MADE IN BIRMINGHAM 2009 NEWSLETTER

MADE IN BIRMINGHAM WEBSITE

Apologies for the lack of newsletters this year it has been a difficult year! The website- I am currently unable to edit anything on the MIB website, this is why there have been no updates. The website is being in the process of being re-written and should be back to normal in 2010. Below is a draft newsletter which I will correct over the next few weeks--the basic information will remain the same.


The Mike Hailwood Memorial Run 2009


This years run was the first time David Hailwood had attended. (2nd from left)




Next years run will be on Sunday March 21st 2010

www.madeinbirmingham.org/hailwood.htm

Can I remind people that the singer/songwriter Nick Drake (brother of Crossroads star Gabrielle Drake) is also buried at Tanworth in Arden.

THE BIRMINGHAM TESTERS RUN

The 2010 run will start from the former Hercules Cycle factory in Rocky Lane, Aston to mark the 100th anniversary of what was the world's largest cycle factory in the 30s, they also produced motorcycles in 1914 and lightweights again in the 50s. Hercules

In 2011 the run will start from the former Alex's Pie stand by the Albany Hotel a famous meeting place for motorcyclists local band members and late night revelers in the 60s.

Alex's pie van is long gone but the small site is still there and reputed to be Birminghams last undeveloped bomb site! Does anyone know just who Alex was or anything about the business, perhaps you went there?

See a picture at http://www.brumbeat.net/alexspie.htm

All future BTR events will be held in the month of September due to the milder weather nad less people on holiday and other event clashes

BIRMINGHAM CITY OF BRASS?

Vin Callcut will be giving a talk at Think Tank on Wednesday 7th October entitled 'Birmingham Copper and Brass' at 7pm. (organised by The Newcomen Society, admission free). Vin runs this excellent website which deserves much more recognition
http://www.oldcopper.org/birmingham_brass.htm

I will be attending this talk on Wednesday and hope to see some of you there.

Meanwhile Brass is alive and well in Birmingham! To find a still thriving Birmingham Brassfounder! I thank Mark Mc Grail for reminding of us this very fine Birmingham company Dating back to 1929.

Armac are the last of a breed - and it is all still manufactured here in Birmingham!!

ARMAC BRASSWORKS. 160 Dollman Street, Birmingham B7 4RS. tel:0121 3594821 (ext:221) fax:0121 3594698

www.armac.co.uk

I have replied to most of the enquiries below but if you want to add anything or discuss anything just use the address the madeinbhamnewsletter email address


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The Birmingham Syphon Company.

Contrary to it's name, BSC did not make syphons but were a mineral water company, purchasing their syphons from the British Syphon Co. London and bottles from, amongst others, J. Lumb&Co. Castleford, West Yorkshire and Redfern Bros. Barnsley. Surprisingly they don't appear to have bought from the local Albion Bottle Co. (ABC)
The proprietor in 1891 was Luke Bradley who lived at The Knoll, Mount Road until his death in 1957.

http://www.phancocks.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/familyhistory/bentley/bentley7.htm

At around the same time the company address was 12 Bishops Street South. By 1912 they had become a limited company and before 1914 had purchased the company of Austin's Birmingham. I have no information on Austin's but believe they may have been brewers.

I'm not sure of the dates but, by the 1920's BSC had moved to Bordsley Street and by the 30's had moved to their final known factory in Meriden Street.
The company also used the name 'Ideal' and The Ideal table water Supply Ltd. This may have been another company they purchased or just a trade name. I'm not sure when the company ceased or why but continued into the 1960's and maybe beyond.

My father, born 1923, grew up in Bordsley Street and could remember the loading of syphons at the company in Meriden Street. His parents had a grocery shop and no doubt stocked some of BSC's products. I will pass on more information as and when I find it. I hope you get the accommodation ext sorted soon. If you would like any photos then let me know. Kind regards, Mark

Thank Mark-- I suggest you submit an article to the Brummagem magazine asking for more info -Kellys Directory will tell you what Austins did

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GLENFERN GARAGE ERDINGTON

Hi, I am trying to track down my grandfathers's history. He was W. L Land - William Lorimer Land and was proprietor of Glenfern Garage , Wood End Road, Erdington before WW2. I understand he was a Wolseley dealer and probably his second son, Montague took over the business. My father severed contact so that's all I can add. Any info on the business would be appreciated.


