Computers were a bit bigger in those days.
This is a picture of Norwich City Council receiving its first computer in 1957.
It was an Elliot 405, and the first municipal computer in Britain.
Norfolk Record Office / Via davidthompson.typepad.com
Electronic computers are already being put to a wide range of uses in industry. This week, however, they have entered a new sphere of usefulness. A local authority–Norwich City Council—has installed a computer, and is the first to do so.
...
Local government work involves a large volume of repetitive processes. It is, therefore, obviously a field where the advantages of speed and accuracy inherent in electronic data processing will lead to substantial savings.
The computer was soon put to work at processing the council's accounting, payroll, stock control, and more.
This is what the Elliot 405 looked like in action, from a 1969 BBC documentary featuring the pupils of Forest Grammar School in Berkshire:
Their school computer was called "Nellie".
