Hmmm... I've been wondering about this too... This posting has prompted me to look back through my early sources and, in the grand tradition of buck-passing, I seem to have got the name from David.
However, I'm attracted by Anne's theory of two different designs with the same name, produced at different stages of the Sherdley/ Ravenhead history.
Bamboo seems right for the shape of the stepped pattern, and the two bamboo canes in the advert seem to confirm the association. (The date I have for the advert is 1948, but it may well have been run more than once.)
Anne, David and I have been wondering about whether Sherdley sold this range as blanks rather than decorating them in-house - all the adverts I've seen for Sherdley's pressed glass ranges have been undecorated. As well as etched/ engraved and crinkle verisons Anne mentions, I'm also awaiting delivery of a set with ?painted floral decoration:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260105306987. There's a picture of a crinkly jug at
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110096456855. Would love to see a picture of your one with the trailing vine, Chris.
The 1958 tumblers are definitely called
Bamboo - I have a copy of an advert from this year with both sizes pictured. Text reads:
‘Bamboo’ tumblers
They’re new!
Designed by A. H. Williamson A.R.C.A.
Now available from your Sherdley wholesaler. 5 oz. tumbler retails at 5 1/2d, 10 oz. at 7d each in the U.K.
A new tumbler for parties and everyday use. 5 oz., ideal for bottled fruit juices, 10 oz. for squashed. Children grip them easily – grown-ups too!
SHERDLEY GLASS TUMBLERS
MADE AT ST. HELENS LANCS.
So they started out as a Sherdley pattern, but may well have been produced by Ravenhead after production of pressed glass and machine-blown tumblers moved to the Ravenhead factory in 1964. (The only references I've come across so far to Ravenhead tableware production prior to 1964 have all been to stemware - but that's very far from a definitive statement of historical fact.)
BTW, Chris, you may be interested in another jug we've been discussing recently, which looks very likely to be Sherdley:
http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,13285.0.html. In the end I bought the one listed on e-bay and, for what it's worth, the colour, weight, quality etc feel "right" by comparison with other Sherdley jugs of the period.
Most disappointing about St Helens World of Glass. Perhaps when I finish my research on Sherdley/ Ravenhead, I'll donate my accumulated haul to them! (It would be nice to get my study back...)