Author Topic: Industrial Birmingham  (Read 38628 times)

townie

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #44 on: March 05, 2019, 08:12:24 PM »
Peg I take it you didn't see much of life growing up in your late teens when everyone was nightclubbing. But fair play to you for getting a mortgage and house, all I got was a council house but I had a great time growing up. 
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Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #45 on: March 06, 2019, 11:03:04 PM »
Peg I take it you didn't see much of life growing up in your late teens when everyone was nightclubbing. 
Not so! - Grab a Granny Night every Thursday at The Rank - doesn't get much better than that! Right?! Back on topic: Where did you earn a crust to fund your lifestyle of fun and frolic?


My wage when I started at the apprentice school was £4 per week with a bonus of upto 18/-, £4 was abysmal even in 1965 so I had my sights set on nothing less than the maximum bonus. I can't remember when it was first paid - it must have been a few weeks at least after I started work at the school because it was performance-related, including time-keeping, anyway I worked my socks off and when bonus' were declared I was gutted that I only got 12/6.
It was no consolation whatsoever that it was one of the highest bonuses paid - my mate only got 5/-.
I should have taken the instuctors to task but I wouldn't have said boo to a goose in those days.  :(
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

townie

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #46 on: March 06, 2019, 11:17:26 PM »
Peg when I was at working age 15 I could leave one job and start another the next day. In the early 70s I lived on town I didn't need to work. Somewhere on this forum I posted how life was, but I wouldn't change a thing. I don't think many on this forum would have lived on town, but they know all about it.   
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #47 on: March 07, 2019, 11:42:56 PM »
Day 1 at the apprentice school - we were told we needed to purchase a toolkit, the cost £4, a week's wages! The school kindly purchased a toolkit for each of us and we repaid by instalments - these were deducted from our wages. I still have the toolkit 53 years on, like me it's retired, it's missing some items, unfortunately, (I know I've still got the dividers in my garage somewhere) anyway there is a pic attached with a sketch where the item is missing.
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 #48 on: March 11, 2019, 09:11:29 AM »
As soon as we got our toolkits the first thing we had to do was etch our name on every item - essential to avoid fights over who owned what!
Peg O0
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Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #49 on: March 11, 2019, 04:55:03 PM »
Test pieces that we made at the apprentice school broadly fell into two catagories: the first: items that gave experience in a particular machining or other process (e.g. screw cutting by lathe), these had no purpose afterwards than to act as a reference item and for retention as a "proud work of art" and the second where the items fulfilled the same purpose as in the first catagory and in addition had a subsequent practical use, these consisted of a variety of items that could be used by the apprentice all through his career and a simple example of this is the depth gauge shown in the attachment.  O0
Peg.
P.S. The old feller needs a spot of WD40 on his rod to get him back in working order.

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 #50 on: March 14, 2019, 08:23:11 PM »
Down to experience - 1972, 2 years out of my apprenticeship and working in Production Enginnering, Salisbury Transmission (my employer) had just secured a prestigious order from the USA and initial machining trials were underway when my boss asked me to go and sort a problem out at the start of the gearbox manufacturing line. The tooling engineers had a mismatch between a milling machine and the cutter they were trying to fit to it, the solution: an adaptor, simple engineering solution, within an hour or so I had designed the part and it had been ordered and a few days later it came in, I shouldn't have heard anymore about it, but I did - foreman sent for saying you've messed up, adaptor fits the machine ok but the cutter wont marry up with the adaptor.
I checked my measurement and double checked the cutter - my meaurements were miles out and I couldn't understand it - there had to be a reason and of course there was - after much investigation I discovered a consultant engineer had been working on the  machine and when the cutter couldn't be fitted it took it away for use elsewhere and the cutter they tried to fit later was not the same one although everyone swore blind it was.
I vowed I would never be caught out again and in simlar circustances I took a photograph of the items in question - now a days with a phone camera it would be easier.
Ah well! That's Life!
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 #51 on: March 28, 2019, 10:08:22 AM »
Birfield Apprentice School Day 1 - Sept 1965. I was told during the introduction my time would culminate with the CGLI Craft Practice Part 1 exam, where I would be expected to get a credit pass, the school hosted the exam under the auspices of Erdington Technical College. I was required to produce a test piece similar to that on the attachment (this is my best effort, based on a memory that is over half a century old) over a period of 24 hours spread over 4 or 5 days, my time was logged to ensure compliance with the time constraint.
Did I make the grade? - I must be approaching my KB limit - see a later post.
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 #52 on: April 01, 2019, 06:23:51 PM »
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 #53 on: April 08, 2019, 01:35:48 PM »
Birfield Apprentice School 1965-66. In addition to the Craft Practice Exam apprentices followed a course that was biased towards theoretical engineering - Certificate attached.
Pity about the maths grade.
Peg.

It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Hi De Hi

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #54 on: April 16, 2019, 11:46:35 AM »
It's shocking about the Golden Lion.  Makes me very angry  >:(

Another way is for the building to just disappear overnight. You might get a fine, but the building's gone forever & you can do what you like with the land afterwards.  There was one in Solihull where the owner just demolished it one night!


And was forced to re-build it!


 

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