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Another project followed — the construction of a garage and showroom on a vacant site at the corner of the Saffron's, opposite the Town Hall, on land formerly occupied by a number of cottages which had been demolished several years previously, and next to the site of William Morris Caffyn’s small shop opened over 40 years before. The Meads Road building was opened in 1911 and contained on an upper floor an elegant suite, the Saffron's Rooms, which were available for hire for “Receptions, Amateur Theatricals, Lectures, Private Dances, Concerts, Bazaars etc.”. The rooms are now-occupied by the Company's Head Office.
In 1912 the first step outside Eastbourne was taken with the acquisition of Ryder’s cycle business in High Street, Heathfield, and the building of a new garage there. Caffyns also entered into partnership with Mr V. Cooke of Bexhill, and in 1913 opened a garage in De La Warr Mews, Station Road, Bexhill. By 1916 this branch came under Caffyns’ sole proprietorship.
The premises at Marine Parade were doubled in size in 1913 when an adjacent site was obtained for an extension. By 1914, turnover had reached £44,620.
The outbreak of war, when nearly all the staff volunteered for military service, called on all the adaptability and resourcefulness of the Caffyn brothers so that the bright future of their ventures should not be jeopardized. Expansion was not halted and in 1915 the “Motor Mart Showrooms” in Terminus Road, Eastboume (now the premises of W.H. Smith & Son Ltd) were opened.
Gradually a new and much larger staff, mostly women, was built up until 450 were employed. Caffyns entered into the manufacture of wartime supplies, particularly aircraft parts. During the war 75 SE5A scout planes were made at Marine Parade: these planes were designed at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Famborough and built by various engineering and carpentry firms. A piece of fabric with the Caffyns symbol and the words “Engineers, Aircraft Manufacturers, Eastbourne”, was recovered from one of the planes, which crashed in Polygon Wood, Ypres, in 1918 and presented to Caffyns.
The outstanding work by the women on the Home Front during the First World War is now history As well as tackling unfamiliar mechanical jobs, Caffyns staff formed the “Caffyns Concert and Carol Company” to raise funds for the Red Cross, and entertain parties of wounded troops returning to Eastboume.
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