Hardy Spicers Ltd

[Grayswing]

Hi Everyone, My name is Graham Swingler. I was at Hardy Spicer from 1969 till 1989 and new a lot of the characters mentioned in this thread. I no longer live in the midlands but was looking for some other information and tripped over this thread.
I worked for Phil Dawe in purchasing.Later for John Mathews in Production planning.
My father was production manager at Salisbury Transmission in Witton till the 70's. Its good to see some familiar names here.

 

[Astoness]

hi graham and welcome...does the name peter bache mean anything

lyn

 

[Grayswing]

hi graham and welcome...does the name peter bache mean anything

lyn

Hi Lyn, yes Peter Bache was a friend in the 70's.We lost touch early 80's. I know he worked at Salisbury's with my dad Alf swingler. Hope Peter is well.

 

[Astoness]

hi graham alas the same here...lost touch with pete in the late 70s but its nice to know that my memory has not failed me about where he worked but somewhere in the back of my mind i have it that he moved and worked for a company in hospital st but i could be wrong about that one..pete lived a couple of roads away from me in gt barr... hope you enjoy the forum

lyn

 

[Eric Gibson]

Hi Everyone, My name is Graham Swingler. I was at Hardy Spicer from 1969 till 1989 and new a lot of the characters mentioned in this thread. I no longer live in the midlands but was looking for some other information and tripped over this thread.
I worked for Phil Dawe in purchasing.Later for John Mathews in Production planning.
My father was production manager at Salisbury Transmission in Witton till the 70's. Its good to see some familiar names here.

Nothing to do with Hardy Spicer but the Swingler name is one I haven't heard for a very long time, we had a Swingler family as near neighbours in Hurlingham Road in the 1940s, any relation?

 

[Grayswing]

Nothing to do with Hardy Spicer but the Swingler name is one I haven't heard for a very long time, we had a Swingler family as near neighbours in Hurlingham Road in the 1940s, any relation?

Hi Eric, my family lived at 309 Kings Road till early 60's.I lived there till 1956.Seems a coincidence that you remember the name nearby.My family lived in Colindale Road prior to moving to Kings Road. I have one uncle still alive from that time.His name is Bob Swingler.Does any of this connect?

 

[Eric Gibson]

Hi Eric, my family lived at 309 Kings Road till early 60's.I lived there till 1956.Seems a coincidence that you remember the name nearby.My family lived in Colindale Road prior to moving to Kings Road. I have one uncle still alive from that time.His name is Bob Swingler.Does any of this connect?

Nothing there rings any bells Graham although I know all the places, struggling to remember the Swingler names from Hurlingham Road but I have a feeling there was a Ralph and I think he was an only child.

 

[devonjim]

Hi Everyone, My name is Graham Swingler. I was at Hardy Spicer from 1969 till 1989 and new a lot of the characters mentioned in this thread. I no longer live in the midlands but was looking for some other information and tripped over this thread.
I worked for Phil Dawe in purchasing.Later for John Mathews in Production planning.
My father was production manager at Salisbury Transmission in Witton till the 70's. Its good to see some familiar names here.

Hi Graham, Remember you at HS as an apprentice in Logistics. I think Fred Jones was the "boss" there at that time.

 

[devonjim]

Hi Centurion,
Major Jones interviewed me for my first job as an apprentice on leaving school. The Managing Director of both F&P and ST was 'Big Bill' Sparrow and his son Garnet Sparrow was also a Director.
oldmohawk

Found this on youtube, slight chance you might not have seen it before.

 

[oldMohawk]

Thanks Jim, I had not seen it before. It brings back many memories.
Phil

 

[7LRT]

Memories coming back about Bill Sparrow, I can believe what you say about him. I posted about my contacts with him in the other earlier thread.
I remember Gordon Hume who was the Works Engineer, a fair amount of work was done on his house, but that was how things were back in the 40's and 50's.
The furnaces where fired by pulverised coal which spread dust particles over the district and onto our drawings in the Drawing Office.

Hi, I am new to this forum and have only just read this entry so apologise for the delay in replying.
My father, Fred Thompson became Works Engineer when Gordon became a Director, do you by chance remember him? Dad died in 1960 but I was an apprentice there until becoming a draughtsman working in the Press Shop drawing office in Wyrley Road.

 

[oldMohawk]

Hi, I am new to this forum and have only just read this entry so apologise for the delay in replying.
My father, Fred Thompson became Works Engineer when Gordon became a Director, do you by chance remember him? Dad died in 1960 but I was an apprentice there until becoming a draughtsman working in the Press Shop drawing office in Wyrley Road.