I knew Glenfern Garage well especially as I had a wheel come off both my Ford and Mini van after their careless mechanics had been working on them! I can only remember one name and its that of Reg who had a second hand car dealership(very small) on the forecort (1969). He had an E type and I used to see him in the Rum Runner regularly. The garage was a Rootes/Commer dealership at that time and supplied vehicles to Castle Towels further down the road--JP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Aluminium Engineers Ltd., Upper Trinity Street.

Dear sirs, I worked at Aluminium Engineers Ltd of Upper Trinity St.B'ham, between Jan 1956 and Aug 1965, when the firm closed down. The firm made various tanks and containers for the Chemical and Food industries.One off items that the larger companies would not look at. I.C.I. was one of the large companies we produced work for. Palethorpes Sausages would send small Aluminium containers to be repaired because the handles used to break. First the containers had to be cleaned with acid to remove the fat,then be rinsed in water,before the sheet metal workers and welders could handle them. Another B'ham firm Marsh & Baxters also sent large pressure cookers to be repaired.When they arrived at the factory they were covered in burnt on grease. The outer pan had to be removed by the welder with an oxy-acetylene torch.The smell of the burning fat would put you off pork pies for good.I used to work in the drawing office preparing working drawings for the works.I still have some of them that I "rescued" before I left. Do you think they would be of interest to B'ham Central Library Archives Dept? Regards M.Howl

YES! JP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ James Lloyd & Company, Lower Hurst Street,

Dear Sirs, I wondered if you have any information on James Lloyd & Company who made perambulators, invalid Chairs, and mail carts for the home and foreign markets? Their address was Lower Hurst Street, Birmingham. Alternatively perhaps you could point me in the right direction for further information? Regards,

No, sorry-if you look on the forum you will see how to go about researching a small comany like this JP

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Lewis's Department store
I lived in Birmingham from 1947-1968 Lewis's was a really important part of our young lives. My sister and I went there every christmas and queued up all six floors, peering down the lift shafts on the way, just to see father christmas. We would pay 2/6 to have a present which would often be a post office set or bus conductors set. The santa's grotto was always wonderful, a really magic place to go, and in my opinion I have never seen a better grotto to this day. It was a summer treat to visit the roof top Zoo my mother often used tell the tale of the elephant eating my sisters handbag which had an apple in it. The manager of Lewis's in Manchester Mr Dale, was a close friend of my parents, and he would come and stay at our house whilst visiting the Birmingham store on business. As teenagers we would always go to Lewis's to buy material to make dresses. They had a fantastic choice of haberdashery rarely seen now in modern department stores. The food hall, which If my memory serves me well, was on the ground floor was fantastic, it sold everything you could think of, and on a saturday I remember it being packed to the gunnels, you would have to queue up for ages at every counter. I could go on and on about the store, as I said before it was a really significant part of our childhood and teenage years. love Yvonne My Great Grandmother used to work in the Birmingham branch of Lewis's. I am currently trying to piece together my families' past, and was wondering if you knew if employees details are held in record somewhere. Her name was Lilian Hardcastle (formely Swift) she died in 1958 age 71 so probably worked around the 40's to early 50's. Any help is greatly welcomed. Yours, Duncan Watson -------------------------------------------------------------

Marshall and Snelgrove

I've just found the page about the Marshall and Snelgrove store on your pages. I have no memories to offer, but I am descended from both John Snelgrove and James Marshall (Snelgrove married his partner's daughter - their daughter was my great-grandmother). I am interested in sources on the history of the company and particularly the biographies of the founders, and would be most grateful for any leads you can give me. With best wishes Georgina Ferry


