Anna Valley meets its Waterloo
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THE NAME TASKER has been heard in Hampshire's verdant Anna Valley for some 175 years. Alas, it disappeared at the end of March and a chapter in Andover's industrial history ended.
Craven Tasker has regretfully closed Waterloo Ironworks where Robert Tasker, a Wiltshire blacksmith, set up shop in the early 19th century. From horseshoes the business progressed through agricultural implements and steam engines (the first in 1869) to the forefront of trailer manufacturers.
During the 1939-45 war the battery in which I was serving was deployed briefly near Andover. On a brigadier's inspection about the only fault he could find was with the machetes, which he said were blunt.
I remembered that Tasker had a fine grinding machine so I hied me to Anna Valley. The machetes were certainly given a razor edge but the bill was even sharper. As it had to be paid out of the troops' welfare fund I was not the most popular officer in the battery.