Author Topic: Industrial Birmingham  (Read 38634 times)

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #33 on: February 25, 2019, 04:15:53 PM »
.......but it wasn't long before he got a job at a non-ferrous metal rolling mill: The old firm of Earle, Bourne and Co (became Delta Metals) where he spent most of his working life, on permanent nights: 4 nights per week, 12 hours per night. :-[
Peg.
My father spoke very little about his worktime experience, I suppose as a rolling mill operator, as far as he was concerned, there wasn't a lot to say about using an "over-sized clothes mangle", but he did let his guard down, briefly, on one occasion when he arrived home after shift one morning with the tool of his trade - a sheet metal thickness gauge (simpified version of a micrometer), and proudly explained to me how to use it, I suppose I must have been about 7.
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #34 on: February 25, 2019, 04:20:18 PM »
I worked at this place when it was Barker and Allen......
Hi Dave, what's the company called now? :-\
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

townie

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #35 on: February 25, 2019, 07:44:50 PM »
I worked at a company called Stubbing helping to build Hampstead council estate. That was constriction rather than Industrial.
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

davesd1

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #36 on: February 25, 2019, 07:51:56 PM »
Hi PM,After mergers with another couple of companies,it became EIP metals.The site on Heath street south has now been demolished. 

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #37 on: February 26, 2019, 11:51:12 AM »
During my apprenticeship years 1965-70 Salisbury Transmission Ltd generously paid all my college fees, for which I am eternally grateful, few colleges can compete with the number of change of names the college had starting with Aston Technical College and I studied there under every name except the last one: Birmingham City University, which was adopted in 2007, my daughter followed in my footsteps and studied in the same faculty but she read Architecture whereas my discipline was Engineering Production.
Peg.
P.S. Sir Lenny Henry became Chancellor in 2016.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #38 on: February 27, 2019, 02:04:40 PM »
1974 - a crossroads. Apprentice and Production Engineer I'd now been at Salisbury Transmission for nigh on 9 years, I'd been married a couple of years, had acquired a mortgage and, quite frankly, I needed to earn some real brass and it didn't look like that was going to happen anytime soon at Salisbury, so after much thought I left for pastures new, in search of that elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (Turn again, Dick Whittington or whatever the phrase is).
With hindsight was it the right move? Jury's still out (after 45 years) - all I can say for sure is, I managed to triple my salary within about 2 years, but a fellow apprentice who stayed put at Salisbury and never had another job in his life rose to be a member of the board, he will have retired by now on a pension of half a director's salary.
Ah Well  that's life!
Peg.
P.S. I know! it's never to late to achieve success, who can I emulate............?
(Howard Hughes - Billionaire Film Producer, amongst other things, obsessed with the movie Ice Station Zebra).
P.P.S. I know what you are thinking - can't always measure success in terms of wealth. :-\
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #39 on: February 28, 2019, 07:59:12 PM »
When I left school in July 1965 I was fortunate to get a Birfield Apprenticeship with Salisbury Transmission Ltd in Witton, .......
Peg.
My first year was spent at the Birfield Apprentice School based on the Hardy Spicer Factory site, Chester Rd, Erdington. The School had great facilities: a well equipped workshop split into 3 sections: Bench Fitting (incuded forge work), Turning and Milling and then there was the Drawing Office, each section had its own instructor. The group of about 30 apprentices (from various Birfield Group Companies in the midlands) was split into four and each group, on a rota, spent a certain period of time on each section, in addition we were required to enrol at Erdington Technical College on the Mechanical Engineering Technicians Course, 1 day + 1 evening a week.
Peg.
P.S. I've just noticed: my outfit colour co-ordinated with my lathe, how cool is that? O0
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #40 on: March 02, 2019, 07:45:49 PM »
I worked at this place when it was Barker and Allen.When I qualified as an Electrician in 1980,we were working 5 nights a week,12 hour shifts.
Then,in order for production to be up and running earlier on a Monday morning,a Sunday night shift was introduced.
Hi Dave, I know the principles of a rolling mill but I never got to see my dad's place of work at E&B, was there a bank of rolling mills each reducing the thickness of the stock by a certain amount until the required thickness was reached and then it was coiled?
Am I correct in thinking they were David Brown Mills?
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #41 on: March 03, 2019, 11:02:27 PM »
I was in my 2nd year of apprenticeship before my association ended with the Boys Brigade in 1967, as did my captainship of the 3rd Sutton Coldfield "A" football team. I was always on the short side but in the BB team age range of 11-17 it didn't matter but I soon found out size does matter when you are playing works football.
The style of play was genteel and friendly (for the most part) in the BB, although still competitive, but works football was positively brutal, I didn't have the bodyweight to play my normal midfield position and was put on the wing, The Salisbury Transmission Team was pretty mediocre at the time and I remember little of the matches, their home ground was on playing fields a Barrows Lane, Sheldon (which was difficult for me to get to from Erdington on a Sunday until I got my motorbike), one match in particular I remember for the wrong reason - I found myself in a good position to make an attempt at goal but just as I was about to shoot the opposing team's animal of a leftback lunged at me making no attempt to go for the ball, he landed on my leg and I went down like a sack of potatoes, unfortunately in those days vanity prevailed over commonsense as I was not wearing shin guards, if I had my injury would have been far less - 50 years on I still have the stud mark on my left shin.
He should have been sent off and a penalty awarded, but somehow he escaped.
Peg.   
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #42 on: March 04, 2019, 03:27:44 PM »
So, what is my enduring memory of my year at the Birfield Apprentice School (1965-66)? - The team of professional instructors who toiled dayly to  impart their knowledge? - No, The production of superbly engineered test pieces using the very latest cutting edge machinery? - No. Producing engineering drawings of such a standard they must qualify as works of art? - No.
Wot then? THE TEA TROLLEY GIRLS who brought a mountain of donuts 10.00am and 3.00pm for our tea breaks in the messroom.
These jam donuts were freshly baked in the works canteen and were without equal - I kid you not when I said they brough a mountain - if you had seen the amount you would have said it's impossible for 30 apprentices to consume them, but they did, there was not a single instance when the canteen girls made their way back to base with uneaten donuts.  O0
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #43 on: March 05, 2019, 08:01:59 PM »
I met the love of my life (the future Mrs Peg Monkey) when I was in the last year of my apprenticeship, we got engaged a year later and started to save hard for the deposit for a house, I'd been on apprentice money for 5 years and even when going onto the full rate I wasn't exactly Rockerfeller so to supplement our savings I got a Saturday job, there were a few farms around the Sutton Coldfield Area and work there was a possible option, but as luck would have it I managed to get a few gardening contracts which I continued with until we got married. O0
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.


 

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