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Drop Stamp - Birch Rd - Witton

Chap who lived next door to me in the 1980s worked at halladays by the name Colin Ludford
 
Lyn. It was on Keith Berry,s site I got that picture, under Phyllis Nicklin,s section. Sorry I got her name wrong the first time. And Jennyann. Great pictures of Jeans Dad, and the Xmas party. Lovely. You wouldnt happen to know the name of the chap sitting at the back with a glass in his hand would you? Barry.
 
Hi Barry:

Sorry, I don't know this gentleman's name. I only remember being with Joyce in that only photo. Halladays took us all by coach to the King's Head. I believe one of the directors had discovered this place in Aston Cantlow. My father, mother and I went in search of this pub after the Christmas party and during the next Spring It was certainly hidden away and we didn't find it. The signposts were very few and far between. I did find it years later though. It's still going today. Loved the words "Famous for Duck Suppers".
https://www.thekh.co.uk/contact.htm
 
Hi Peter,
Great photo! The factory is actually Salisbury Transmissions Ltd part of the Birfield Group, as was Hardy Spicer on Chester Road and "Fudgings and Guessworks" further up Birch Road.
I was an apprentice at Salisbury's from 1959 to 1965. Oh happy days!
 
isnt it funny how all our happy work days seem to be from round about the ,60s Dave.??? Barry.
 
I worked at Forgings & Guesswork and used to take prints down to the factory when it was Hardy Spicer. In the 'Guesswork' part we used to make 'Toetecters' and I think we had a monopoly because it was very good business. I moved to a 'secret' part of the factory specially built near the GEC works. We forged and extruded steel 'cold at room temperature' and we had to sign secrecy agreements, and could only get in that part of the factory with a special pass. We became the leading cold forging company in the UK and eventually moved to the largest building in Hamstead near Great Barr railway station. In 1965, GKN bought the business and it became global. I helped to install a factory in the Soviet Union in the 1970's and I could tell a few stories about that and also when Soviet engineers stayed with us and regular visits from the Police Special Branch, who one day came into my office and said 'we believe one of your Russians is involved in clandestine operations' - I laughed until the officer held my telephone pad up to the light to read the imprint of a telephone number the Russian had called...I could go on, but it would fill a book....:)
 
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My father worked at Hallidays for 47 years in the hammer shop.He passed away a few years ago . His name was Reg Morris like myself. He was a stamper,they used to call him spring heel jack. I worked there for a short time in die tool room. My brother Billy worked there in 1962 in tool room . Name we remember was Joe Wheetmam,Clive ,Bruno Marizonie .
 
Morris did your dad have a large black dog only someone by the name of Reg used to be a friend of my dads and bring his dog with him?. My dad was in the tool room Morris. Jean.
 
G G Jean said:
Morris did your dad have a large black dog only someone by the name of Reg used to be a friend of my dads and bring his dog with him?. My dad was in the tool room Morris. Jean.
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Jean my dad not take black dog to work.when did your dad work there. Whats is full name.Another name i remember was charlie williams
 
My Grandfather worked there for many years ..(Sam Pendry)......He lived close by in Wyreley Rd and was a member of the "Barn" for donkeys years.
I remember as a youngster hearing those hammers.....
My late father worked at Concentric in Priory Rd Aston and the Christmas parties for the kids were great.......Trip to the rep for the panto, then back for tea and a present fron Santa.
A bag of toffees, an apple and a orange.......Nice meories.
 
Morris my dad was Albert Lyndon and he was a precision engineer. There is a photo on the thread if you scroll back. Jean. #25.
 
I started work in the Cold Extrusion as an apprentice with the electrician there , Les Sankey. I was there for about 2 years , 1961-62-63 ish before joining an electrical contractors.
My dad worked in the maintenance dept as a millwright , Ted Evans.
 
Mooch said:
I started work in the Cold Extrusion
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I also worked in the the Cold Extrusion Design office from 1961 onwards and remember Les Sankey - I'm trying to remember your Dad but memory failing. I do remember Jack Huxley in the maintenance dept, probably because his 'party piece' in the Garden Gate pub was to chew a wineglass into little bits !
oldmohawk
 
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Applied for a chargehand machine toolfitters job circa 1963? at Drop Stamp, Birch Rd, was interviewed by the foreman (can`t remember his name) was accepted for the job, wages talk, basic rate less than i was earning already plus 6d per hour c/hands pay, still less than i was paid in my present job, i left with thanks!. Len.
 
OldMohawk , You must have been in the Drawing office then , above the Elect. Sub-Station where Les was based. I remember Jack Huxley too , also Polish Pete with a hook for a hand . My dad wasn't in the Cold Extrusion but in the main maintenance shop , looking after the drop hammers and No. 3 Forge I think it was called. I used to come to the drawing office to change the UV light tubes in the old fashioned copier there.
 
