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BSA Factory 1940s Onwards

just found these pics
hope they are of interest. the first one is of the dole office they built right at the position where the factory was destroyed in Nov 1940.
the second is of the "last piece" still standing. Small i know but still standing.
 
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captblack said:
Wow what a pic !!
i used to live directly opposite the pic of the gentleman standing in the road, in the background you can clearly see the white painted football goals where we all used to play on those long summer evenings. there used to be a huge plate glass window there showing offthe latest bike but it was forever being broken so they bricked it up, i have some more pics that i am in the process of sorting out to scan, i will then put them upon here
thanks once again
brilliant !!
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Capt Black Thats no gentleman standing in the road/////////Thats Old brummy Cheers Joe and thanks are due to Lou Dalby for sorting out the pics
 
hi len or any-body
does any body remember the biggest robbery in brum ?,
yes as you was talking back about the old bsa it came to my mind
that the BSA was robbedby robbers of there pay roll way back in
the mid sixties was any of you guys working there at the time
of this incident,i don,t know whether any body was caught for
this i beleived they used the old suped up cortinas for the
robbery this must come under the added history of the
old BSA astonian ;;
 
Just joined the forum and have a question.
During WWII my father worked at the BSA {and mom too} he worked on
and developed from some schematics smuggled out of Poland I think for a new type of gun.

"The Sten Gun", my father was I think the team leader on this project and
was one of the first to fire it, are there any old hands out there, or children of who may have worked there or remember this project.
 
STEN is an acronym, cited as derived from the names of the weapon's chief designers, Major Reginald Shepherd and Harold Turpin, and EN for Enfield.[1] Over 4 million Stens in various versions were made in the 1940s, How the Sten gun got its name. Len.
 
lindyloo said:
I have 8 pages from The BSA Group News, December 1959, which features my late Gt Uncle Horace Ford. The pages contain quite a few names and photographs.
Would anyone like me to try and post the information and photos on here and am I doing this in the right place ?..Im New to this...!!!
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Hi lindyloo, I would very much like to see your 8 pages from The BSA Group News, December 1959, i worked at BSA Tools, Kitts Green & BSA Guns, Shirley as you can see from my posts on this thread, if i IM my email address to you could send them to me, i live down Brays Rd from you and use Herondale Rd very often, a happy & healthy Christmas and New Year to you & yours. Len.
 
View of the BSA factory, Small Heath, built 1862, and the Redditch factory, i posted this on another thread, type in search "BSA".Len. ​
paperclip.png
Attached Thumbnails
 
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Len,
Thanks for the Thumbnails and link, I had no idea how big the Small Heath factory was, let alone the Redditch works. I know whats left of the Small Heath factory, did anything survive from Redditch ?
 
Hi Len.

Yes, I know about the radios and the cars, can't say I've ever seen a radio but if I did I'd buy it, but I have seen one of the cars, they have a three wheeler at the Motorcycle Museum, looks a well made tidy job. The BSA made everything from tools to earth moving equipment, obviously didn't look like a recipe for disaster at the time. Then there was my own contribution, before I left school, I worked at the Sintered Component Plant in the school holidays, be 1967 or 68, had to check the teeth on cogs, destined for what I never knew. Got the job as my mates Mother worked in the Pay Office, seem to remember it payed rather well, I think we got about £15 per week, possibly even more, squandered my first pay packet on a Levi Denim Jacket, still got it, but it seem to have shrunk, mostly round the middle. This seems to have happened to a lot of my clothing in the last few years, must be something I ate ......

John
 
I spent most Saturday nights when on leave in the Barrell befor sneaking back into ADA ROAD dance.
 
I worked in the spares department at the BSA in Armoury Road for George Holden (we then moved to Montgomery Street). Worked as secretary to George Holden. My dad worked in the polishing shop. They did use the canals at some stage, and the ferry wagons.
 
My dad worked as a spares packer for 25 years from 1949. Does anyone remember him - Fred Malings. He mainly worked in Montgomery Street, but did move to Armoury Road for some of the time. I also remember someone else called Siviter who was a good friend of dad's.
 