Hi,
I find that my memories of names have faded over the years. I can picture faces and often remember first names but sometimes just surnames. I cannot remember meeting your dad but may have met him. I seem to remember someone called Alan working in Gordon Hume's office, he was small and had dark hair. I moved from the F&P drawing office to the Cold Extrusion office in 1961 and do remember a young man named Thompson (first name eludes me) but he only worked for a short time in the office.

An aerial image below shows part of Forgings & Presswork in 1939 and I have arrow marked where I think the Work's Engineers office was. The two lift shafts on the office block stand out.

image from'britainfromabove'

 

[7LRT]

Hi,
I find that my memories of names have faded over the years. I can picture faces and often remember first names but sometimes just surnames. I cannot remember meeting your dad but may have met him. I seem to remember someone called Alan working in Gordon Hume's office, he was small and had dark hair. I moved from the F&P drawing office to the Cold Extrusion office in 1961 and do remember a young man named Thompson (first name eludes me) but he only worked for a short time in the office.

An aerial image below shows part of Forgings & Presswork in 1939 and I have arrow marked where I think the Work's Engineers office was. The two lift shafts on the office block stand out.
View attachment 132770
image from'britainfromabove'

Yes Alan worked with and was a good friend of my father but the works engineering office was across the roadway from where you have arrowed and I believe it was in a single story building which ran alongside the roadway and abutted the main factory.
If I remember correctly Gordon Hume's office when he became the Works Director was on the corner of the ground floor of the main office block.
I am Roy Thompson and yes I did a short spell in the Cold Extrusion drawing office during my apprenticeship but there wasn't a vacancy in there full time which is why I landed up in the Press Shop drawing office.
What is your name and do you remember the others when you were in the Cold Extrusion D.O.?
Strange how discussing details now, after such a long time, many details come flowing back.
I must make the effort to go back and see for myself what remains of F&P, sometimes not the best thing to do as it can destroy good memories.

 

[oldMohawk]

Yes Alan worked with and was a good friend of my father but the works engineering office was across the roadway from where you have arrowed and I believe it was in a single story building which ran alongside the roadway and abutted the main factory.
If I remember correctly Gordon Hume's office when he became the Works Director was on the corner of the ground floor of the main office block.
I am Roy Thompson and yes I did a short spell in the Cold Extrusion drawing office during my apprenticeship but there wasn't a vacancy in there full time which is why I landed up in the Press Shop drawing office.
What is your name and do you remember the others when you were in the Cold Extrusion D.O.?
Strange how discussing details now, after such a long time, many details come flowing back.
I must make the effort to go back and see for myself what remains of F&P, sometimes not the best thing to do as it can destroy good memories.

Hello Roy,
I do remember you from your time in the Cold Extrusion D.O and of course the CE moved to Hamstead Great Barr to become Birfield Extrusions. One memory I have (hopefully correct) is when some of us went to Sutton Park one evening to fly model aeroplanes and your model plane flew off disappearing into the blue yonder.

I'm Phil Ridgway and others in the office were Keith Beard, Tony Cooper, Tony Smith, Reg Neale. There is a pic of a younger me at 1min 40secs into the video clip in post#129. You might remember me as an ice skater ... see my avatar and in quite a few pics in the ice rink part of the forum.

With regard to the Works Engineer's office, when I walked down the road from the office it was on the left adjacent to the Die Shop with a doorway from an opening which can be seen in the pic. Salisbury Transmissions had most of the factory on the right of road.

I usually do not go back to my old work places etc and prefer the memories. I have looked at the F&P site on Google Earth and it seems to have become an industrial estate but the office block is still there. The factory at Hamstead has been totally demolished

 

[7LRT]

Hello Roy,
I do remember you from your time in the Cold Extrusion D.O and of course the CE moved to Hamstead Great Barr to become Birfield Extrusions. One memory I have (hopefully correct) is when some of us went to Sutton Park one evening to fly model aeroplanes and your model plane flew off disappearing into the blue yonder.

I'm Phil Ridgway and others in the office were Keith Beard, Tony Cooper, Tony Smith, Reg Neale. There is a pic of a younger me at 1min 40secs into the video clip in post#129. You might remember me as an ice skater ... see my avatar and in quite a few pics in the ice rink part of the forum.

With regard to the Works Engineer's office, when I walked down the road from the office it was on the left adjacent to the Die Shop with a doorway from an opening which can be seen in the pic. Salisbury Transmissions had most of the factory on the right of road.