Hi JP I've just bought from an eBay seller a book called A Family of Shops (1951), which is a history of Marshall and Snelgrove written by Alison Settle, a fashion journalist and former editor of Vogue. It hasn't arrived yet, so I don't know how much personal history will be in it, but you might find it interesting. There are a few copies advertised on Abe Books, though they seem rather expensive. Using onlinel sources I've put together the family tree that connects me to the Marshalls and Snelgroves. In 1881 John Snelgrove and his wife Georgina Elizabeth (nee Marshall) were living in a household with six children (the eldest of whom was my great-grandmother Mary Georgina) and seven servants. Today we appear to be better educated but not nearly so wealthy! They lived in London but also had a house in Torquay, where there is a rather lavish memorial to John Snelgrove erected by his daughters. Snelgrove was the son of a papermaker from Dulcote in Somerset and is reputed to have 'walked to London with half a crown in his pocket to seek his fortune'. He worked for Marshall (who came from Yorkshire) before going into business with him as partner in 1847. By that time Marshall had been running an upmarket ladies' fashion shop in Vine St (off Oxford St) for ten years, with other partners. The expansion to other cities began with seaside towns, so that the London customers could shop while on holiday, and then took in other cities such as Birmingham and Newcastle. Best wishes Georgina

Thank you--REMEMBER all books can be ordered for borrowing (via you local library) from the British Library-they are supposed to have acopy of every book ever publsihed--JP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sun motorcycles

Hi, just seen your website about Sun Wasp scooters. I had one of these monsters in the late sixties. Good & bad points. Ciba Dynastart, amazing, well before it's time. Villiers engine that would run forever but wouldn't go faster than 50 mph. Not what you would call a lightweight machine, I can recall having to bring it home on the train from Warrington, where it broke down, due to the centre bar punctureing one of the batteries, for some reason the bar was left with a point that went through the plastic side of the cell? this caused the voltage regulater to go up in smoke.Anyway I digress, a porter and myself pushed it upstairs at Eccles railway station because the lift wasn't working after the station had been vandalised. This is when I fully realised how well this machine built. Next day it started first time, well after the carb. was primed. Punctures were a nightmare, if I remember rightly there were 19 bolts around the outside of the wheel & 11 around the inner, about 2 hours work.Having said that the storage space was excellent, the gear change was easy & it was a joy to ride because it felt a heavyweight & stable machine. WISH I HADN'T SOLD IT. Kind Regards Terry Aird

Especially for you here is a pic-JP



http://madeinbirmingham.org/sun.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Davenport and Sons’ Brewery Limited - my first job by Di Wilson.



In the summer of 1965 I left Bournville College with a clutch of O levels, 100 wpm shorthand and RSA typing qualifications, a decent understanding of how business and commerce worked and the ability to prepare a balance sheet and profit and loss account. Now I needed a job. In the 1960’s parents needed paying for board and lodging, decent work clothes needed buying, in my case office suits and shoes and a big coat for standing at bus stops, and I also needed money for fares for the buses.

I was lucky enough to land a job with Davenports Brewery in Bath Row, Birmingham ,as a shorthand-typist. When I arrived my ‘work station’ consisted of a square simulated-leather topped table, a dining chair and a very old Royal manual typewriter. My status did not entitle me to a telephone but I was proud to be the fourth member of the Davenports Brewery Secretariat, as described by a plaque on our office door. I do, however, remember that I was appalled by the smell, the sweet, cloying, warm smell of beer being produced in commercial quantities. I thought I would never get used to it. But I did and came to love it.

After about five weeks of practising my new skills for anyone who needed a letter or report prepared, the very sophisticated 25 year old secretary to the Director and Head Brewer left - very suddenly as I remember. Without any discussion or fuss I was moved into her office. An office of my own, with proper desk, typing chair, modern Remington manual typewriter and a large black Bakelite phone with a dial, which connected me to the outside world but only via an operator. Pleased as I was with this unexpected promotion I remember that it did not stop me from making my way to the Company Secretary’s office and asking for an extra ten shillings a week in recognition of my new responsibilities. I got it and I then earned £8 0s. 0d. a week.

My new office also had a window, a rather mucky sash affair which looked over the rear of Birmingham Accident Hospital and, as I soon discovered, its incinerator, which explained the dirty window. That incinerator operated each day and every day and my older colleagues gave me lurid descriptions of what was being consumed.

