• 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

Lucas Great King Street memories

Great - I can see my old house - between the L & I of Little backing on to Bridge St west - 1st house, 3rd block from Guest st end!

Re your old house on that map Brian, I looked closely and realised I could see my old house as well. There was an alleyway called 'Cottage Row' that ran off Bridge Street West down the side of St Saviour's Chuch which was on the crossroads of Villa St, Guest St and BSW. There were 5 houses either side and my family lived at number 3. We moved to Northfield in 1954 when I was just coming up to 8 years old.

Would anyone out there who worked for Lucas remember my spinster aunt, Alice Bow ? She lived eventually in Tipton after the war, and worked for Lucas all her life. She retired at 60 in the summer of 1971, but unfortunately I don't know which department(s) she worked for.

Trevor Bow.
 
Blimey, no wonder that those of us with a car in 1960 were hard up - all these would have been "extras":
Foglamp: £92
Reversing lamp: £67
Battery filler: £14
Screenwasherkit: £84.

Chris
Chris, yes.....those prices are crazy fourteen pounds for a glass bottle and a couple of pieces of plastic! I used my moms milk server.
 
Edit. Please note any missing photos from this thread may be available on the Lucas Memories site in the Great King Street 25 section here (in the menu on the left-hand side). http://www.lucasmemories.co.uk/site/GreatKingStreet/index.html

Who remembers the big Christmas party done every year for children of Lucas employees; with gift pack at conclusion? Professional entertainers, for children, delivered.
Lucas also gave employees a Christmas box (a kind of hamper).



The huge plant at Great King Street, very well built, could have been put to many good uses. It is utterly astounding it was razed. Condominiums, perhaps? A barbaric waste (nothing unusual of course).

Lucas transferred the bulk of production to South Africa. Cheap labour and no sophisticated veteran labour movement issues to deal with.
Two birds; one stone. The Shaftmoor Lane complex employed several thousand industrious artisans. [The BWs]

Very terrible business altogether. Needless to say no mass protest?
:cry:
I remembered
Morning Chris, A well deserved memorial to George Griffiths and Lucas Home Guard and all members of Britains Home Guard. Len.
I remember going to the Lucas Christmas party. My mom worked there in the clean shop I think it was called. When I left school I also worked there in the typing pool, I think it was M1 or something similar. I remember Pat Jones the manager and his secretary Angela Welham. I remember names like Steve Horrocks, Alex Titchener and Martyn Bryan and Andrew Parfitt I think he was called. A lady called Joan was my supervisor. Very nice environment to work in.
 
Hiya everyone, new to the forum so happy to be here....first post so here it goes....does anyone remember my mom and nan working at lucas...my nan was hilda brueton, but prefferred to be called jean...and my mom was valerie brueton, before she married a giblin....mom worked there from 60's into early 70's possibly....
 

Attachments

  • DSC_1926.JPG
    DSC_1926.JPG
    1.9 MB · Views: 28
  • DSC_1920.JPG
    DSC_1920.JPG
    2 MB · Views: 27
  • DSC_1916.JPG
    DSC_1916.JPG
    1.7 MB · Views: 27
Welcome Rebecca. Lovely photos. The first and third photo look like holiday photos. In the second were the flats in the background where they lived ? Viv.
 
Thank you ,the three pictures was taken in Cornwall thay used to live in Park Road aston befor moving upto kingstanding my nan unfortunate my nan passed away in 1996 but my.mom is still living in the family home as she is 82
 
welcome rebecca smashing photos....hoping someone remembers your mom and nan...my aunt worked there for well over 30 years and it would have been during the time they worked there...i wonder if your mom may know her..her names is joyce purnell and at 90 is still going strong

lyn
 
I have only just come across this site, what memories it brings back. I started as a trainee production engineer in 1955, spending 2 to 4 weeks in virtualy every department at GKS and ended up as a centre lathe turner in B3 until 1966. As you can imagine I met a lot of lovely people there and well remember the paternoster lifts, very scary until you got used to them. We had an interdepartmental darts league with games played during the dinner break, with finals night at the Trees in Wheeler St. Its heartbreaking to see the demolition pictures especially as I lived in Bridge St West very close to the factory, and of course, the house has gone as well. Dave.
 
