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Midlands Electricity Board MEB

jukebox said:
Solihull (Wharf Lane, Solihull). There was also a building in Water Street (bottom of Snow Hill, opposite Summer Lane) where they did silk screen printing for producing advertising posters.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think that the names Wharf Lane and Moat Lane were interchangeable, and If I remember correctly, the Gas Board had a bigger depot behind the MEB depot. PowerGen did inherit the old Eastern District/Southern Division offices and it was a surreal experience to walk through what had been the Mains Engineers office, where I'd been a 3rd Engineer after passing my apprenticeship and then doing the one year as a supernumerary engineer, past where my desk had been and seeing other people occupying that office for PowerGen. I also remember that the Gas Board bought the area off PowerGen and now it is a housing estate, as are the old depots at Kings Road and George Road, and the old HQ at Mucklow Hill...

By the time I joined in the 1970s some of the offices had been closed or amalgamated, but I remember that there was a printing place just down Mucklow Hill on the same site as the commercial development facility. I think I may still have some of the pink cardboard development give away articles that I used as a Commercial Engineer before I left to join PowerGen.

For anyone who was not in the ESI, there were 'Mains' Engineers and 'Commercial' Engineers. The 'Mains' did the development, installation and maintenance of the electricity system, the 'Commercials' promoted the use of electricity in competition with gas or oil based systems. Normally, when you decided which way to go, that was it, but I swapped from Main to Commercial because there were better career opportunities when they got rid of a couple of layers of engineers above where I was at the time. That was not well received. Even worse, I left MEB for PowerGen and leapfrogged to a better pay scale than some of my ex-bosses were on at the time...
 
My Dad, Bernard Campbell, worked for the MEB as a commercial engineer. He was in Summer Lane until early 1960s and then moved to Solihull until his retirement in the 1980s.
Wharf Lane goes off Moat Lane.
 
pjmburns said:
My Dad, Bernard Campbell, worked for the MEB as a commercial engineer
Click to expand...
Janice - small world! I spent a lot of time with the commercial engineers at Solihull when I was a student apprentice and knew your dad well. I very much enjoyed working there - all the members of that district were great. I was hoping to join the staff there but unfortunately was appointed to Birmingham North-West District. I didn't like it there at all so after a few years I left the MEB and went to work at Triplex in Kings Norton. John
 
Yes - small world. Dad still going aged 93. Although shielding and lockdown has aged him. He misses his walks out and also his chats - he lives in a retirement flat with a warden on site. I visit as much as I can (we bubble together - if that is an expression) and he is lunching with us tomorrow. What is your surname? Then I can tell him although his memory for names is not what it was.
 
pjmburns said:
Yes - small world. Dad still going aged 93. Although shielding and lockdown has aged him. He misses his walks out and also his chats - he lives in a retirement flat with a warden on site. I visit as much as I can (we bubble together - if that is an expression) and he is lunching with us tomorrow. What is your surname? Then I can tell him although his memory for names is not what it was.
Click to expand...
There must have been something in the air at Wharf Lane which gave people long life - Frank Watkins and Nigel Plowman both lived into their 90's. I used to see your Dad from time to time in Solihull. Last time we had a chat he told me he was living in a flat in or off Lode Lane so I presume that's where he still is?
I'm John Jukes (hence jukebox, a nickname I picked up at school!) Do give your Dad my best wishes although with the number of students that must have spent time at Solihull I won't be too disappointed if he doesn't remember the name! John
 
I will see what he says. I remember Nigel Plowman as I must have met him at some point.
He does still live in Lode Lane and used to walk into Solihull twice a week.
Have a good Christmas.
 
pjmburns said:
Yes - small world. Dad still going aged 93. Although shielding and lockdown has aged him. He misses his walks out and also his chats - he lives in a retirement flat with a warden on site. I visit as much as I can (we bubble together - if that is an expression) and he is lunching with us tomorrow. What is your surname? Then I can tell him although his memory for names is not what it was.
Click to expand...
Janice
Bubbling together gives a lovely image
 
jukebox said:
There must have been something in the air at Wharf Lane which gave people long life - Frank Watkins and Nigel Plowman both lived into their 90's. I used to see your Dad from time to time in Solihull. Last time we had a chat he told me he was living in a flat in or off Lode Lane so I presume that's where he still is?
Click to expand...

I remember the name Nigel Plowman from my days at the Solihull offices, but I struggle to remember many more.

On the Mains Engineers side there was Ken Christopher and Eric (Something) who were both very instrumental in my early training. They both were at the Kings Heath depot in Kings Road when I 1st joined and we all moved to Solihull during one of the, many, reorganisations.
 
jukebox said:
I was with the MEB from 1960 to 1967. At that time Birmingham Area was divided into 5 'districts' - Birmingham North-West (Henrietta Street then Summer Lane), Birmingham North-East (not sure if it was then in George Road as I never went there), Birmingham South-West (Kings Road, Kings Heath), Birmingham South-East (Third Avenue, Bordesley Green) and Solihull (Wharf Lane, Solihull). There was also a building in Water Street (bottom of Snow Hill, opposite Summer Lane) where they did silk screen printing for producing advertising posters.

