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Dunlop

My uncle Tom Phillips worked at Fort Dunlop from after WW2 till he retired in the '70's.
He was in the works fire brigade and also involved with St John's Ambulance.
My other uncle Mal Roberts I think was a tyre tester there during WW2.
Also my dad Will Jones was there late 40's,early 50's.He left to work for Schraders.
Does anybody remember them as they have all passed.
 
A wonderful memorial to those employees who fell in WW1. Is this still on the Fort Dunlop site? Viv.

image.jpeg
 
I worked at Dunlop in the Kreel and hot calendar from 1996 - closer in 2000 great times. Anyone got any photos.....
 
I was a student in the early sixties and the last ever holiday job I had before moving to Golsmiths College in London was two weeks at Dunlops. I worked with the steel erectors team but didn't really have to do anything other than follow them around, for health and safety reasons. It was amazing place. I think it was there that there was a special room for smoking breaks. They walls ran with nicotine.
 
I have posted before that my dad spent his whole working life at the Dunlop, he was known by his workmates as Charlie Wallace after a Aston Villa player of the time, once his brother went to the factory asking to speak to Bill, but was told we only have a Charlie.

Dad worked very hard in what was known as the "black hole", they got so dirty they were provided with showers after their shift, he used to say he was the cleanest man in Aston!
 
When my father got to old for the building trade he went to Dunlop's and worked in what was known as the 'black hole' - whatever that is !! Eric
 
Hello Eric, "The Black Hole" was a mill of some sort known by the workers as The Black Ole.
I looked back in the thread "Dunlop Help" an found the info there.
 
It's just struck me that 'Dunlop' is an unusual name. Is it an amalgamation of two words or names ? Viv.
 
The Fire Brigade at Fort Dunlop
 

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Great photos Aggie. At first I thought the bike was attached to the cart but surely the cart was pulled by a horse ? Viv
 
No horses but the cart would have, presumably, been towed behind a vehicle. As his is a work brigade they had some methods of transportation of equipment not seen with a town or city fire brigade. It is possible to have been hauled by a couple of men, after all most firefighters were fit and used to running. Extra hoses are stored on the cart. The cycle carries a portable extinguisher and maybe was the first aid which may well have arrived before the works fire engine this would be dependant on how the fire brigade was structured. Many works brigades had firefighters who worked on the factory and responded to the fire station when needed. The man at the desk is most likely the brigade fire chief and that was his full time job.
There always be an attendance, with back up if needed, from the local municipal or county fire brigade - in this case The City of Birmingham.
 
iu
 
Year : 1965
Livery : Dunlop works ambulance
Engine : 4 cylinder 2.2litre Automatic Morris LD
Coachbuilder: Herbert Lomas
Information : A Dunlop Factory Works Ambulance

Photo from Ambulance Heritage Society
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Bob Davis said:
Can we have the bus history as well please and what is it doing at New Street station?
Bob
Click to expand...
The following link shows what Fort Dunlop has become since closing as a tyre manufacturer;
https://fortdunlop.com/about-fort-dunlop/
I can only assume that the bus was owned by or contracted to Fort Dunlop to get shoppers out of the city to their centre.
This is much the same as shopper special buses than run to out of town superstores etc.
 
Radiorails said:
The following link shows what Fort Dunlop has become since closing as a tyre manufacturer;
https://fortdunlop.com/about-fort-dunlop/
I can only assume that the bus was owned by or contracted to Fort Dunlop to get shoppers out of the city to their centre.
This is much the same as shopper special buses than run to out of town superstores etc.
Click to expand...
London Transport Leyland Olympian series, but identified by Volvo code, fleet number was NV81.
Bob
 
Benabby said:
Dunlops Tyre Company

I believe Dunlop Tyre factory was opened first in Birmingham in Rocky Lane, Aston and when Fort Dunlops was built, some of the workers from Aston were initially taken to the Fort by canal barge as the buses/trams stopped at Salford Bridge. Does anyone out there know anything about this? i would be extremely grateful for approx dates etc. Thanks a lot.
Cheers - Benabby
Click to expand...
 
My grandfather, William Sawyer, was stationery buyer at Fort Dunlop before his death in 1947. An obituary notice, saying how much he was liked, appeared in the Dunlop magazine. I know he lived in Sutton Street, Aston, and he travelled to work on a canal barge, so this must have been in the 1920s - he moved to Wylde Green c.1930.

In the mid 1960s, I worked for an Erdington staff agency which sent staff to the Dunlop on a regular basis. I remember temping in the Accounts Department where the staff liked to complete the daily crosswords before they started work, and then in Base Stores, which involved a long walk to the far side of the site.
 
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