I usually do not go back to my old work places etc and prefer the memories. I have looked at the F&P site on Google Earth and it seems to have become an industrial estate but the office block is still there. The factory at Hamstead has been totally demolished

Thank you Phil, of course I remember you all now and I must say I enjoyed my time with you all.
I do remember the model aircraft experience, served me right for filling the fuel tank, stupid boy, however the model landed in the top of the trees bordering Chester Road near Banners Gate entrance and some kind person who saw it land returned it to me.
Was it Tony Smith who had a Morris 8 series E. I remember him respraying it dark green with a vacuum cleaner at home in Perry Barr.
Reg Neale was newly married and lived near Barr Beacon.
I well remember seeing you race for the Mohawks on one occasion.
Now I have started down memory lane god knows how many brain cells I will awaken so no doubt you will hear from me in the future meanwhile thanks for your help.
Regards
Roy

 

[mandys519]

Hi, my father called Bernard Swain worked at Hardy Spicer in the 1960's, I think in Witton. He worked on the production line. Does anybody maybe remember him or if not have photographs of that time. Thanks in advance

 

[Silver5125]

Hi Alan,

Hardy Spicer had a factory at the junction of Birch Rd and Brookvale Rd in Witton. I had connections with Hardy Spicer all my working life having started work at Forgings & Presswork which was at the top of Birch Rd.

Hardy Spicer produced Universal Joints for cars and trucks and eventually constant velocity joints which are necessary for front wheel drive cars.
HS and F&P were part of the Birfield Group (Birmingham - Sheffield) and were eventually taken over by GKN.
Hardy Spicer eventually moved to a very large factory on the corner of Kingsbury Rd and Chester Rd, and the part of Forgings & Presswork I worked for moved to Hamstead.

Eventually GKN became a big global company and we set up plants all over the world, in the Soviet Union, in Brazil, and many other places.
I have many memories about Hardy Spicer and have posted a few photos connected with it here and there in various threads on the forum.

Phil (oldmohawk)

Hi Phil, I did my apprenticeship at Salisbury Transmissions, Hardy Spicer trade school for 1 year but I think I was there earlier than you 1961 to 1966.

 

[Richard Dye]

Just a shot in the dark, I had a very good friend who’d was an apprentice at HS in the late 50’s early 60’s his name was John (Johnny) Wheeler. He was in a very bad car accident .

 

[devonjim]

It must have been in early 1970's that John was killed in a car accident on Pershore Rd. I had only been at HS a short while and knew him as a member of the sales team.
ps. Memory kicking in, I now remember the name as Peter Wheeler.

 

[Richard Dye]

It must have been in early 1970's that John was killed in a car accident on Pershore Rd. I had only been at HS a short while and knew him as a member of the sales team.
ps. Memory kicking in, I now remember the name as Peter Wheeler.

Thanks Jim, I thought my memory was Completely gone as I knew John and hung around with him until I came to the US in 1962. His mom/aunt had a sweet shop on Lozells Rd between the pub and the Esso repair garbage.

 

[devonjim]

Thanks Jim, I thought my memory was Completely gone as I knew John and hung around with him until I came to the US in 1962. His mom/aunt had a sweet shop on Lozells Rd between the pub and the Esso repair garbage.

Richard. I am too confused! I had not long been at Hardy Spicer when this fatal accident happened. The names are unreliable, certainly not Peter Wheeler could have been John Washbourne.

 

[Richard Dye]

Richard. I am too confused! I had not long been at Hardy Spicer when this fatal accident happened. The names are unreliable, certainly not Peter Wheeler could have been John Washbourne.

Jim, appreciate the response!
Have a wonderful rest of the day!

 

[devonjim]

Can you believe that this factory where so many of us have worked is due to close this year.

 

[Malcog]

My company runs the software for GKN Driveline, we knew the plans of the parent company. when the asset stripper Melrose bought GKN the writing was on the wall. First GKN Aerospace in Kings Norton (was Triplex) was closed, and next is Erdington which has a valuable asset - land for new houses !

 

[oldMohawk]

Hardy Spicer, as part of the Birfield Industries group had a medium size factory making universal joints for cars on the corner of Birch Rd and Brookvale Rd in Witton . I worked in a nearby Birfield factory which supplied forgings to HSP. Both factories are highlighted in the photos below.

The original factory ....



images source ... 'britainfromabove'

HSP developed a 'constant velocity' joint needed for front wheel drive cars (Mini) and moved to a much larger site on the Chester Rd.

