me it was fitting to acknowledge that legacy in the form of sponsoring the Prestcold cricket team and making the bridge from Prestcold to Emerson Climate more tangible. It also simply feels good to be able to make a positive contribution to something in the local community.”

For the last 15 years Prestcold Cricket Club has benefitted from the generosity of Lord Phillimore who has allowed the team to use the ground on his Coppid Hall Estate in Binfied Heath rent-free. “We are extremely grateful to Lord Phillimore for his generosity but there are still expenses that have to be met,” revealed Andy Rosier, who along with Mike Christmas are the two remaining team members from the Prestcold days.

“There are the usual rates and utility bills to be paid and, of course, there’s the cost of maintaining the ground, kit and equipment,” he said. “This can add up to as much as £4,000 per year, so we are extremely pleased that Emerson has offered to help. We will wear their badge with pride.”

Men in whites and the Ladies in Black

As a footnote, and by strange coincidence, as well as sponsoring Prestcold’s “men in white” Emerson Climate Technologies is also a sponsor of the “ladies in black”.

From its headquarters in Aachen, Emerson Climate Technologies is also a sponsor of the local German first division women’s volleyball team known as the Ladies in Black Aachen.