Hello Mooch,
If you changed that light tube in the drawing office we may have met. We use to sometimes 'play around' in the D.O. as young guys did, and we could always tell when someone was coming up the stairs because we could always hear the closing bang of the spring door at the bottom, so we were back at our drawing boards 'working hard' before anyone came into the office. The Christmas Parties in that office were legendry.
The Cold Extrusion process was used under licence from a German company, and we had to send prints of our tool drawings to them to be 'marked' before we could issue to the toolroom. The prints used to come back covered with red-inked changes, usually with a mark 4/10 until we eventually declared independence.
I now remember Polish Pete and his hook. We eventually moved to Hamstead and became a leading global company within GKN. The Hamstead factory has recently closed and the presses etc will probably be shipped abroad.
oldmohawk
 
Hi Folks

Halladays is the building on thr bottom right of the picture at the junction of Electric Av. and Tame Road.

Picture taken in the 1960's ICI in the far distance.

Ray
 
Ray, thats a smashing picture to do with Halladays. My old man worked there all his life, so thanks for another view that I hadnt seen before.
 
Hi Folks.

Picture of inside Drop Forgings Birch Road showing the weighing of the transmission forgings before going for machining.

The Man at the scales is my Father in Law Bill Meaden.

Ray
 
Hi

Yes it was taken at Drop Forgings Birch Road,

We think about mid 1950's.

It was taken by A MUMFORD, Biringham 5, tel no 0057, picture ref. 1266/3

Ray
 
Thanks for the reply Ray. There were a few forging companies in that area. Birch Rd crossed Wyrley Rd and finished at the gates of Forgings & Presswork who supplied forgings to Salisbury Transmissions and Hardy Spicer. Looking at Google maps I can see that Birch Rd becomes a private road at the gates and they have named the main factory road Birch Rd East. Drop Stampings (original topic !) was a small factory on the right side of Birch Rd going down towards Brookvale Rd. I worked at F&P during the 50's minus two years NS in the RAF, The F&P 3 storey office block is still there covered with mobile phone masts and I occasionally see it as I drive past on the M6. We used to go on the flat roof and roll big snowballs in the winter and drop them off - must have been due to my 'water bomb' training at Handsworth Tech.
Just think, in the 50's you could leave school and generally have no trouble getting a job and apprenticeship. I can't seem to remember where Hallidays was although I remember the name.
oldmohawk
 
oldMohawk said:
Hello Mooch,
If you changed that light tube in the drawing office we may have met. We use to sometimes 'play around' in the D.O. as young guys did, and we could always tell when someone was coming up the stairs because we could always hear the closing bang of the spring door at the bottom, so we were back at our drawing boards 'working hard' before anyone came into the office. The Christmas Parties in that office were legendry.
The Cold Extrusion process was used under licence from a German company, and we had to send prints of our tool drawings to them to be 'marked' before we could issue to the toolroom. The prints used to come back covered with red-inked changes, usually with a mark 4/10 until we eventually declared independence.
I now remember Polish Pete and his hook. We eventually moved to Hamstead and became a leading global company within GKN. The Hamstead factory has recently closed and the presses etc will probably be shipped abroad.
oldmohawk
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Thanks for that OldMohawk, you have stirred a few memories , the steel ,I think ,came in from Germany, a guy called Birchley ran the cutting shop, Jack Sherriff was the toolroom forman I think, the guy who ran the whole show was named Ted something and two italians,father and son , worked the pickling plant.
There was a lad same age as myself in the drawing office , Trainee Draughtsman I guess, who always helped with changing the UV tubes ,it was quite awkward . The presses were British Clearing , the steel cutting saws were Russell Saws.
I think I must have left in 1964 to finish my apprenticship with Walker Bros, Elect.Contractors , in Hockley.
 
Mooch said:
OldMohawk, you have stirred a few memories
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Hi Mooch, yes most of the presses were British Clearing the largest being 1600Tons. The MbK6 steel came from Germany and Arthur Birchley ran the billet cutting shop.
Jack Sheriff ran the toolroom, and I later travelled all over the world with him helping to set up similar GKN plants. Ted Langford did very much run the show and after we moved to Great Barr in 1965, he built it up to be a major force in the field of Cold Forging.
When GKN took over Birfield in 1966 they had a similar plant in South Wales and assumed that they would close our Birmingham plant. However, they underestimated Ted and his band of 'Brummies' and we fought them off and the South Wales plant was closed.
I've attached 2 photos taken from a film which had some scenes shot at the Great Barr plant and you can see the presses. The press in Pic-2 is a 800T Clearing press which came from Witton - you may have worked on it !
One surprise we had when we moved to Great Barr (Hamstead) was that we had to continually pump 600 gallons of water an hour out of a well into the River Tame to keep the press pits dry, but I think the plant may have been built on the site of a mill pond. The stepped structure in Pic -1 is a waterfall which for some reason impressed the Quality Auditors. There were fish in the pool at the bottom, and although workers wore 'ear defenders' the fish didn't and had to put up with the noise of a forge.
Everyone who has driven a front wheel drive car (Ford, Toyota, Renault, and British
Leyland) probably had two forgings in their car which came from from this Birmingham factory.
In the year I retired, we produced 6 million forgings = 3 million cars.
Inside_Birfield_Extrusions_.jpg

inside_Birfield_Extrusions.jpg
 
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