On second thoughts - I think Birmingham North-East may have been in Cheston Road at that time.
Click to expand...
Dave Ackrill said:
Yes, I think that the names Wharf Lane and Moat Lane were interchangeable, and If I remember correctly, the Gas Board had a bigger depot behind the MEB depot. PowerGen did inherit the old Eastern District/Southern Division offices and it was a surreal experience to walk through what had been the Mains Engineers office, where I'd been a 3rd Engineer after passing my apprenticeship and then doing the one year as a supernumerary engineer, past where my desk had been and seeing other people occupying that office for PowerGen. I also remember that the Gas Board bought the area off PowerGen and now it is a housing estate, as are the old depots at Kings Road and George Road, and the old HQ at Mucklow Hill...

By the time I joined in the 1970s some of the offices had been closed or amalgamated, but I remember that there was a printing place just down Mucklow Hill on the same site as the commercial development facility. I think I may still have some of the pink cardboard development give away articles that I used as a Commercial Engineer before I left to join PowerGen.

For anyone who was not in the ESI, there were 'Mains' Engineers and 'Commercial' Engineers. The 'Mains' did the development, installation and maintenance of the electricity system, the 'Commercials' promoted the use of electricity in competition with gas or oil based systems. Normally, when you decided which way to go, that was it, but I swapped from Main to Commercial because there were better career opportunities when they got rid of a couple of layers of engineers above where I was at the time. That was not well received. Even worse, I left MEB for PowerGen and leapfrogged to a better pay scale than some of my ex-bosses were on at the time...
Click to expand...

Dave if you were on the mains side , you'd obviously remember those great big underground joints we used to supply you from ERD the chaps in our stores used to call them bombs . One bloke I do remember from Blackpole Road Worcester was Richard Bishop . I was told he was one of the very few men with the board who could actually work on the national grid .
 
Dave Ackrill said:
I remember the name Nigel Plowman from my days at the Solihull offices, but I struggle to remember many more.
Click to expand...
I spent a total of about 2 years there between 1960 and 1965. Last year I made a list of all those I could remember from that time (for lack of anything else to do!) and so far the list totals 62. Edit now 63 - just thought of someone else!
 
Last edited:
Any chance of your posting the list, John? I’m sure some members would be interested.

Chris
 
pjmburns said:
My Dad, Bernard Campbell, worked for the MEB as a commercial engineer. He was in Summer Lane until early 1960s and then moved to Solihull until his retirement in the 1980s.
Wharf Lane goes off Moat Lane.
Click to expand...
Hi pjmburns. My dad worked for the MEB during and after the war. For a time he was in charge of a sub-station in either Summer Lane or Alma street near a pub whose name I forget. The MEB had a social club-I think in Moseley- where I learned to play snooker.
 
jukebox said:
I was with the MEB from 1960 to 1967. At that time Birmingham Area was divided into 5 'districts' - Birmingham North-West (Henrietta Street then Summer Lane), Birmingham North-East (not sure if it was then in George Road as I never went there), Birmingham South-West (Kings Road, Kings Heath), Birmingham South-East (Third Avenue, Bordesley Green) and Solihull (Wharf Lane, Solihull). There was also a building in Water Street (bottom of Snow Hill, opposite Summer Lane) where they did silk screen printing for producing advertising posters.

On second thoughts - I think Birmingham North-East may have been in Cheston Road at that time.
Click to expand...
Water Street was also the home of the Radio and TV workshop when the MEB offered that service to customers. That service was obtained via the showroom staff.
 
What I'd like someone to tell me is what actually happened to the MEB , after years of working for a leading electrical wholesaler supplying the board . I due to dealing with other electrical contractors lost contact with the board, then all of a sudden people that I used to chat to at the board were working at other companies . They (MEB) just seem to disappear overnight , we are now surrounded by names although familiar now were not so long ago totally alien to us .
 
Williamstreeter said:
What I'd like someone to tell me is what actually happened to the MEB , after years of working for a leading electrical wholesaler supplying the board . I due to dealing with other electrical contractors lost contact with the board, then all of a sudden people that I used to chat to at the board were working at other companies . They (MEB) just seem to disappear overnight , we are now surrounded by names although familiar now were not so long ago totally alien to us .
Click to expand...
history
Pre-privatisation : Midlands Electricity Board
Mar 31 1990 : vested as Midlands Electricity plc
Dec 11 1990 : floated on stock market
Jun 7 1996 : taken over by Avon Energy Partners
mar 20 2000 : renamed GPU Power UK
May 8 2002 : Aquila purchase 79.9% of Avon Energy Partners
May 8 2002 : renamed Aquila Networks
April 2004: Purchased by Eon, formed part of Central Networks
March 2011: Sold to Western Power Distribution
 
mw0njm. said:
history
Pre-privatisation : Midlands Electricity Board
Mar 31 1990 : vested as Midlands Electricity plc
Dec 11 1990 : floated on stock market
Jun 7 1996 : taken over by Avon Energy Partners
mar 20 2000 : renamed GPU Power UK
May 8 2002 : Aquila purchase 79.9% of Avon Energy Partners
May 8 2002 : renamed Aquila Networks
April 2004: Purchased by Eon, formed part of Central Networks
March 2011: Sold to Western Power Distribution
Click to expand...
Hell of a lot of water gone under the bridge then Pete
 
