• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Newman Tonks - Newtown

Hi - I posted a thread on 'William Newman and Sons' last night (first time I had ever come across this forum) and hadn't seen this thread before - Hope Sue and Duncan are well - it's crazy - I used to correspond with Instock in Aldridge trying to get favourable Hardware costs to offer some of my clients - not knowing there was someone 'higher up the tree' I should have been talking to. Are you still dealing in hardware or are you taking things easy now? Kindest regards to you both Phil Yate
 
Last edited:
Barr_Beacon said:
Hi Roger
You certainly stirred some memories for me! Harry Fowkes was my foreman (were they called supervisors in the late seventies?) when I worked in the Repair Shop on Hospital Street behind the canteen / social club. I remember Ken Wingfield (he was in charge the Spray Shop) and the Clarke brothers (they were Charge Hands, weren't they?). Horace Poole was the works manager and there was a Scottish chap called (Charlie?) McClean who was the Works Engineer at the time. My first job at NT was working as a labourer for George Rutter, taking the Briton casts up to the assembly floor I moved to the Repair Shop. The manager there was Barry Smith who shared the office with Richard and Sandra (apologies, I can't remember their surnames). I left the company in 1981 before it transferred to Walsall but I often have fond memories of my time there.
Click to expand...
wow you've just took me back 43 years i used to work in the production control office in 1977. Mike Wardell was my manager then. Steve Matthews
 
Steve, was your father George Matthews? George was a really nice bloke who worked in the Briton stores and often had me in stitches.
Sorry Steve, It was George Rogers I was thinking of.
(Is there a way of deleting posts if errors have been made?)
 
Last edited:
Barr_Beacon said:
My word, the memories are coming back now. There was a really nice Irishman called Kim who worked in the Goods In on Hospital Street, I believe he was a talented musician who played in a band (there was also a chap called Danny Williams who was supposed to be an amazing guitarist). Norman Carless was working in the Repair Shop when I was there. His son in law, Fred Whitehouse worked by the Repair Shop in the Brass Stores. Norman took me under his wing while I was there. I could listen to his stories about his time in the army and Birmingham in the old days for ages. He was very knowledgeable about The Dam Busters and had signed letters from them. I was quick on the up take when I was younger so I worked all over the place, from Tower Street (floor springs), to the panic bolts and spray shop. Harry Fowkes got me driving a fork lift in the rubber doors department (I had to pass a test!) I loved doing the stock takes over the weekend (very nice sandwiches) and I remember being filled with awe when I went upstairs to take something to the R & D department. I went on to get a degree and work in education but I'll never forget those halcyon days and the genuinely nice people I met.
Click to expand...

My dad is Danny Williams the guitarist, he worked there when I was a kid. He played in bands until his late 60s.
 
roger chandler said:
i started work at william newmans and sons started 7th january 1963. i worked with stan haywood (foreman) harry fowkes, ken wingfield , hodson brothers,clarke brothers, and more. i started as machine operater and then became a toolsetter , i set all the machines producing briton door closer parts. 1966 transfered to wallsall apprentice. was at walsall till 1999 was made redundant when ingersoll rand took over i was the works engineer
Click to expand...
Hi Roger. I just put my grandads name into Google and ended up on here,His name was Harry Fowkes ..Regards adrian
 
Towpathlegend said:
My dad is Danny Williams the guitarist, he worked there when I was a kid. He played in bands until his late 60s.
Click to expand...
Barr_Beacon said:
Hi Roger
You certainly stirred some memories for me! Harry Fowkes was my foreman (were they called supervisors in the late seventies?) when I worked in the Repair Shop on Hospital Street behind the canteen / social club. I remember Ken Wingfield (he was in charge the Spray Shop) and the Clarke brothers (they were Charge Hands, weren't they?). Horace Poole was the works manager and there was a Scottish chap called (Charlie?) McClean who was the Works Engineer at the time. My first job at NT was working as a labourer for George Rutter, taking the Briton casts up to the assembly floor I moved to the Repair Shop. The manager there was Barry Smith who shared the office with Richard and Sandra (apologies, I can't remember their surnames). I left the company in 1981 before it transferred to Walsall but I often have fond memories of my time there.
Click to expand...
Hi Harry Fowkes was my Grandfather..I am Adrian
 
