MEMORIES of a revolutionary way of life have been brought up to date.

The Bata Reminiscence and Resource Centre in East Tilbury has received a £973 grant from Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation to provide an electronic archive of the Bata Record newspaper.

With a distribution of around 5,000 at its peak, the Bata Record was sold at the British Bata Factory gates from 1933 until the mid 1970s. It cost 1d per copy.

It was purchased by the majority of employees and contained information and photographs of life within the Bata Community.

This community was a major influence on life in Essex during the 20th century.

As such a large proportion of the local population was employed at the shoe factory, Bata created a "garden city" alongside the factory in East Tilbury to house workers.

The company also had its own farm, shops, cinema and sporting facilities which included tennis courts and a swimming pool. Play areas were supplied for the children of workers and a school and college were built.

Thanks to the Community Fund grant, all editions of the Bata Record have now been transferred on to CD-Rom so future generations can learn the history of the community by reading past editions of the weekly newspaper.

At a ceremony Fred Price from the Bata Reminiscence and Resource Centre said: "This resource will ensure younger generations can learn about the history of Bata, an important part of the local area's heritage.

"This provides an insight into how people lived during a period of intense change and progress."