Williamstreeter said:
What I'd like someone to tell me is what actually happened to the MEB , after years of working for a leading electrical wholesaler supplying the board . I due to dealing with other electrical contractors lost contact with the board, then all of a sudden people that I used to chat to at the board were working at other companies . They (MEB) just seem to disappear overnight , we are now surrounded by names although familiar now were not so long ago totally alien to us .
Click to expand...
Effectively the government merged all the area boards and the CEGB in to one then split it up again into separate companies which were all floated on the stock exchange. Some of the split seemed quite arbitrary as Nuclear Power got some coal fired power stations that they could sell off as a sweetener. Once the companies were listed on the stock exchange it meant that there there could be take over bids, mergers etc. All now completely mixed up. For example I buy my electricity from Scottish and South Eastern (which sounds a crazy combination of areas and neither of the areas are in the Midlands) but the cable that comes to my meter belongs to Western Power Distribution and I have no idea who actually generates the electricity.

It also means that the foreigners could buy our electricity companies. For example a major supplier in some areas including London is EDF which stands for Électricité de France which is the French government owned power supplier in France.
Also you can now buy both gas and electricity from the same companies.
 
Western Power was in August 2020 owned by the PPL Corporation based in Allenstown, Pennysylvania, but at that point they announced their intention to sell it again. Whether that have succeeded does not appear to be yet in the public domain, but, as usual, it's all about money.

Maurice :cool:
 
Dave Ackrill said:
I started as a trainee Electrical Engineer in 1978 with the MEB and was based at the Summer Lane offices but did much of my training at either the Southern District, in Kings Heath, or the Eastern District, in Solihull. Very occasionally, they would send me across the city to the Northern District, in Erdington.

There was a training centre at the rear of the Summer Lane offices, to get to it you had to pass by the computer room and cross an enclosed bridge. There was a cafe enclosed into part of the building and the smell of burnt toast would often trigger my migraine. I also remember a notice that read something like "Anyone found not replacing the test equipment will be pressure tested". A pressure test on a high voltage cable involved applying a high voltage, at low current, to test that the insulation on the conductors would hold when the supply was switched back on after working on a cable.

There was a Sports and Social Club in Henrietta Street, which we would often go to for the lunch break on a Friday if on a course at the training centre. Back in the days when you would be allowed to do such a thing...
Click to expand...
Hi Dave, Long time no see thinking of the old Summer Lane building do you remember the trackway along the side of Lower Loveday Street where the ‘Heavy Gang’ used to park lorries and low loaders together with the old Centrax generator (a jet engine connecter to a 600Kw alternator) I seem to remember it only got used a few times because the customers preferred peace and quiet and NO electricity; over electricity and the sound of a jet trying to take off in the roadway!

Talking of the Sports and Social I had my 21st party there.
 
Dave Ackrill said:
I remember the name Nigel Plowman from my days at the Solihull offices, but I struggle to remember many more.

On the Mains Engineers side there was Ken Christopher and Eric (Something) who were both very instrumental in my early training. They both were at the Kings Heath depot in Kings Road when I 1st joined and we all moved to Solihull during one of the, many, reorganisations.
Click to expand...
Dave, The name you are thinking of was Eric Pennell. they were both much respected I recollect an occasion when Ken was accused of some switching malpractice and all us mains engineers offered our switching keys and authorisation certificates back to the management in disgust, but, Ken would not let us!
 
I did my apprenticeship with the MEB. 1967-71 Good memories of the Training School at Summer Lane. I was based at Kings Road, until I left in 1976.


Steve.
 
NOTSHARP said:
I did my apprenticeship with the MEB. 1967-71 Good memories of the Training School at Summer Lane. I was based at Kings Road, until I left in 1976.


Steve.
Click to expand...
Steve you must have known Tom with the glasses , I can only class him as a runaround to collect stuff from electrical wholesalers . He called into Walsall Conduits in Upper Gough St off Holloway Head many a day.
 
Williamstreeter said:
Steve you must have known Tom with the glasses , I can only class him as a runaround to collect stuff from electrical wholesalers . He called into Walsall Conduits in Upper Gough St off Holloway Head many a day.
Click to expand...


Yes, now you mention him, of course I do. He always seemed to be run ragged, but he loved it.


Steve.
 
sospiri said:
Western Power was in August 2020 owned by the PPL Corporation based in Allenstown, Pennysylvania, but at that point they announced their intention to sell it again. Whether that have succeeded does not appear to be yet in the public domain, but, as usual, it's all about money.

Maurice :cool:
Click to expand...
A very US of A bible belt company, when the Americans visited South Western Electicity Board premises and depots after the take over, all girlie calendars had to be removed as they were considered to be unnecessary, even the clothed young ladies.
Bob
 
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