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Recent content by Big Gee

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    Mason College University of Birmingham Edmund Street

    I've found a grainy old photo of the old Institute, but don't know how to upload it.... G
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    Mason College University of Birmingham Edmund Street

    Long shot - could it be the former Paradise Street premises of the Midland Institute? Demolished some time in the 1960's I believe. The view through the arch of Baskerville House (?) kind of suggests that location. G
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    Witton Then (1939) And Now.

    Does anyone know when the chapel (of St Mary Magdalene) on Holdford Drive was demolished? It's featured in my 1954 Bartholomew Guide. I have only the vaguest memory of it. Was it still in use or redundant in 1939? This is a really great thread for me - reminding me of things and places I'd all...
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    Witton Then (1939) And Now.

    Another Witton company I had personal contact with was Xpelair Ltd, Deykin Avenue, which took over part of the old GEC site. They were (very) good customers of my old employer, and when I visited I always got coffee and bikkies! It was always a struggle to find parking-space around there, I...
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    Witton Then (1939) And Now.

    Hi OM, yep, I should have called it Kynoch's, not ICI/IMI which is what it later became. My grand-dad worked there - he drove a shunting-engine and I can still remember the stiff 'moleskin' trousers he wore. I once interviewed for a job at GEC Electric Avenue but was late arriving at the...
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    Witton Then (1939) And Now.

    The 1939 and 2017 photos are very interesting in that the latter shows more industrial buildings than I'd have thought had survived. However, I wonder how many of these premises are still actually used for manufacturing? The fathers of most of my friends in the 1950's were employed locally and...
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    George Dixons Grammar School

    Hi David, Yes, I remember how we were expected to address teachers, and always to stand up when a teacher entered the class-room. I wonder if a lot of this discipline was a hangover from the War, during which many of the teachers in our years at GD served in the Forces. A few of the younger...
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    Aston, Lozells & Witton Photos Reposted thanks to Ray Griffiths...

    Hi Terry, well, you live and learn, as they say! I always thought that Witton Road ended at the Circle. My A-Z's ancient and modern aren't much help. We lived in The Broadway, not too far away, and I used to walk along Brookvale Road to my pal's house off The Ridgeway. Holford Drive Playing...
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    George Dixons Grammar School

    Hi David, I too was in 6G, but only for one term, and at the end of 1962 my dad, in his infinite wisdom, decided the time had come for me to leave school and find gainful employment. Old Man Rumsby was quite concerned about this, and I was very upset at the time, but I don't think it ultimately...
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    Aston, Lozells & Witton Photos Reposted thanks to Ray Griffiths...

    Hi Terry, small point, but the main entrance to Kynock's works and the junction with Holdford Drive were surely on Brookvale Road, as I think Witton Road ended at Witton Circle. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me. Do you remember the huge electric motor on the grounds in front of...
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    George Dixons Grammar School

    Hello Redpeter, some great memories of GD in your post. It's strange how, more than half a century on, some of us recall some of the teachers with affection, others with pure hatred. I always had a real respect for Wally Walker - he had that way with him that could silence 36 unruly...
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    Gladys Newton (nee-Woodbridge)

    My dad was an electrician nearly all his working life, and I can remember him telling us tales of when he wired up houses before the War. From what I recall, he worked on plenty of large houses in and around Brum; in many cases, according to what he said, installing electricity for the first...
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    Sixties Music

    Wow, that would be great if it ever comes off! I used to see the SDG quite regularly at Birmingham University Students' Union "Saturday Hops", where they were more or less the resident band in the early 1960's. At the time, I think Steve Winwood was only about 15! If I remember correctly, the...
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    Measurements

    I find metric problems with nuts and bolts. Today, almost everything is a metric thread, the old imperial type Whitworth's thread etcetera, is now obsolete. As a model-maker I got used to using BA threads, and still do. BA nuts and screws can still be obtained, but not easily. I never got used...
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    Rose Copper Company

    Just out of interest - the Rose Copper Company in Birmingham became the Birmingham Battery & Metal Company, Bristol Road, Selly Oak. The original Rose Copper Co produced copper sheeting for wooden ships, hence 'copper bottomed' as in impregnable. I noticed on "Flog It" the other day a large...
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