This 2" Scale model of an Aveling & Porter Road roller was built by Geoffrey Walter Ackland and named “Patricia” after his wife. The model is kindly on loan to the museum from his daughter Mrs Sue Lunn & her son Colin.
Geoffrey was an accomplished and enthusiastic model engineer hobbyist and it took him seven years to build the road roller. It was completed in time for him to enter it in the 1981 Model Engineering Exhibition at Wembley where it won the Championship Cup. It also won the Aveling & Barford Trophy and the Crebbin Memorial Cup.
Geoffrey was born in Southend Essex in February 1918 and lived in Southend and London. When he left school he joined the General Post Office as an electrical engineer. He worked in various parts of the country and in Plymouth he met his future wife Patricia.
In 1939 he was sent to Bawdsey Manor, Suffolk to work on the development of radar and was called up and joined the RAF.
Geoffrey worked at Culhurm in Oxfordshire as an Astro- physics Space Research Engineer. He was involved in the development of integration technology between the payload and the rocket. This project took him NASA in Houston, Texas on several times.
Geoffrey’s grandson now lives in Great Yarmouth as asked the museum if we would like to exhibit the roller, the volunteers thought it was a great model and as the museum has a full sized Aveling & Porter it was a no brainer. The family asked if we could get it running again which we did thanks to Neal & Nigel Davis volunteers at the museum, all though it will run under steam it was decided to build a rolling road in a cabinet. Although many volunteers helped a special thanks to Keith Claxton, Michael Albury, Neal and Nigel.