roger chandler said:
i started work at william newmans and sons started 7th january 1963. i worked with stan haywood (foreman) harry fowkes, ken wingfield , hodson brothers,clarke brothers, and more. i started as machine operater and then became a toolsetter , i set all the machines producing briton door closer parts. 1966 transfered to wallsall apprentice. was at walsall till 1999 was made redundant when ingersoll rand took over i was the works engineer
Click to expand...
Harry Fowkes was my grandfather
 
roger chandler said:
i started work at william newmans and sons started 7th january 1963. i worked with stan haywood (foreman) harry fowkes, ken wingfield , hodson brothers,clarke brothers, and more. i started as machine operater and then became a toolsetter , i set all the machines producing briton door closer parts. 1966 transfered to wallsall apprentice. was at walsall till 1999 was made redundant when ingersoll rand took over i was the
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
roger chandler said:
i started work at william newmans and sons started 7th january 1963. i worked with stan haywood (foreman) harry fowkes, ken wingfield , hodson brothers,clarke brothers, and more. i started as machine operater and then became a toolsetter , i set all the machines producing briton door closer parts. 1966 transfered to wallsall apprentice. was at walsall till 1999 was made redundant when ingersoll rand took over i was the works engineer
Click to expand...
Hi
 
I worked in Newman Tonks from 1975 until 1977, I assembled the rubber doors, 2 people I remember are Dennis Hennessy and I think John Stringer... Those were the days. My name is Terence McKenna
 
Hi, my name when I worked at Newman’s was Wendy Dunn. I worked as Bill Hartland (Works Manager)
secretary, starting August 1963. My desk was in the drawing office on the top floor. I remember many of the names mentioned. I used to visit the workshops collecting stock figures etc. Mr Hartland was an imposing figure, remembered for his pipe and talking with his hands in his pockets. If there are any draughtsmen out there that remember our trips to the swimming baths at Lunchtime I would love to catch up.
 
Can someone please confirm if it was Tonks or Tube Investments that sent a smaller tube inside a tube back to the USA as they said they had made the smallest tube ever. Thanks
 
This is the story told on another forum:

I'm especially interested as my dad worked for A & P / Tube Investments in the 50s in Oldbury and he told me about when a US Co. sent A & P the ''smallest calibre tube in the world'' and they sent it back without a comment attached. Eventually a US engineer weighed it and found that it was a very small amount heavier than a piece of the same length of tube that the US Co. had not sent. Then in US, they put some sophisticated eqpt to work on the sample returned by A & P. To everyone's surprise, the calibre was now smaller but they could get no further...all the metal was the same, so they contacted A & P who told them ''after measuring the exact length of it, we put another tube inside your ''world's smallest tube'', then annealed them so there was no visible join''. .

And then the killer ''Please find loosely enclosed in a stoppered bigger metal tube, a section of the tube that was put inside your tube - inside that a still smaller tube..."
 
mikejee said:
This is the story told on another forum:

I'm especially interested as my dad worked for A & P / Tube Investments in the 50s in Oldbury and he told me about when a US Co. sent A & P the ''smallest calibre tube in the world'' and they sent it back without a comment attached. Eventually a US engineer weighed it and found that it was a very small amount heavier than a piece of the same length of tube that the US Co. had not sent. Then in US, they put some sophisticated eqpt to work on the sample returned by A & P. To everyone's surprise, the calibre was now smaller but they could get no further...all the metal was the same, so they contacted A & P who told them ''after measuring the exact length of it, we put another tube inside your ''world's smallest tube'', then annealed them so there was no visible join''. .

And then the killer ''Please find loosely enclosed in a stoppered bigger metal tube, a section of the tube that was put inside your tube - inside that a still smaller tube..."
Click to expand...
That was a story my dad told me too.
 