John Davenport and Sons’ Brewery Ltd. and Davenports CB were landmarks in Bath Row. The oldest buildings dated back to 1815 but the newest had only been built in the 1930’s. Davenports came into existence because of the availabiity of pure water and when inspected in 1928 the two artesian wells, the Brewery Well and the CB Well, were said to be “of an exceptionally high order of purity”. CB was housed in a handsome brick building and had huge windows onto Bath Row which enabled everyone to look directly into the bottling plant. The sight of thousands of bottles rollercoasting around the tracks, being washed, dried, filled, sealed and labelled was a source of fascination to passing pedestrians and bus passengers. It was also, I imagine, a good public relations exercise and a distraction for the people visiting patients in the Hospital next door.

John Davenports’ Brewery itself, the wine and spirit warehouse, the loading decks and the yard were reached via a narrow driveway at the side of the CB Building and the buildings were much less attractive. The Brewery was set well back out of sight of the main road, a tall darkened brick square rising to four floors with a central brown stained wooden staircase with thick treacle coloured lino treads.

Davenports had dozens of public houses, the best known local pubs probably being the ‘Cotswold Tudor’ styled Black Horse in Northfield ‘ and the half timbered Three Horseshoes in Stirchley, but there were also Davenport pubs as far afield as Liverpool and Hayes in Kent. However the name of Davenports was maybe more famous for its Beer at Home service and each morning dozens of drays loaded up and delivered beer, wine and spirits to their very regular customers. By 1965, when I arrived, all the drays were engine driven but horses had not long been retired. The large loading deck and yard, at the back of the CB building and to the side of John Davenports Brewery was where the draymen loaded up and exited each morning and returned each evening with their empties and their cash.

A door on the ground floor of the Davenports Brewery building opened directly into a reception office with a long wooden desk which was where the draymen checked in their day’s takings. When I began work the lady cashier, a Mrs Wilson, presided over this area. Within four years of starting work I became her namesake when I married her eldest son. I don’t believe Mrs. Wilson ever used a mechanical adding machine, but late each afternoon with piles of cash to balance, and a queue of draymen waiting to pay in and go home, she would simply run a pen down one handwritten list of figures after another and total as she went. Right that balances, next one!

The ground floor also housed the wine and spirit stores, to which Mr. Meek and Mr. Mapp held the keys and kept immaculate inventories. Whilst at work most people were known by their title and surname. Even at 17 years old I was Miss Russell, I was only Diane to my peers.

One floor up the dark staircase with its shiny brown heavily embossed walls the offices of the Head Brewer, Mr. Grant, Company Secretary, Mr. Royle and the Managing Director, Mr. Seed opened off a square landing. Each of their doors had a run of three lights on the adjacent wall, and following a knock at a door, the lights would show red for ‘go away’, orange for ‘wait there’ and green for ‘come in’.

Up the stairs again and on the next landing was the office of the Senior Brewer, Mr Muntz and alongside that my ‘home’ the Secretariat, and, I think I remember this correctly, the Boardroom. The top floor housed the general offices, the accountants’ offices and the toilets, the ‘Ladies’ of which doubled as the tea making area and which got ever so crowded around 10.30 each morning

From Mr. Grant’s and Mr. Muntz’ offices, doors led directly into the Brewery itself. My first impression was that it looked like the inside of a soaring white and silver cathedral but smelt like fifty thousand public houses. The black and white chequerboard tiled floor, the shiny round mash tuns, silver domed coppers, and fermenting vessels all shone, and there were tall cylindrical tanks in which the beer was stored before going into the barrels and bottles. There were runs of metal ladders, steps and walkways all with open gratings and everything was bubbling, spitting, fermenting, boiling. The brewery workers stood on the metal walkways and bridges, stirring and inspecting the beer in the various stages of production. With hindsight it was a bit like a scene from a sci-fi film. The heat was intense and the workers wore the minimum of clothing, many just white shorts, which I initially found quite embarrassing, but quickly grew to accept!

Davenports’ produced many award winning beers over the years. Mr. Daniels, the Marketing Director, became a rather well known local celebrity as a result of personally fronting the media advertisements. Strangely enough I don’t ever member Davenports having an advertising department.

