It is with great sadness we have to announce the passing of Ron Walker HonCompInstSCVE, one of ISCVE’s staunch supporters, on Saturday 21^st January 2023.

Ron’s father, Alex J Walker, was the Founder of the Association of Public Address Engineers (APAE), when at a meeting of interested people in 1948, discussed forming a trade association to promote and protect the interests of the Public Address contractors and manufacturers.  After taking on various forms and names since, this is from where ISCVE originated.

Ron was a Past Secretary and Past President of APAE and always took a keen interest in the Institute and enjoyed meeting other members at ISCVEx.

We send our condolences to his wife Judy, his sons David and Andrew and their families.

Tony Clayden MInstSCVE, has provided a fitting tribute to Ron below.

RONALD ALEXANDER WALKER HonCompInstSCVE (1940- 2023)

A personal appreciation by Tony Clayden MInstSCVE

The sad passing of Ron Walker marks the conclusion of another chapter in the history of NSR, which began in 1948 when the company was founded by Alex J. Walker, Ron’s father. In the same year, AJW was one of a small group of pioneer individuals working within the emerging Public Address industry who were instrumental in the formation of the Association of Public Address Engineers (APAE). This organisation – after a number of constitutional and identity changes – is still thriving today as the Institute of Sound, Communications and Visual Engineers (ISCVE).

Originally, the business had been established as two separate companies, NSR Hirings Ltd and NSR Manufacturing Ltd. The latter mainly operated during the winter months when there was little outdoor hire work available, and undertook sub-contract electronic assembly for various clients – including making amplifiers for Dansette record players!

Ron found himself thrust into the ‘driving seat’ after the sudden death of his father in late 1969 and was obliged to implement a radical makeover of the business. He had been joined some years earlier by his younger brother, Peter and the company’s main activity at that time was the hire of Public Address systems for both indoor – and especially large outdoor – events. In addition, permanent installations were also undertaken.

A change of name to National Sound Reproducers Ltd, and an eventual move from South Harrow to very spacious newly-built premises at Parr Road, Stanmore, followed. With the passage of time, the visual facilities side of the operation had gained an ever-increasing prominence, beginning with 16mm film projection, gravitating to large TV screens and then to multi-vision slide presentation, which had come into vogue during the mid 1970s.

In the latter case, NSR held, for a while, the UK agency for the American company Audio Visual Laboratories (AVL), a manufacturer of the specialised equipment required to control the multi-projector, multi-screen systems. This not only involved selling and hiring-out the apparatus, but the preparation of programmes for many major, and often well-known organisations, who were staging conferences, product launches, political meetings and other similar events.
Under Ron’s guidance, two studios, one for sound recording, the other for multi-vision programming, were created on the site and additional staff employed to handle this work.

When I joined NSR in late 1977, the company’s operations had effectively become split into three categories – [1] PA hire, which also embraced timing equipment for equestrian events, two-way radios and also some stage lighting equipment, [2] Large Audio-Visual presentations as described above and [3] the design and installation of permanent installations in places of worship, schools, factories and community centres, etc. It was this latter, for which I – as a department of one – was largely responsible. Also around that time, Hearing-Assistive Induction Loop systems began to be installed.

Ron and Peter Walker had by now built-up a substantial organisation, with a good number of employees and vehicles, and a huge inventory of equipment for hire and sale. There were several times when a whole crew would undertake work overseas, requiring an enormous amount of organisation and
paperwork.

Ron was in many ways, something of an enigma – indeed, I often felt, a rather reluctant businessman! He had a passionate interest in railways and for many years was often found to be working as a volunteer on the famous preserved Festiniog Railway in North Wales, where he had purchased a cottage as a second home. This was often rented-out and on a couple of occasions my late wife and our two young children holidayed there. Ron also became very involved with the London Area Festiniog supporters’ group; at one time, I believe, he was their Chairman.

His main home was Lower Priory Farm and Livery Stables, on the edge of Stanmore, not very far from NSR’s headquarters. Here he had plenty of space to house his beloved Burrell steam traction-engine, ‘Tinkerbell’, together with an assortment of other vintage and preserved vehicles. These included a large Scammell tractor unit and low-loader trailer, which would be used to transport the Burrell to distant Steam Fairs and similar gatherings, mainly during the summer months. If these were fairly local, ‘Tinkerbell’ could get there and back literally ‘under her own steam’. My family and I spent many happy times following Ron around to attend these events!

Quite often, Ron could be found after a day’s labour, behind the main workshop at Parr Road, dismantling bits of ‘Tinkerbell’, and fitting many new parts including, a new boiler. 

I left NSR in 1982, eventually setting-up my own business.  Later on, Peter Walker also decided to branch-out on his own and established NSR Communications Ltd.  This, after Peter’s recent retirement, now continues in the safe hands of two of his sons, James and Stewart, and is based at Watford.

The premises at Parr Road were eventually sold, with Ron continuing to operate the now much downsized business from Lower Priory Farm. I was often called-upon to either assist Ron with hire jobs or carry them out on his behalf, ‘wearing his hat’, so to speak.  Some of the customers thought that I was part of the Walker family, (I suppose that I was, in some ways),  and it was even  suggested once or twice that Ron was my father!

When Ron finally decided to stop working, I ‘inherited’ some of his customers and continued to serve them. Most have now – inevitably – ‘fallen by the wayside’, but there are a couple whom I still look after, even though I have been retired myself for a good a few years now. 

I would like to place on record that I learned a great deal working for – and latterly with – Ron, and in so many ways it was the very best training that I could ever have wished for.

That Ron became, and remained, a significant and respected figure in the UK Audio-Visual Industry is beyond dispute. He had served as Secretary of the APAE, until it grew to a size which necessitated the services of a professional Secretariat. He was also a very well-known member of the preserved Stream-Engine fraternity.

I was pleased to be able to keep in touch with Ron and his wife Judy, after their move to rural Buckinghamshire, and my wife Lyn and I visited them there on several occasions.

To Judy, her sons David and Andrew, and their families, we offer our sincere condolences on the loss of a good friend and colleague – Ronald Walker.