The 1950's

The Pottery operated with only a skeleton staff during the Second World War, mostly producing undecorated utility ware in line with government restrictions. Many of the trained staff did not return at the conclusion of hostilities. The showrooms had been taken over as a customs office by Imperial Airways, whose flying boat service to America and the outer reaches of the Empire had been moved from Southampton to Poole Harbour by the Air Ministry. The old kilns used for the manufacture of structural ceramics by Carters had served as air raid shelters and the Pottery was effectively derelict [the Poole Potteries by Jennifer Hawkins, 1980].