Mr. A. P. Grant, my boss, was very tall, with a military bearing, white haired, imposing and very, very precise. He was therefore everything one would then expect of the Director of a long established and well respected company. I would be summoned each morning for dictation and instruction. I would knock on his door wait for the green light and sit down opposite him, very carefully ensuring my skirt covered my knees, with my shorthand notebook on my lap and three carefully sharpened pencils. Conversation was strictly limited to the tasks in hand. I would return during the afternoon with all my work completed, the letters, memos and reports, presented for signature in a large leather bound folder with blotting paper pages.

I do remember one very embarrassing and frightening episode very well. I had to get the filing done each morning before Mr. Grant arrived in his office. The filing cabinets were dark green and four drawers high. At 5ft tall I could barely reach the top drawer let alone see into it. One morning in a rush to complete the filing and be out of the way before Mr. Grant’s arrival, I managed to open the two top drawers at the same time bringing the whole cabinet toppling down on me. Not able to extricate myself from such a great weight of metal and paper, nor reach the polished wood base of the internal phone system to press a switch down, I was stuck. I had no choice but to cry out for help, so I screamed! I was obviously heard above all the noise of the Brewery as the interconnecting door flew open and a brewery worker appeared, pushed the cabinet upright and allowed me to escape, bruised and mortified!

Office equipment was minimal. I had a manual typewriter, and all copies were produced by interleaving paper with carbon paper - more than four copies and the text became illegible. We also had a Gestetner machine which was used for producing
larger numbers of copies. Some companies had similar machines called Roneos,
and then there was the ghastly Banda machines which worked by pressing paper onto a very thickly blue or pink-inked original. All systems were extremely messy and very basic. Davenports’ Gestetner involved the operator dressing up in an oversized nylon overall before even attempting to fit the wax sheet onto the drum.

The wax sheets used for Gestetner duplication were produced on a typewriter with the ribbon incapacitated. The steel keys then produced a stencil in the wax. Errors could only be corrected by applying a bright pink nail varnish-like correcting fluid, very obvious when used and an affront to any good typist.

My Remington typewriter had an extended carriage for producing the wide landscape sheets of figures which were used at Board Meetings. This was a terrible job and the senior secretary soon decided that presenting these monthly figures was my responsibility. Figures had to be tabulated manually, counting up and down and across the sheet to get them all in line. Any errors were corrected, and therefore highlighted, in the bright pink correcting fluid and very often corrections were fuzzy or illegible - not pleasing or helpful to the Board Members. I think I also had an adding machine with ten buttons and a handle on the right which was pulled down very firmly after each figure was entered, the figures then printed on a paper tally roll.

The best bit of the working day at Davenports was undoubtedly the lunch. On the ground floor of the CB building we had an elegant panelled dining room with white clothed tables, heavy cutlery and good china. At each setting was placed a bottle of Davenports beer. The men had an allowance of two pints a day, the ladies one pint. I generally had a lemonade as well and made myself a shandy, as did many of he girls. For 8d a day (less than 4p) all office employees had a main course, usually a roast carved to order on the sideboard with vegetables and followed by a pudding, all served by two waitresses in black frocks with frilly white aprons and caps. We also had the opportunity to visit the dining room during the afternoon for tea, toast and jam, although I can’t remember having the time to do this very often.

I also know that the CB Bottling Hall had its own separate dining room, which I believe had bathrooms leading off it so that the girls working in the bottling hall could ‘freshen up’ before taking lunch or tea.

Funnily enough I don’t ever remember having to ‘clock in’. But that did not mean that I was ever late for work. We didn’t need incentives, it was simply a case of not being so unprofessional as to leave yourself open to accusations of laziness. In an age where jobs were pretty easy to come by this, in retrospect, seems charmingly old-fashioned.


In 1989 Davenports was taken over by rival Greenhall Whitley, who promptly closed the company down. One hundred jobs were lost. Birmingham City Council made strenuous efforts to get the CB office block listed but their pleas were rejected by the Department of the Environment. After many years of neglect all the Davenport buildings were demolished and new apartments now fill the site.

For nearly two centuries Davenports Brewery was managed and maintained with great pride and was a showplace of efficiency and cleanliness. When it was demolished I do know that at least two of the hundreds of handpainted tiles, showing the ingredients of beer, such as hops and barley, and which had covered the walls of the Mash Room were salvaged. So, there are a few small pieces of Davenports Brewery that remain for posterity - plus of course lots of happy memories - both for employees and customers!