I have only just come across this site, what memories it brings back. I started as a trainee production engineer in 1955, spending 2 to 4 weeks in virtualy every department at GKS and ended up as a centre lathe turner in B3 until 1966. As you can imagine I met a lot of lovely people there and well remember the paternoster lifts, very scary until you got used to them. We had an interdepartmental darts league with games played during the dinner break, with finals night at the Trees in Wheeler St. Its heartbreaking to see the demolition pictures especially as I lived in Bridge St West very close to the factory, and of course, the house has gone as well. Dave.
Hi,

My Grandad and dad worked. At GKS. Do you remember William (Bill) Byron or his son Les?

Robin.
 
I have only just come across this site, what memories it brings back. I started as a trainee production engineer in 1955, spending 2 to 4 weeks in virtualy every department at GKS and ended up as a centre lathe turner in B3 until 1966. As you can imagine I met a lot of lovely people there and well remember the paternoster lifts, very scary until you got used to them. We had an interdepartmental darts league with games played during the dinner break, with finals night at the Trees in Wheeler St. Its heartbreaking to see the demolition pictures especially as I lived in Bridge St West very close to the factory, and of course, the house has gone as well. Dave.
And they lived in Bridge St West.
 
Hi Dave,

I was born (1946) and bred at the other end of Bridge Street West to you, and lived down an alleyway called 'Cottage Row'. It was slap bang next to St Saviours church where myself and my siblings were Christened. I went to 'Burbury St Junior Infants School' which was also slap bang next to Lucas at Great King Street as I recall. It later became a secondary modern and was called the 'Harry Lucas School'.

The family moved away to pastures new and I went back to have a look around about 1965/66 before everywhere was demolished. Why they couldn't have preserved the Lucas factory and converted it to apartments or something, I just don't know. For someone like yourself who worked there for a long time, as you say it must have been heart breaking seeing those photos of its destruction. But then Birmingham City Council has a long history of demolishing our buildings heritage without so much as a backward glance.

As well as my old school, Farm St School went as well as St Saviours church. Why didn't they leave important buildings like this intact and just build the new stuff around them? I had two spinster aunts who worked all their lives at GKS, Alice Bow and Minnie Baker who retired in the early 1970's.

All the best,

Trev. (This photo at 'Cottage Row' is of me in front of my mother, alongside my brother and sister c 1951)


Cottage Row.jpg
 
Lucas works photo. My mom (Rita Willetts) is at the front next to the lady in the white top and long hair. The other picture is a works outing my mom is in the Turquoise twin suit and the white hair band. I will have a look if there are anymore photo's as a lot have come out the photo album and my mom might have put them in another album somewhere.
What a lovely surprise to see my Mom in this photo you shared, she is behind the Gent on the right her name was Rene Foulkes
Lucas works photo. My mom (Rita Willetts) is at the front next to the lady in the white top and long hair. The other picture is a works outing my mom is in the Turquoise twin suit and the white hair band. I will have a look if there are anymore photo's as a lot have come out the photo album and my mom might have put them in another album somewhere.
 
That is a fantastic picture !!, it reminds you of Birminghams industry and innovation at its height. The design and structure of the building, it made me think of how many companies in that day had the (work’s) bus / terminus on site to get their staff on and off site . The BSA Small Heath had a route for the bus (number 8) to drop off and pick up on their site.
 
thanks viv..a sight i know so very well...good shot of my dads security box as well....i would still love to know what happened to the lucas clock...despite efforts and ideas put forward the mystery has never really been solved

lyn
 
Back
Top