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  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

C brandaurs is saved...

Great photo's Lyn I can't wait to see the building transformed. Nice advert too Bordesly!
 
thanks shirl..you know me..i will stand for ages for traffic to pass...

lyn
 
Fascinating building. Thanks for posting lots of interesting photos and info Lyn and Bordesleyexile. Fingers crossed this is eventually developed 'sympathetically'. It has so much potential. Pity much of the interior features have been ripped out, but I suppose that's the fate of most buildings once the developers get their hands on them. Viv.
 
hi viv we cant blame the developers for this one...this buildings has lain empty for so many years waiting for someone to rescue it and the pics i took last year are what the developers saw when they viewed the place so hats off to them for even considering taking it on as its a mamouth task..years of people constantly breaking in and using it to sleep in plus the vandalism in general took its toll making it totally unsafe to enter in recent years...then there was the fire a couple of years back..as i said in an earlier post the developers assured me that any original features that can be saved will be but i guess at the end of the day we have to remember that it was a factory so i guess apart from the tower..spiral staircase and the chimney stack there wouldnt be much more at least not inside..oh they did say that the old caretakers house would be incorporated somehow..cant say how pleased i am that the brandaur building will live on...

lyn
 
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Well done to the developers Lyn. The sooner it's worked on the better then Viv.
 
i agree viv..no point in me going down again just yet until things start moving..

lyn
 
all lost images on this thread have now been reposted in the original post numbers...

lyn
 
bringing this thread to the top for those interested in this great building...i am now long overdue another visit to hopefully get some updated photos of progress being made

lyn
 
Hi Everyone, I worked at Brandauers for 13 years in the drawing office between 1963 and 1981.
My father worked there and many of my uncle's as well. Dad knew Ian Pettit and Garth Pettit, as well as Tony Edwards-Jones. The design of multi stage tooling was exacting work but they were tough years but very enjoyable. If you worked at Brandauers you could get a job any where.
 
noturb said:
Hi Everyone, I worked at Brandauers for 13 years in the drawing office between 1963 and 1981.
My father worked there and many of my uncle's as well. Dad knew Ian Pettit and Garth Pettit, as well as Tony Edwards-Jones. The design of multi stage tooling was exacting work but they were tough years but very enjoyable. If you worked at Brandauers you could get a job any where.
Click to expand...

Hi Noturb,

I worked there as an inspector in the early seventies, my gaffer was a guy called Jim Webb. It was a good place to work the people were all very friendly, which created an enjoyable working environment unlike the factories & management of today.

Lozellian.
 
noturb said:
Hi Everyone, I worked at Brandauers for 13 years in the drawing office between 1963 and 1981.
My father worked there and many of my uncle's as well. Dad knew Ian Pettit and Garth Pettit, as well as Tony Edwards-Jones. The design of multi stage tooling was exacting work but they were tough years but very enjoyable. If you worked at Brandauers you could get a job any where.
Click to expand...

Hi again Noturb,

An anecdote I forgot to mention in my previous reply, I remember during the dinner hour one or two of the lads & I used to work with spent our time shooting the rats with .22 air rifles (ammo provided), as they patrolled the basement area after it had been sealed off. I've often heard the saying that the rats were as big a cats and believe me these were, I've not seen any as big as those before or since.

Lozellian.
 
.22 air rifles or not i wouldnt have hung around to shoot the rats:rolleyes:

a school friend of mine from lozells girls used to work there...pretty sure she was in the offices..sometimes we would meet up for a drink at the lamplighter pub just round the corner...happy days

lyn
 
Astoness said:
.22 air rifles or not i wouldnt have hung around to shoot the rats:rolleyes:

a school friend of mine from lozells girls used to work there...pretty sure she was in the offices..sometimes we would meet up for a drink at the lamplighter pub just round the corner...happy days

lyn
Click to expand...

Hi Astoness,

It's certainly a small world, me and a few of the lads used to go in the lamplighter with one or two of the girls from the clean room mainly on a Friday (payday) during the dinner hour for a pie & a pint or two. As you say good days & happy memories.

Lozellian
 
Astoness said:
.22 air rifles or not i wouldnt have hung around to shoot the rats:rolleyes:

a school friend of mine from lozells girls used to work there...pretty sure she was in the offices..sometimes we would meet up for a drink at the lamplighter pub just round the corner...happy days

lyn
Click to expand...