I remember Fred, my dad was Wal Jobbins, worked in the polishing shop in Armoury Road, he was a shop steward for the NUMM, National Union of Metal Mechanics. I started in Armoury Road working in the Spares Department as secretary to George Holden and Eric Bott, we then moved to Montgomery Street. Do you recall George Shearer? The name Sivitar rings a bell, can't think of first name, but it will come to me. There was the two Mr Singhs, Len Griffiths. My Dad was at BSA, as were some of his brothers, started before the second world war, then went into the Army, and came back after it finished. My brother Nick was an apprentice. Of course when it all went belly up we all lost our jobs. Such a pity, I loved it there, was like a family.
 
A photo of the Singer/Rootes factory was posted on this thread but it has disapeared could the member who has it please repost it?, Thanks in anticipation. Len.
 
Thanks Postie, I really appreciate the photos. I am writing a family history for my granddaughter's 18th birthday. I now live in Coventry but I was born in Birmingham, first generation Irish! I moved to Coventry when I married in 1956. My dad worked for the GPO in Small Heath. His works , my school and our house were all bombed at the same time so we moved!
You all do a great job, keep it up.
Bernardette
 
Thanks for the great pics postie, not seen them before, the one i asked for was taken looking from the Coventry Rd front view, i have added yours to my library. Len.
 
I worked 67/68 at the Armoury Road site in the secretarial school there, I have some great memories of that factory.
 
Christina when did you work at the BSA, as working in the secretarial school we had to do different departments for a month, I shadowed the secretary in the spares department for a month it was the building just up from the entrance was'nt it and was bombed where many office girls lost there lives during ww2.
 
lencops said:
An interior view, before the Second World War, of motorcycle production. B.S.A. was known in full as the Birmingham Small Arms Company. They started in the jewellery quarter of Birmingham manufacturing guns and ammunition and were major suppliers for both world wars. the factory was targetted and bombed during the blitz in the Second World War with many lives sadly lost. The company had manufactured motorcycles for most of it's history and as demand for weapons decreased this became their main stock in trade. Although they are no longer based in Small Heath they still continue to trade from Southampton where they produce limited runs of retro- motorcycles. Len.
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Hi Len, I would like to add the picture to my Flickr sites BSA section, Can you see any reason why not, I think it maybe one from the BSA itself and one have the best I have seen of the lines. Rgds Lou Dalby.
 
Louis Dalby said:
Hi Len, I would like to add the picture to my Flickr sites BSA section, Can you see any reason why not, I think it maybe one from the BSA itself and one have the best I have seen of the lines. Rgds Lou Dalby.
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Hi Louis add it with my best wishes Cheers Len.
 
Several of Len's posts have been merged into this one about QE II visit to BSA in 1940. All images are no longer available but if anyone has copues please let the Admin Team know. Thanks.

King George V1 & Queen Elisabeth Secret visit to the BSA, Small Heath, 18th April 1940.

King V1 & Queen Elisabeth arrived at Small Heath railway station in the Royal Train and were greeted by large crowds, the secret visit had been broken.

King V1 & Queen Elisabeth Visit BSA and Wolsey Motors.

King V1 & Queen Eliabeth Visit the BSA.

BSA Gun Assembler, 65yrs "young" George Jones shakes hands with Queen Eliabeth, Brummies worked hard on the war effort in WW2. P.S. George is related to forum member lindyloo.
 
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Huge Thanks Len, for finding and posting this infromation. I have always wondered where it was that my Gt Grandad was working when he had the honour of shaking hands with the Queen and now you have given me the answer :) The description of the Queens attire alone proves it for me as it matches perfectly with the photo....thanks again, I am extremely grateful :)
 
Hello Lynne, I enjoyed the search and finding the album of photos taken at BSA, Small Heath on 18th, April, 1940 and looking at the 69yr old photos taken before the German bombers destroyed the factory on 19th, November, 1940, and thinking of how many workers were killed or injured and were probably in the photos was a sad memory, Thank you Lynne for your kind comments to me. Len.
 
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