Leiston FC

With our flat, rolling fields and reputation as country-bumpkin Tractor Boys, it is easy to overlook the industrial centres that have thrived throughout East Anglia. Stowmarket supplied gunpowder to Europe, Ipswich’s Crane built the first railways in China, Wivenhoe’s torpedo boats harassed German destroyers, and today Lowestoft’s docks clank with the assembly of wind turbines – we do far more than just munch carrots.

The jewel in the crown of this industrial heritage is perhaps overlooked: Leiston. Today, the cutting-edge technology of its nuclear power stations is safeguarded by its own government agency. But Leiston has been an industrial powerhouse since the 1700s. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what you can see in @leistonfc

’s unique badge. So, let’s #GetTheBadgeIn for East Anglia’s entrepreneurial acropolis.

Before it became a manufacturing hub, it was a monastic one. Leiston Abbey served as a centre for spiritual and physical support from 1182 until its dissolution by Henry VIII in 1537. Local nobles lavished funds on it, especially Robert Ufford, the 1st Earl of Suffolk, who financed its relocation from marshland to a stable site. When not funding monasteries, Ufford commanded Edward III’s left wing at the Battle of Crécy – decimating much of the French nobility. Today, the Abbey is a ProCorda school, training future chamber musicians – a beautiful and fitting use. Songs have been sung here for nearly a millennium.

Fast forward to 1778, and we meet Richard Garrett from Melton. Marrying Elizabeth from Leiston, he founded Richard Garrett & Sons, producing agricultural tools before transitioning to steam engines for tractors and factories. The company grew rapidly, employing 2,500 workers.

Two generations later, Richard Garrett III visited the Great Exhibition in 1851 (at Crystal Palace - before it burnt down), witnessing American assembly line techniques. Inspired, he returned to Suffolk and introduced a ‘long shop’ for steam engines. This transformed production, making it faster, cheaper, and more consistent. Steam tractors and rollers poured out of Leiston, with one design built under licence in Czechoslovakia by 1925. Today, the Long Shop Museum keeps their stories alive.

In 1912, the firm began producing electric vehicles, including small trucks and vans for local government use. Glasgow used Leiston-built EVs for rubbish collection until the 1960s, and trolleybuses served Bradford, Southend, and Doncaster. During WWII, Leiston hosted three US Air Force fighter squadrons, flying P-47s and P-51s to protect bombers coming out of East Anglia and Lincolnshire. Among the pilots at Leiston was Chuck Yeager, who became a fighter ace (11.5 kills – with 5 in just 1 day!) and, in 1947, broke the sound barrier flying the Bell X-1.

Now, back to the football team and its badge. Leiston FC, formed in 1880 by workers at the Garrett Engineering Works, displays a badge featuring what appears to be a steam engine. The curved design, I like to think, may also nod to the second major industry that came to dominate the area. From steam engines to steam reactors: in 1966, Sizewell A was commissioned. Its Magnox reactors produced 325 MW each. Sizewell B followed, and we’re still waiting on Sizewell C, buried under red tape. Even with the loss of the Garrett plant, Leiston remains a bastion of heavy engineering amid a sea of agriculture.

What Garrett would make of Britain today is unclear. I’m sure when sketching his assembly line after the Great Exhibition, he wasn’t also on the phone to his lawyers about dealing with decades of planning permission. Alas.

Yet, East Anglia stands – a gateway to Europe, fertile soils, and harbours, with a proud history of innovation and daring. Every time a Leiston player pulls on that shirt, they represent a region of piety, pioneering spirit, and passion. One to rival the best of the North-West teams and their Industrial Revolution heritage. We weren’t outmatched then, and we’re not outmatched now – and neither is Leiston FC.