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Kynoch's I M I 1950s Onwards

Don was a lovely guy, for the most times a happy go lucky sort. Always willing to show you about the job, unlike some at that time.
 
Here as promised I think its Dad's retirement If any body could name the faces I would be very grateful
In photo 153KB the person 7th from the left is Bob Middleton? foreman on the bond. 4th from the right is Ray? I think he had my job after I left, in charge of the maintenance in Research. Some of the other faces ring a bell but their names escape me.
 
Here as promised I think its Dad's retirement If any body could name the faces I would be very grateful
Here as promised I think its Dad's retirement If any body could name the faces I would be very grateful
In photo 196.7KB The chap at the front holding his pipe was the foreman in the garage, his name was Farmer, Don was of course attached to the garage. The garage itself was situated at the Wellhead Lane end of the Bond.
Another story told to me by Don was that he used to go to old car shows. on one occasion he got to talking with the owner of one of the cars. It turned out that despite his best efforts his car never seemed to win any awards. Don was looking at the engine at the time, he told the owner that his engine was fitted with the wrong carburetor, perhaps this could be the reason for the lack of awards? The look on the owners face was a picture to behold!
 
In photo 153KB the person 7th from the left is Bob Middleton? foreman on the bond. 4th from the right is Ray? I think he had my job after I left, in charge of the maintenance in Research. Some of the other faces ring a bell but their names escape me.
I know the little chap with the pipe was Winston I know Dad had a few run ins with him
 
In photo 196.7KB The chap at the front holding his pipe was the foreman in the garage, his name was Farmer, Don was of course attached to the garage. The garage itself was situated at the Wellhead Lane end of the Bond.
Another story told to me by Don was that he used to go to old car shows. on one occasion he got to talking with the owner of one of the cars. It turned out that despite his best efforts his car never seemed to win any awards. Don was looking at the engine at the time, he told the owner that his engine was fitted with the wrong carburetor, perhaps this could be the reason for the lack of awards? The look on the owners face was a picture to behold!
I remember when I was little grinding the Valves in on a morris oxford (the one that looked like a big moggie 1000) Dad bought the MO as a box of bits and a shell, some of the bits in the box confused Dad then he knew what had happened the offending parts were VW so he went back to the garage on Wellington Rd not far from the junction with Wood Lane and said I think these are VW and the guy said well this box must be Morris swapped them and the car got rebuilt Photos Mom and me having a picnic in Sutton park at the back of the MO and Dad Cliff and me at Ludlow with the MO
 

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Hi yes there was an extensive railway system My Dad Don Commander worked in the loco sheds and there was a loco there. I remember going down to an open day ??? and they dressed it as Thomas the tank engine and it was by the side of central office block this must have been in the 60's. I can remember the rail tracks by the rod mill as this is where I used to slide my Ford Escort. Also it was where Dad got his push bike stuck in the lines and came over the handle bars
Don not only serviced the railway shunting engine ( diesel when I was there) but also the various mobile compressors that were used by the builders dept. as well as the steam engine that was used to repair the roads in the factory.
 
If anyone is interested I have recently updated my potted online history of Kynoch (1862 -) to bring it up to 2018. The link is at the bottom of this post. Haven't yet been able to check the updates on various platforms yet but it seems to work OK on Chrome.

Should be interested to hear whether anyone, unlike me, can spot the slightest similarity with the Company we knew decades ago. But it survives, thrives even, whilst the mighty ICI and many others are just a distant memory. Good luck to it and to those who work for it now and help to keep the Pension Fund healthy!

Chris

A History of Kynoch/ICI Metals/IMI)
 
If anyone is interested I have recently updated my potted online history of Kynoch (1862 -) to bring it up to 2018. The link is at the bottom of this post. Haven't yet been able to check the updates on various platforms yet but it seems to work OK on Chrome.

Should be interested to hear whether anyone, unlike me, can spot the slightest similarity with the Company we knew decades ago. But it survives, thrives even, whilst the mighty ICI and many others are just a distant memory. Good luck to it and to those who work for it now and help to keep the Pension Fund healthy!

Chris

A History of Kynoch/ICI Metals/IMI)


Having a particular interest in, an not being a great lover of George Kynoch, for me the early history is to be commended.

George Kynoch is not portrayed as an icon of business, and is linked to Pursall and Phillips before they moved to Witton, and thereby associated with the 1859 explosion. Many sources claim that he was the founder of the company. As far as I can establish the explosion was the catalyst that forced the Government, through public pressure, to rule that the factories should be removed from populated areas.
 
The first pic taken 1975 outside supply dept by Amal carbs
left to right Jeanette P.M dept, Bob Hill Engineering workshops, June P.M Dept the girl in the black coat name escapes me the Bride the same both B.T.Dept and the old chap at the back was a buyer in B.T Laurie ?