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LUCAS MAGNETOS

Hello, Bill Hoddinott, serving as Organizer of the Black Lightning/Grey Flash Section of the Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club (VOC).

I would like to respectfully request that you consider establishing a site under your Joseph Lucas heading entitled Lucas Racing Magneto Section to possibly help us locate former staff of the latter, to assist us with our research.

You are probably well aware of the famous Vincent motorcycles made at Stevenage from 1928 to 1955 which were such a world-wide success. The VOC devoted to them was established over sixty years ago and has about 2500 members today spread throughout the world.

Besides thousands of road motorcycles, the Vincent company also produced 30-40 each of 500cc and 1000cc production racing machines, the Grey Flash and Black Lightning models. These were very successful in their day, the Black Lightning in particular establishing national motorcycle speed records in several countries, culminating in the official international FIM World Record at 185 mph in New Zealand in 1955 in the hands of Russell Wright. Russell remains today an Honorary Member of the VOC.

To get to the Joseph Lucas-Birmingham connection, all of these Black Lightnings and some of the Grey Flashes were shipped from the Vincent Works with Lucas racing magnetos which were specially-built precision instruments assembled at the Racing Magneto Section (RMS).

Over the past few years, our Section has done a good deal of research and published some information on these special Lucas magnetos. It has appeared in MPH, the journal of the VOC, and most of it can also be found at the bottom of the main page of the website thevincentcom along with other articles.

The Black Lightning unit was the KVF TT and the Grey Flash item was the K1F TT, but as far as we know the latter was only made in small numbers in two batches, one in 1949 and another in 1951; and available records show that only a few K1F TTs were fitted to Flashes. Most used the BT-H TT magneto.

At the moment we have only confirmed two surviving K1F TT mags, but we have information of dozens of KVF TTs. Lucas sold the latter world-wide through their spare parts distribution system for about ten years after 1948 and people bought them for converting their road Vincent twins for racing. We think perhaps 50-75 KVF TTs were made.

The point of asking for a Lucas Racing Magneto Section on your site devoted to Birmingham industrial history now is that the operations of this Section, which was apparently active at the company from at least the 1940s through the mid-1970s, have always been, and remain, a deep, dark mystery. We are told by old-time electricians that if you went to the company and tried to penetrate the RMS, it was impossible because a charming but strict lady was stationed as gatekeeper there, and no outsider was allowed in!

We understand that the RMS would send a technician over to Douglas, IOM for the T.T. and MGP races every year, with supplies of racing magnetos, to provide an exchange service for the riders out of a small shop.

We know that the RMS made all the very successful magnetos used for so many years on British racing motorcycles, not only the Vincents and others but also of course the immortal Nortons and AJS/Matchless singles in the Isle of Man T.T. We also understand that the World Championship MV Agusta four-cylinder racers of the 1950s used a Lucas magneto.

All the RMS products were precision-built and tested and stamped with an LT (Laboratory Test) number, and same was recorded in a special Log Book which was used for future reference. Today the whereabouts of this precious Log Book, together with what must have been all the voluminous records and drawings of the RMS, is completely unknown. For years we have been trying to locate someone who can tell us the answers to these questions, with no success. Other Joseph Lucas records are known to be at the Motor Heritage Centre, but nothing from the RMS.

I am hopeful that through your website, we can locate personnel who worked at the RMS who will share with us their knowledge about its activities and operations. Joseph Lucas earned a lot of fame and glory out of its racing magnetos on the tracks years ago and this information should be preserved for posterity.

In closing, I must thank the author of the comprehensive history of Joseph Lucas which appears on your website. Very interesting, and we knew Lucas was a large company with world-wide distribution, but I had no idea of the sheer size of this giant enterprise which was so successful in its heyday.

Thank you for your attention and consideration of our request.
Reply

From JP
This article will be added to the Lucas page
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Jp i have recently been told by two different sources that when the Small Heath bypass was opened a water feature was erected in memory of those died in the raid on B.S.A.. I was also told that it had been dismantled and moved elsewhere, aparrently it never quite worked properly.
Can you shed any light on this for me.
Regards Jeff Edwards.

