The first party of Batamen arrived on the Essex Marshes in May 1933. When they arrived at St. Clere's Hall, the home of Mr. W.W.Wilson, who had sold the land for the Factory to Tomas Bata, they were shown to the factory, a small building in a lane between fields of corn and potatoes. The building was not ready as the machinery had been delayed.
As work was very hard to find in the 1930's men and women travelled from all over Thurrock to try to get a job within the New Factory being built at East Tilbury.
Representatives from the Factory toured local schools telling students that if they were to work for the British Bata Shoe Company they would be able to afford a car, in a world where there were very few cars this seemed a dream to many.