The second pic is Ken Bailey and wife Ken worked in the garage visiting Mom and Dad down in Tregaron Wales

The third pic is John Parry Engineering workshops and me (Janice Commander) I worked in comptometres before going to MGWG
 

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I'm aware a lot of images were lost when this site was hacked. My late father used to work at Rolled Metals and I have just uploaded 45 issues (1961 to 2002) of ICI/IMI (Metals) Monitor onto the IMI(Kynoch) Apprentice School and Company site on Facebook. Some of these issues have articles that look back to historical events. I hope this helps to fill in some of the gaps. The group is public so you don't need to join it to see the files. Feel free to copy any or all of them here to here. I have listed the issues below.

Note, as an alternative to scrolling through the Facebook posts, you can find them by clicking on 'files'.

0 ICI Metals Monitor November 1961
189 December 1980
190 June 1981
202 September 1984
211 Autumn 1986
212 Summer 1987
213 Spring 1987
220 Winter 1988
221 Spring 1989
222 Summer 1989
223 Autumn 1989
224 Winter 1989*
225 Spring 1990
226 Summer 1990
227 Autumn 1990
229 Spring 1991
230 Summer 1991
232 Winter 1991
233 Spring 1992
234 Summer 1992
236 Winter 1992
237 Spring 1993
238 Summer 1993
239 Autumn 1993
240 Winter 1993
241 Spring 1994
242 Summer 1994
243 Autumn 1994
245 Spring 1995
246 Summer 1995
247 Autumn 1995
248 Winter 1995
249 Spring 1996
250 Summer 1996
251 Autumn 1996
253 Spring 1997
254 Summer 1997
255 Autumn 1997
256 Winter 1997
257 Spring 1998
258 Summer 1998
259 Autumn 1998
263 Autumn 1999
271 Summer 2002
272 Winter 2002
 
Welcome to the Forum, harryk. And thanks very much for pointing us to the wonderful IMI resource which you have pulled together and put online. So useful to those interested in the Company and to family history researchers.

I have a few of these Metals Monitors and have always thought of scanning and uploading them (to supplement the Kynoch/IMI information I have made available – potted Company history, photos of site and individuals from the 1960s, WW2 information etc. I'll check through them at some stage and see if they are additional to those which you have provided. They always used to appear as an insert into the ICI Magazine – a much more nicely produced publication but not as immediately interesting to Kynoch people. When I have dug them out I'll let you know if there are any additions.

Thanks also for your generous offer permitting this information to be shared. I think it would be very beneficial if, somehow or other, the detailed information could appear in this Forum. I think that the Forum is generally acknowledged to be a better repository of serious historical information like this – it avoids many of the Facebook limitations such as googleability, the way information can be presented and the risk of valuable information rapidly getting buried and lost. Added to which a number of members of this Forum are uncomfortable with Fb and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. So, perhaps this could happen at some stage. A new, dedicated thread could contain it.

(I'll just add a final plea. If Forum members do take up your kind offer about sharing this information from the Fb page, could they always remember, please, to mention and make acknowledgement to its source. I know from personal experience just how much hard work and effort goes into the sort of exercise which you have completed, in order to make useful information accessible to all. It is very irritating (and I COULD use stronger language, but this is a family group) to see one's own original information being used elsewhere without the slightest acknowledgement, even when it is protected by copyright. It's annoying, not only because one gets no credit – we should I suppose all be mature enough to put up with that and not resent all the WOWs!! and OMGs!!!!. But also because the poster hasn't even thought that someone might be sufficiently interested to find out more about the subject and would appreciate a pointer towards everything else which is available: much more detail, more and higher quality images, serious comment and so on......Rant over!)

Thanks again, harryk.

Chris
 
Welcome to the Forum, harryk. And thanks very much for pointing us to the wonderful IMI resource which you have pulled together and put online. So useful to those interested in the Company and to family history researchers.

I have a few of these Metals Monitors and have always thought of scanning and uploading them (to supplement the Kynoch/IMI information I have made available – potted Company history, photos of site and individuals from the 1960s, WW2 information etc. I'll check through them at some stage and see if they are additional to those which you have provided. They always used to appear as an insert into the ICI Magazine – a much more nicely produced publication but not as immediately interesting to Kynoch people. When I have dug them out I'll let you know if there are any additions.

Thanks also for your generous offer permitting this information to be shared. I think it would be very beneficial if, somehow or other, the detailed information could appear in this Forum. I think that the Forum is generally acknowledged to be a better repository of serious historical information like this – it avoids many of the Facebook limitations such as googleability, the way information can be presented and the risk of valuable information rapidly getting buried and lost. Added to which a number of members of this Forum are uncomfortable with Fb and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. So, perhaps this could happen at some stage. A new, dedicated thread could contain it.