Astonvilla66 said:
Hi
Click to expand...
I worked for Newman Tonks since known as NT Door Controls, then taken over and incorporated into Ingersoll Rand Security Division and then sold as Allegion UK limited. The famous Briton Door Closers & Panic Bolts are still distributed by them although manufacturing in the UK ceased over 10 years ago in the Ingersoll Rand ownership when the factory was migrated to Turkey. I worked in IT from 1979 until May 2021 when I was made redundant. In the Newman Tonks era we had 4 sites in Newtown / Aston area at Hospital Street. Moorsom St, Sampson Rd & Allesley St plus Worcester Parsons in Kings Norton, Brassart in Stourbridge, NT Doors and Windows in Redditch plus NT Security in Maidstone Kent and eventually Martin Robert's Steel Doors in Sittingbourne Kent. There was also a site in Newcastle whose name escapes me. About 1984, Newman Tonks moved the Hospital St site to Walsall and the Moorsom St, Sampson Rd & Allesley St moved to Willenhall. About that time Legge Locks in Willenhall were also acquired.
 
Hi All great memories, I drove passed Hospital Street a few months ago, building work was in progress to build new flats on Ken Wingfield's shop floor, does anyone have any memories of Irene Harris I last saw her when I left my job in the sales office working for Paul Lynes and a tall guy was the assistant manager ( I have forgotten his name) but he always saw me alright for cigarettes and a pint.
 
Steve Matthews said:
Hi All great memories, I drove passed Hospital Street a few months ago, building work was in progress to build new flats on Ken Wingfield's shop floor, does anyone have any memories of Irene Harris I last saw her when I left my job in the sales office working for Paul Lynes and a tall guy was the assistant manager ( I have forgotten his name) but he always saw me alright for cigarettes and a pint.
Click to expand...
Hi, Irene Harris was my aunt and whilst I don't have any Newman Tonks work stories, Irene was close to Barry ( don't know his surname but I believe was a general manager at NT). Think she left NT in the early 90s maybe when she would have still been in late 40s. Love to hear any stories but sadly Irene recently passed away.
 
harley said:
i have no photos ,but a question what did they make there ,i worked there for a short while, but for the life of me cannot remember what we did .harley.
Click to expand...
Hello. Worked at Newman and tonks 1977-1979. Delivering. Wow! Those boxes were heavy..... I delivered door furniture (As they called it) letter boxes, door knobs, hinges, locks, push plates etc. I was stationed in the warehouse/loading bay.... Was not allowed beyond the plastic curtains where I could see ladies packing the goods in cardboard boxes and taping (which came apart as you moved them) across Bridge Street was the lorry yard. (yard is now old folk home) The main building has been turned into a homeless shelter type of set-up. The manufacture area is now a multi-purpose unit. You can still see NEWMAN AND TONKS name on the front of the building......
 
blueminx said:
Hello. Worked at Newman and tonks 1977-1979. Delivering. Wow! Those boxes were heavy..... I delivered door furniture (As they called it) letter boxes, door knobs, hinges, locks, push plates etc. I was stationed in the warehouse/loading bay.... Was not allowed beyond the plastic curtains where I could see ladies packing the goods in cardboard boxes and taping (which came apart as you moved them) across Bridge Street was the lorry yard. (yard is now old folk home) The main building has been turned into a homeless shelter type of set-up. The manufacture area is now a multi-purpose unit. You can still see NEWMAN AND TONKS name on the front of the building......
Click to expand...


great memories...i take it you lived in newtown or near there

lyn
 
Astoness said:
great memories...i take it you lived in newtown or near there

lyn
Click to expand...
Lived in Erdington.... Just started my family. Oldest daughter was one year old. The chap in charge of the loading bay, just can't remember his name. But shout out to/for him for being one of the nice guys I have met over the years....
 
The supervisor of the loading bay was Ken Wingfield and I think his chargehand was called Arthur. There was a spray shop behind the packing area where the Panic Bolts were painted. On Hospital Street, the 'Goods In' had one man who ran that called Kim.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top