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H P Sign

Hey Billc, dont go .............. this is what forums are all about debating, were on your side mate at least I am! And one or two others too.
Last I heard we lived in a democracy, you know that old thing called freedom of speech!!!!!!!!!!!
I dont think anyone has accused you of promoting Heinz, I haven't thats for sure.
I just made the point that we hurt companies in their pockets by not buying their products.
Take care Jude
 
Billc...please don't leave this forum. Aston lost HP and it is sad but
part of an ongoing trend for companies in this day and age to be sold and merged. I would very much like the site to be recognized and if the sign could be incorporated great but if not a heritage plaque with and engraving of the sign as part of it would be super. HP was such a vital part of Aston it has to have some recognition. We all have such super memories of HP and how very important it was to Aston and the local families who had generations of relatives working there. This includes mine as my brother Peter worked there for many years and through many transitions of the company.
 
Billc, as Jude and Jennyann have said please don't leave. I think personally the thread you posted prompted some good discussion on how people feel. I for one would like the sign to be saved for future generations to look at, not just photo's of it in the skyline of Aston. Sometimes the subjects that are close to us generate high emotions. I am absolutley sure no one was offended by your post just the opposite. Please reconsidder, best wishes Wendy.
 
hi there gang ,
I Entirely Agrree With Cromwell Its Only a Sign
We All Have Our Memorys Of The Big Instutute Of HP Sauce
Billc Memories Of Passing The Place On The Bus Daily, Very Good ,
But Some Of Us From Brum And More So Born In Aston
And Lived Yards From The Factory Will Never Forget The Place
And Us Kids Whom Went To The Upper Thomas Street School
Will Never Forget The Place Nor The Sign, Nor The Smell
And How We Used To Race To The Factory Wall In The PlayGround
In The Winter To Keep Warm
Let Get To Save Our Old Building , We Lost Baskerville House
Whats Next ASTONIAN ;;;
 
Billc don't leave you have helped people on this site with some good posts, and had a laugh along the way, so don't go.
 
I don't like to disappoint people but that sign is not 100 years old...I don't think its more than 40 years...or just slightly over...the original sign along with the original buildings were knocked down years ago....the buildings which are now be demos lied were built in the late 50's early 60s...I can remember the houses that stood in Tower Road and Upper Thomas Street were the HP building stands....I would say that the HP building was built between 1960 and 1966...while I was at school at UTS....,

I cannot see the point of saving a sign...(well I can)...but how many other companies have gone over the decades were the sign was as important to the area has much as the HP sign was....Norton, Ansells, Dunlop, Lucas, Atkinsons, Sun Cycles, Hercules, Cylo-Gear, GEC, IMI..etc...and if you reach out futher, Austin, Morris, Wolsey, Lancaster, Metro Cammell, all vehicle makers...the list could be endless....

If you want if you want a keepsake...do what I did...look for something around the building which you can take and keep at home...my example is the blue pavement bricks outside my old school (Upper Thomas Street)...some months ago I was able to find one loose were the school once stood....a few weeks ago I took another trip there dug up a few more (5), took at a slab from the patio, and replaced it with my blue bricks.....a part of Aston that will now always be there for me to see, plus I have a school fire bell from Burlington St school hanging in my study....
 
What a brilliant Hoarder you are JKC wish I had something of my school:)

Billc, Brummies never give up
 
Like you JKC I have two kerbstones from Cromwell St in the back garden which I took when the area was being demolished...and I know a certain youg lady on the forum has got something from the Aston Hipp.
 
I love the keepsake from whatever site you want a memory from idea. My mother-in-law had a piece of the White Cliffs of Dover which she cherished.
Regrets...oh yes. A few years back when they were demolishing the Trinity Road stand at Villa Park I took my son and daughter, as we were all in England at the same time, down to Villa Park very early on the day the bulldozers arrived. For some reason we did not pick up a brick after the dozers moved in. There were a few men there doing exactly that. We have regretted it ever since. My son is quite shy and I don't know where my mind was.:Aah:

I remember when the Bull Ring was beginning to be demolished for the latest remodel, a fellow came across part of the famous Bull logo which had been put up right at the start, in a dumpster. He was only able to salvage the rear legs I think. That's a shame because I feel that sign should have been saved.

I have a piece of Cotswold stone from the railway station that was demolished at Adlestrop on the Cotswold line. My friend Sylvia and her husband John both from Brum bought the station site, all the buildings had gone, and John's dream was to rebuild it. Sylvia is now gone and I am so glad I went to Adlestrop and was given that stone.
 
Ray is something of a scavenger and he bought the whole side wall of the Aston Hippodrome - where we used to queue for the upper gallery, it cost £100 delivered and he cleaned every brick by hand to use in renovating the cottage. He also bought oak beams from Aston Villa from the demolition squad very cheap, and took up a whole entry of blue bricks from void houses in Aston and used round the garden pool in our previous house.
 
That's amazing Sylvia. Ray made use of his "finds" which is great when you have a lot more than a piece of brick or whatever. Better than storing it
and never getting around to using it.
 
My father built a verandah (now called consevatory) on our house in the 60's. The floor was marble tiles my Dad brought from a church in Birmingham that was being demolished. He laid then rough side up and made a grind stone to polish them. I remember my brothers spending hours grinding this floor it was amazing when finished.
 
Good news I've just read in the evening mail they are saving the HP sign and giving it to a local museum.
 
Nice To See Something Is Achieved Through Petitions.and The Gurkha Who Is Allowed To Come To The Uk .
Bloody Big .the Hp Sign
 
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