From Jp
I believe the memorial you refer to is at the Gosta Green university building


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Hi
I hope you do not think this is cheeky.

I am looking for information on a company called Brolt Ltd, who made car electrical equipment in Birmingham from 1911 to 1924
when it was sold to Joseph Lucas.

My grandfather was a Partner Henry Boulbee Brooks with a Mr Holt.

I have been unable to find any information on the web sites and even more difficult because I live in Australia

John Boultbee Brooks of Brooks saddles was a relation of my grandfather.

Both my parents are deceased and I know little of my grandfathers background and hope to learn more

Could you point me in a direction that may help me.

Regards

Peter Brooks
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I have just discovered your wonderful website by accident and read the Kynoch-IMI entry with real fascination and much enthusiasm.

I joined what was then the IMI Data Processing Department in 1978 and was based at Witton until I left in 1990. By that time the company had decentralised its head office functions and we had become IMI Computing Limited. Initiallt we provided computing services across many of the groups companies both at Witton and across the company. Following decentralisation we were able to sell our services to outside companies.

However my enquiry is related to the Hockey Club which was one of many sports sections which operated under the aegis of Kynoch Sports and Social Club which had been set up for the benefit of the workers at the Wittton site. . Indeed one time Managing Director Eric Swainson was an active club member.



I joined the club upon my arrival in Birmingham in 1978 and am still associated with the club now. At that time, there were many Hockey clubs associated with factory sites such as GKN, GEC (Stafford, Coventry and Rugby), Michelin and many others. Not many have survived. I believe that the only other such club in the West Midlands is Jaguar in Coventry.



We are trying to discover some history of the club especially when it was founded and any other early details. We had until his recent death contact with a player who had joined the club in 1946/7 at the age of 17 and was still a regular spectator well into this century. However he could not remember/did not know of any pre-war details.



I realise that this is not exactly what your interest is but wondered if you may know of any contacts/resources I might try.



Many Thanks anyway for bringing back so many memories.

Rob Crosson

Hon. Chairman Kynoch HC


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Hello ! My name is Albert ( 'Bert) Westwood .
I was born in Birmingham in 1932 . but now live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
My father once told me that his family was involved in the Westwood Rim and Patents company, and that , as a young boy , around 1910 or so, he helped spoke bicycle wheels in his home .
His father was named Samuel Westwood .
I am trying to learn more about this company ..its founders , partners ,history , factory location , products . etc.
I understand that the founder's invented the first bicycle rim capable of holding a pneumatic tire ( the latter invented by Dunlop) and that later they merged with the Starley brothers ,and were involved in the development of the Rover bicycle . ( Incidentally , Is there any connection between this product and the Rover car company?)
Any help or leads would be much appreciated .
( Incidentally, another branch of the family were associated for many years with the Birmingham Assay Office ...which may account for my interest in metallurgy !
Regarding myself, I attended King Edwards School , and have a PhD in metallurgy from Birmingham University. Years later I served as President of the Metals , Minerals and Materials Society in the US. I did return to the UK for a couple of years ( 1998-2000) to serve as Chair and Chief Executive of the ( then) Council for the Central Laboratories of the Research Councils of the UK ( CCLRC ) , now called the Science and Technology Facilities Council ( STFC)).
Many thanks for any help you can offer. !
Sincerely ,
Bert Westwood

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Hello

I run a website dedicated to the Royal Enfield motorcycle company, primarily its
history. There is out there in books and the internet a story that claims that during
the war, Enfield could not get supplied by Albion Gearboxes because their factory
was bombed in Birmingham, and they had to resort to Burman gearboxes instead.

Although it is a fact that Enfield bikes with Burman gearboxes were produced,
the reason seems less clear. With other researchers we have found little evidence that Albion was actually bombed (a gentleman in Belgium went to the extent of analyzing the
bombing maps). Do you know of anyone who could help us uncover what really
happened at Albion?. It is likely that some bomb damage by incendiary bombs
(which fell all over the place) slowed down production....

Thanks
Jorge
http://myroyalenfields.blogspot.com