GKN made a successful takeover of Birfield Industries in 1966 and eventually became a global supplier of car transmissions with factories in many parts of the world. I watched all this happening and travelled and worked in factories ranging from Sanford in North Carolina, Trier in Germany, and Poissy in France.

Over recent years I've watched much of it close down. The GKN factory I worked in at Great Barr was demolished to make way for a supermarket (never built) and the large modern plants in Sanford NC have been closed and demolished.

I retired just before the decline and closures started and admit to being a Melrose Industries shareholder. They compulsorily purchased my GKN shares ...

Electric cars appear to be the 'future' and will probably move to direct computer controlled motors on each wheel needing different transmissions.

for some background information visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardy_Spicer

 

[Richard Dye]

Hardy Spicer, as part of the Birfield Industries group had a medium size factory making universal joints for cars on the corner of Birch Rd and Brookvale Rd in Witton . I worked in a nearby Birfield factory which supplied forgings to HSP. Both factories are highlighted in the photos below.

The original factory ....
View attachment 152344

View attachment 152345
images source ... 'britainfromabove'

HSP developed a 'constant velocity' joint needed for front wheel drive cars (Mini) and moved to a much larger site on the Chester Rd.

GKN made a successful takeover of Birfield Industries in 1966 and eventually became a global supplier of car transmissions with factories in many parts of the world. I watched all this happening and travelled and worked in factories ranging from Sanford in North Carolina, Trier in Germany, and Poissy in France.

Over recent years I've watched much of it close down. The GKN factory I worked in at Great Barr was demolished to make way for a supemarket (never built) and the large modern plants in Sanford NC have been closed and demolished.

I retired just before the decline and closures started and admit to being a Melrose Industries shareholder. They compulsorily purchased my GKN shares ...

Electric cars appear to be the 'future' and will probably move to direct computer controlled motors on each wheel needing different transmissions.

for some background information visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardy_Spicer

oldMohawk, a disappointing story! I had a good friend who was new apprentice at the Birch Rd plant I believe. When I came to the US I worked for a company that had a large plant in Fayetteville N C which was a short distance from Sanford as you know. We used to do what was called “best practices” with Hard Spicer and when they became GKN who I also knew vey well.
Change is inevitable but companies can change if they are allowed. Once apron a time there were no CV joints, now they are everywhere!

 

[IanWilson]

Hi Phil, I did my apprenticeship at Salisbury Transmissions, Hardy Spicer trade school for 1 year but I think I was there earlier than you 1961 to 1966.

I came across F&P as Forgings and Guesswork!
That was from one of their competitors in the 1970s.
Ian

 

[ColinShaw]

Hi everyone in 1966 I joined Salisbury transmission as an apprentice, and for the first year went to Hardy Spicer training school. After returning to Salisbury Transmission, I finished my time in the Toolroom,until I was made redundant in 1981.So I had ties with both factories.

 

[Will Kelsall]

Hi Ron, I remember Harry Hart and Ron Hart very well, including a very moving experience when everyone paid their respects to Harry when he was driven past Hardy's on the day of his funeral. I remember Peter Wheeler and Roy(?) Howells in Sales and also an older guy - George Kelsall (?). He was quite a character and one funny story I recall was when a number of us were at the Motor Show in Earls Court one year. George and, I think, Peter Wheeler were driving the rest of us back to our hotel and challenged each other as to who would get back first. I was in George's car and he drove at breakneck speed weaving in and out of the busy London traffic, arriving at the hotel just ahead of Peter, having also removed his jacket during the journey! I also remember going to Scotland with Peter and Roy, setting off at some ridiculous hour and pulling into the M6 services at Lancaster for a cuppa just as dawn was breaking. As we walked from the car, Peter looked down to find he was wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe. I last saw Derrick Morgan a couple of years ago - still as mad as a hatter! Regarding Jim Forsythe. He was our 'computer go to' man as we progressed along the computerisation trail. Rumour had it that he had the entire interior of his home decorated white - including the carpets!

George Kelsall was my dad....and changing his clothes whilst was absolutely typical of him. As a kid I learned very early on how to steer a car from the passenger seat if he got stuck in a garment. I believe his nickname at work was "Captain Crunch".

 

[Flossie Washbourne]

Thanks Jim, I thought my memory was Completely gone as I knew John and hung around with him until I came to the US in 1962. His mom/aunt had a sweet shop on Lozells Rd between the pub and the Esso repair garbage.

Hello Richard, John Washbourne is my grandad (my father’s father). Sadly my dad was only 7 when his father died. Do you have any memories you could share?