iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The variety of photos that turn up in the archive - love this. No need to explain it 🙂 (There is an explanation - Electric Cable pvc Cereclor coated after test loads - Green exudation of nine samples 9 Oct 1968)

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

A most wonderful weekend at our Heritage Open Days. It’s been tradition for the last two years to celebrate the vast heritage of ICI during this event. In this centenary year of its creation 🧵

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Heritage Open Days 19&20th 10-4 FREE ENTRY Come and see extracts from our collection. HHP; ICI exhibition and display of original artwork by artist Ian Glover; Aerial photos of Runcorn, Widnes and Mid Cheshire and our Observatory will be full of as many photos of ICI that we can cram in!

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Not long now! Heritage Open Days are approaching (19 and 20 Sept - Sat and Sun). This is the first batch of ICI Weston Point Studios negatives that have been chosen for display. Only 360 images of Apprentices and general headshots! Come and see they displays - free entry 10-4 each day.

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

VERA lagging behind in this hot weather. Scuse her lateness but here it is. Tips for modern life in 1930 and measurements for the essential 'Holiday Beret' judewilde.substack.com/p/vera-for-i...

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Our archives are very much about the 'hidden gems' and never more so than a blandly described report, thus 'Safety Belts Method of Procedure' which throws up some fantastic photos. Volunteer Sandra had typed into the file name 'interesting photos' - she was right!

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Playing detective today as we continue to digitise some of our taped oral histories. The clip is from a QC Manager at Bush Boake Allen and his name may possibly be Alan Grier, Greer or even Grice. It shows the importance of clear record-keeping! The recording is thought to be from 1989.

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

It's probably the only technical drawing of a 1980 dry cleaning shop you will see today! #iciarchives

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

A few photos capturing Runcorn Town Hall taken at night in 1996 - just naturally showing up in our #westonpointstudios photographic archive!

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Never ceases to amaze me what treasures will emerge from the next envelope as we plough through our #westonpointstudios collection. A very pleasing slide of #liverpoolcorporationwaterworks Beeston Moss Valve House - Walksmans Cottage from 1888

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

'The Big Photo Sort'. All photo negatives from our recent rescue of the Weston Point Studios. Since then 50k have already been processed and 18k are scanned (and they weren't even part of this)! Thank you to Becka, Erin, Hannah, Heather, Megan, Pam, Pat, Sandra and Tiffany who all worked so hard.

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

We've started 2026 on an excellent note with these two lovely donations! Long Service Medal with watch and chain belonging to H Forster and Illuminated Long Service Certificate for 49 years' service awarded to William Allman We look forward to finding out more about them!

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Football shield mystery! The Weston Point & District Schoolboys Competition Shield with 32 inscriptions was presented by Sir John Brunner in 1906 and the latest inscription is 1995-6. All 32 are inscribed but how did the maths work out so well given there are 90 years between first and last?!

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Congratulations to Jonathan Davies on his CBE in the New Years Honours 2025. Obviously best known for appearing in one of the 'Two Wonders of Widnes' advertising campaign at our Museum in 1989. Am pleased to say the large, framed poster still adorns our museum walls!

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Take me back to 1990. I'm not sure when people think of a chemical industry museum that photos of #vladivarvodka would immediately spring to mind. ICI registered the product #perspex (seen here impersonating an ice mountain) in the 1930s following it's discovery by two of its chemists. Cheers!

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

When worlds collide! One of the joys of rescuing several hundred thousand negatives is not knowing what will turn up next. Not for the first time do we see the long association that chemical firms have had with our museum since its inception.

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

You never know what will appear in our #iciwestonpointstudios photographic negatives. This charming photo of a room in a Swedish designed #lundbydollshouse from 1980. The photo was taken due to the #vivelle (fabric) being manufactured by ICI #iciarchives #dollshouses

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

⭐It's Today!⭐ Join us at the Catalyst Museum for Heritage Weekend between 10 and 5. Meet our friends from Halton Heritage Partnership Explore 3 floors of ICI Weston Point Studios photographs on temporary display plus our permanent galleries and current art exhibition. Free entry.

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Very sad to see that HRH Duchess of Kent has passed away. Katharine had a long association with ICI and Brunner Mond and was the great granddaughter of Sir John Brunner. Pictured here on one of the many visits she made to the region in 1973 for the centenary of Brunner Mond

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Unexpected find on a strip of 1976 negatives today of ICI Weaver Power Station. The other 29 images are showing the wear to the turbine blades and this little gem is a moment in time where the photographer had taken a snap of the workers. They look happy in their work :)

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Motor racing gets the ICI logo ... in 1992

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

The trouble they went to for a First Aid Comp - look at the detail of the car! In 1982 you can be sure an ICI First Aider could take the right steps if you came off your motorbike #iciwestonpointstudios #photographicarchives #iciarchives #winningtonworks

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Would you like to see a couple of 1992 photos looking over from Runcorn to West Bank? A few zoom-ins of the originals scanned at v high resolution and ... does Eddie still love Kathy?!

