I joined the company in 1955 after serving an apprenticeship in the Press Tool Design Office of Nuffield Metal Products. My first position was to establish a Tool Design Office and to run the toolroom. In December 1960 I was appointed to the Board as the Works Director.

The factory was expanded again in 1963 by building over the area formally occupied by the two retail shops. This enabled a modern Metal Shearing Department and steel stores to be constructed.

On the 20th July 1960 my mother, Mabel Rollings, died suddenly after a short illness. She had served as a Director of the company for 25 years and had been Company Secretary since 1968. This left a gap which was hard to fill. My wife, Sylvia Rollings and Mr Jeff Gillett, our former accountant, took over her post and became Directors of the company.

In April 1969 the company was dealt another blow. My father, Harry Rollings, left the office at 4 pm to go to play golf at Moor Hall Golf Club. I had a telephone call to say that he had been rushed to hospital after suffering a heart attack. When I arrived the hospital he was dead.

After my father's death I took over as Chairman and Managing Director. 

My family and I went through two years of extreme difficulty, horrendous death duties being levied on us. We managed to pay off the death duties without having to dispose of any of the company's assets.

We became the first Quality Assured small presswork supplier to the Austin Rover and Land Rover groups and right up the present time we have an ISO 90002 Quality Rating, thus continuing that high standard of quality.

In 1982 our elder son, Steven Rollings, joined the company and ultimately became Works Director.

In the late 1980s the company was employing 70 people. Trading with the motor industry started to become very difficult, with the introduction of "just in time" deliveries. Suppliers were having to pay the storage charges for the motor companies' stock, whilst it was held by an independent storage company.

As a result of this they found a company, A. J. Williams Limited of Tamworth, to take us over. We sold the order book, the work force, the plant and machinery, and the name Wilton & Company (Pressings) Limited.

The two properties and the old company, with its name was changed to Rollings Holdings Ltd, were retained. If we had left it longer we would have finished up with nothing other than the value of the plant.

Egg Poachers.

Just after the time of the takeover of the company by A. J. Williams Ltd., Steven Rollings left and went to work with three different engineering companies over the period of five years. In the first company he was the Production Manager and in the later two was the Works Manager. Rollings Holdings Ltd. continued trading by dividing the premises into small industrial units and letting them. As part of the sale agreement I was not permitted to trade as a press work manufacturer. It was decided to establish a press toolmaking company. This was not easy at first as a new customer base had to be established. After five years it was trading very successfully. So Steven returned and took over the engineering side of the business and has taken it from strength to strength despite very difficult trading conditions in the engineering industry.