OVALTINE shut down its production line in the last week of May to move to Switzerland but a history group is doing its best to make sure its memory is left behind.

The factory in Station Road, Kings Langley, which brought the world the Ovaltinees and a bedtime drink, employed thousands locally during its 95 years in the village.

It is now, as the management puts it, in "a phase of decommissioning".

This means it is being stripped of its machinery and tools to be shipped to its new home.

A failed attempt by Three Rivers District Council to preserve the main factory building by getting it listed and the subsequent purchase of the 15-acre site by developers Fairview New Housing, has left people concerned about the future of the site.

Although it could do nothing to guarantee the building would remain, Mr Frank Davies, chairman of the Kings Langley Local History and Museum Society, hopes to be allowed to keep the huge Ovaltine sign a landmark in the village, especially to commuters returning by train from London.

He said the society had reached a "draft agreement" with Ovaltine to look after its artefacts and will try to find out next week whether the sign is included.

Mr Davies said it will take a week to catalogue the items including old photographs, advertising proofs and old pieces of equipment.

The museum's storage facility in Berkhamsted would be used before a permanent home can be found, perhaps after development of the John Dickinson site in Apsley.

Mr Davies said: "The artefacts would be on permanent loan to the society.

"The company would still have the option of using them for advertising and we would have to return them if they wanted."

No one from Ovaltine was available to say whether the sign was included in the deal.

June 7, 2002 12:00