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Glad to have found the negative of this photo in our recently rescued set. This small glass figurine done by an ICI glass blower for the owner of Weston Point Studios to mark 1 year of independent trading. The original model but it's in safe hands with the original owner thank goodness :)

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Dulcine - where's she now, eh! Dulcine was shown to have 200 times the sweetening power of sugar made with phosgene amongst other ingredients! Funny to think that the research into this was nearly 100 years ago. ICI with their fingers in every [apple] pie :) #iciarchives #unitedalkalico

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Sandra has achieved a milestone on behalf of our museum today as her hard work has resulted in 50% of our ICI General Chemicals technical reports scanned. No small task. A quick reckon up shows she still has the all of the boxes in the last photo, plus another ½ again - when you put it like that ...

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Our recently acquired photographic archive is feeding my obsession with pre-computer era plant models. This one 1981 - no idea what it is as yet. Never mind your lego - you could sell these as a kit. We'd have played with this for hours! #stillwould #plantmodels #iciarchives

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Hand held mini computer used by #nalfloc in 1982. You can see why we all thought we'd be wearing silver suits by the millennium :) #80scomputing #nalflocwatertreatment #nalco

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Always enjoy a hand-drawn diagram! Calcium Chloride Dryers - Brine Circulation - what's not to like. Photo is from our Weston Point collection in 1981 #westonpointstudios #iciarchives

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

A few from our recently acquired negatives - @woolworthsuk in St Annes. A bargain 89p in 1990! Photos were taken as the display case is Perspex - good old ICI. #westonpointstudios #iciarchives #blackpoolrock

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

A wonderful donation with a few copies of INEOS INCH - thank you to Lisa who managed to get her hands on a few for us. We can’t wait to receive the rest of them and have a complete collection!

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

Love seeing the detail in the background of a photo. This is on the wall in a plant control room in 1981 - I now want the original :) #iciarchives #rocksavage #cm2plant

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Daily Telegraph knows a good thing when they see it :)

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Brookside stars in 1989 - ICI C&P, Ford Motors and Cellnet joined forces in aid of Children in need. Breakfast presenter Sally Jones and radio host Bruce Purdy collected autographs to auction for the cause. Photo from our #westonpointstudios collection Brookside Close Ford Motor Company #brookside

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

Very pleasing photo of a plant model in front of the plant itself! Waste brine plant taken in 1976. Technical plant models became a thing of the past when CAD came in. Thankfully not too many of the models survived as they take up too much space in the store :)

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Thought to be among the best position to pin a commemorative medal in 1981. The modest jacket version appeared in the article in the end. Our recently rescued negatives are truly the gift that keeps on giving #iciarchives #solvaymedal #itwasntonpagethree

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Just ONE envelope of contact prints and photographic negatives rescued last week. This envelope contains 170 images :)

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Some amazing long servers with Gossages Soap Works 1921. H Whitby has the most service with 60.75 years. It is possible that no other photos of these men exist. Gossages were keen on featuring their staff in the magazine 'The Wheel'. #gossages

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Our new exhibition titled Catalyst for Creativity is now open!! The exhibition features artistic responses from Level 3 Creative Practice students at Cronton Sixth Form College, studying art, fashion, and graphic design. We want to thank all the students for their hard work, along with the staff!

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Kathleen Mary Drew-Baker aka 'Mother of the Sea' - Without her Sushi would not exist (probably)!! #womeninscience

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Excellent panorama made up of 5 photos. Barrows Green lane, Widnes c1950.

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Charming view of Epworth House, Runcorn from the early 1900s when it was 3 x residences. Our hero #harrybaker lived in the middle one. Colour photo a 1960s view of the same building which was then ICI Lawson House. Margaret Thatcher visited, as did the Krays - though not on the same day of course

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Look at this beauty! - ICI brass safety padlock with red inlay, no 1899. When working on a part of the plant that had been isolated, you would lock your own padlock to the switch - only when the last padlock was removed would you know it was safe to restart. Simple but effective #iciarchives

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

If you see this repost with something red from your gallery. Letterhead from the Canadian Salt Co used in 1925

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Lovely photo of the model that became Brunner House in Northwich. State of the art building - made to be converted into a hospital should we go to war again. Built to house 750 staff as a HQ. Alas now a housing estate #brunnerhouse #icibrunnerhouse #icinorthwich #alkalidivision

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Colour postcard from Widnes Promenade showing the construction of the Runcorn-Widnes bridge in 1961 (later the Silver Jubilee Bridge)

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

From our collection - two undated photographs of the engine room at Castner Kellner. Look how clean it all is. I don't know who the chaps are in the photos but I definitely like the style of the one on the stairs! #iciarchives #castnerkellner #runcorn #unitedalkali

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Catalyst Museum @catalystarchives.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

This Ludwig Mond Statuette is in the National Portrait Gallery (bought by them in 1996). Shame he's not spending his days in miniature with his old pal John Brunner in our museum! At least they're both being cared for. #johnbrunner #ludwigmond #brunnermond

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