Lyn Brandauers were on Breakfast this morning for about five minutes being questioned about what they are doing abut this farce we're going through at the moment namely Brexit
 
LOZELLIAN said:
Hi Astoness,

It's certainly a small world, me and a few of the lads used to go in the lamplighter with one or two of the girls from the clean room mainly on a Friday (payday) during the dinner hour for a pie & a pint or two. As you say good days & happy memories.

Lozellian
Click to expand...
You know BHF and Last of the Summer Wine are quite a temptation. Well, there is all the mention of pubs, pies, (pasties this way) and crusty cheese rolls - you can keep the spicy stuff and the fast food - except for fish or sausage and chips of course ;) The three old guys (Last of tsw) managed four pints and a chaser tonight!! I think they eased off a little as the series ran on. :) The RAF found me in many pubs and bars, but the Fire Service made me almost teetotal. I made a rule never to drink and drive, so as I drive most days I rarely drink anything alcoholic. The exception is communion wine and I often have to have more than a sip. But I have faith so I accept it. :D
Seeing William S's post mentioning Brexit makes me think that B word is enough to drive anyone to drink! :dizzy:
 
Yes I remember going over to the lamplighter for a few pints, as you say, especially on a Friday afternoon.
I also recall that a rat catcher came into Brandauers and set poison and traps all over the place and over the days there were dead rats everywhere. I even remember seeing them on the window ledges on the 3rd floor .
In the drawing office I once left my sandwhichs in the desk drawer and opened it the next morning to find them ripped open and mostly eaten !! I remember Jim Webb, wasnt he a small guy who was over the Inspection department near the top press shop ?
 
noturb said:
Yes I remember going over to the lamplighter for a few pints, as you say, especially on a Friday afternoon.
I also recall that a rat catcher came into Brandauers and set poison and traps all over the place and over the days there were dead rats everywhere. I even remember seeing them on the window ledges on the 3rd floor .
In the drawing office I once left my sandwhichs in the desk drawer and opened it the next morning to find them ripped open and mostly eaten !! I remember Jim Webb, wasnt he a small guy who was over the Inspection department near the top press shop ?
Click to expand...

Hi Noturb,

Yes mate you're spot on, Jimmy Webb was a relatively small guy but, good at his job & he'd soon let you know if things weren't to his liking or you'd dropped a clanger. Having said that, he'd sometimes call in at the Brown Jug (top of Unett Street) after work for a pint and I'm told that on rare occasions he was even known to buy you a pint if he was in a good mood.

Lozellian.
 
Frantic said:
I was having a browse around the site the other day and was amazed to see that Brandauers in New John St West was still standing. I used to work there as a Toolmaker in the late sixties. To work at Brandauers was an honour in those days as they paid the highest hourly rate for Toolmakers in Brum. If you wanted more you had to go to Coventry. I had not long finished my apprenticeship and applied for a job at Brandauers. The foreman thought it was a bit of a joke and told me to come back in a few years when I had learned something, just then, the Managing Director came into the room and asked a few questions. The foreman told him that he had advised me to come back later and the MD asked me where I 'served my time', when I told him British Pens Ltd, he told the foreman to give me a job as the MD had also served his time at the 'Pens'. The foreman gave me a really hard time after that, but I learned more about precision toolmaking there than I ever did anywhere else.
Click to expand...
Hi, I would be really interested in catching up with you re Brandauers, please, if possible as I am the company archivist. Thank you
 
Malp
Frantic is marked as a guest, which means he is no longer a member , and cannot reply unless he rejoins, though he may still see your post and could rejoin and reply
 
i really must try and get down to brandaurs to see what progress if any has been made on the new developement

lyn
 
noturb said:
Hi Everyone, I worked at Brandauers for 13 years in the drawing office between 1963 and 1981.
My father worked there and many of my uncle's as well. Dad knew Ian Pettit and Garth Pettit, as well as Tony Edwards-Jones. The design of multi stage tooling was exacting work but they were tough years but very enjoyable. If you worked at Brandauers you could get a job any where.
Click to expand...
Hi, if you would like to tell me more about your memories of the factory, of my Father and Uncle I would be delighted to know as I am the archivist for Brandauer.
 
we seem to have 2 thread for this factory here is the link to the other one with photos i took some years ago

C brandaurs is saved...

I was having a browse around the site the other day and was amazed to see that Brandauers in New John St West was still standing. I used to work there as a Toolmaker in the late sixties. To work at Brandauers was an honour in those days as they paid the highest hourly rate for Toolmakers in...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Shall merge the threads Lyn. Viv.

Edit the two threads are now merged. Astoness’s photos are from post #29 onwards. Viv
 
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