(I'll just add a final plea. If Forum members do take up your kind offer about sharing this information from the Fb page, could they always remember, please, to mention and make acknowledgement to its source. I know from personal experience just how much hard work and effort goes into the sort of exercise which you have completed, in order to make useful information accessible to all. It is very irritating (and I COULD use stronger language, but this is a family group) to see one's own original information being used elsewhere without the slightest acknowledgement, even when it is protected by copyright. It's annoying, not only because one gets no credit – we should I suppose all be mature enough to put up with that and not resent all the WOWs!! and OMGs!!!!. But also because the poster hasn't even thought that someone might be sufficiently interested to find out more about the subject and would appreciate a pointer towards everything else which is available: much more detail, more and higher quality images, serious comment and so on......Rant over!)

Thanks again, harryk.

Chris
Chris, 100% agree with all your thoughts and sentiments.

I did think about posting them directly, but 45 pdf files in a post did not seem the best way to do it. I could not see a file repository on the site which might have been the ideal way. A new thread makes sense, but should it be more than one, depending on how many other copies get found?

Thanks Harry
 
Thanks, Harry, you raise some interesting questions. I haven’t thought them through completely yet and I’ll consult the rest of the Admin team and see what the consensus is about the best way forward. We want to find a way whereby the information is presented here in an attractive and a fully accessible way.

A few random thoughts.

In order to make this mass of information more handleable, splitting it down into manageable chunks, like years, might be a possibility.

And I am sure you will have given thought to the best ways of presenting this information to the wider world. My gut feeling is that ultimately it deserves its own website which would provide a framework of your own choosing within which it could sit. Have you considered creating your own site?

It will be worthwhile at some stage investigating the extent to which the content of these PDF files could be made searchable/Googleable. I don’t know the answer to that, personally, and have never been able to do it with jpeg images. But if there was a practical way to do it - to make all the names findable - it would add immensely to the value of the resource.

I’ll see what the Admin team think about all this, from a BHF perspective. Meanwhile could you please post just one Metals Monitor here, so that everyone can see what we are talking about. Thanks.

Chris
 
Harry could use the forum's Image Host (Coppermine) I have dozens of PDF files on it such as the Keith Berry archive etc. There is a file size limit of 10Mb but I have found that the pdf quality setting can be reduced to as low as 40% without any visible effects. All that is needed on the main forum is a link to the pdf which is on the Image Host.

An example of it in use can be seen in the post below ...
 
Thanks for the comments.

The Coppermine option looks to be very suitable. The file sizes I have are generally around 7 Meg so that is not an issue. The only one that is a lot bigger is the first one in the list which is an ICI magazine insert era version with more pages, but I can fix that.

I'm putting up issue 246 - Summer 1995 as example. I have had to shrink & split it into three to get it to sneak under the file size limit for upload.

Unfortunately these PDFs are generated from images to they cannot be searchable without a huge amount of effort (OCR).
 

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Following my series “those we have known and loved” I have put down some of the “goings on” that occurred on the Witton site. Hard to believe nowadays with health and safety ruling as well as political correctness being in vogue.
Many of those that I worked with at Kynochs in the 60’s and 70’s had seen and been through trials and tribulations in their lives that most of us can only start to think about.
‘prentice Pranks
Apprenticeship; At the time of entered the working environment, I like all those of my generation were very fortunate, it was not a matter of could I get a job, but what job did I want to do! How lucky we were! I followed in the family tradition of going into engineering.
Most of the family were employed at Kynochs, B’ham.
Dad, his brother, my brother and sister as well as a cousin were all working there, so it was obvious that I would join the family firm.
I was given a 5 year apprenticeship, starting at the age of 16, I had stayed on at school for an extra year to get a few more exam passes.
In the school, there were about 12 new starts in my induction group. The whole scheme throughout the factory employed several hundred lads, and one girl! We were a real mix from the academically bright, some later went on to become senior management and even directors, to the more mundane, myself included. The company, as many did, recruit and promote from within their workforce, and to do this they had to invest in people and train them. Many of the leading companies in B’ham did the same, with most having comprehensive apprenticeship schemes. With such a diversity of lads there were of course many different outlooks and types of humour. The various test pieces and tasks that were set for us were, looking back on them well thought out and of benefit for our future employment needs. Although at the time with all the callowness of youth, we thought most if not all to be a waste of time!
Early on in my test pieces, I made one and presented it to the instructor, after looking at it for a few moments, the look on his face said it all, his comment was “ well young ‘arper if yo tek this down to your old man (father) and he says it’s OK then I’ll pass it as well” after a moments pause he then (holding the test piece over his rubbish bin) asked if I would prefer to try again. I did and after that I tried to make any other pieces presentable to Dad. A lesson learnt!
 
2
Fetching the tea:- When in the apprentice school you progressed through various areas, finally ending up in the annex. This was situated around the corner from the main school buildings. Twice a day a couple of lads were sent to the main building to fetch our mugs of tea. A dozen or more mugs were placed onto a tray to be carried back for our tea breaks. Not too difficult a task if the weather was fine. On one occasion the lads fetching the tea decided to pull a prank on one of their mates. Knowing him to be bit squeamish the came up with the plot put something into his mug of tea. To achieve this they went into Witton during their lunch break and made a purchase.
Upon returning to the annex that afternoon with tray of tea mugs, they made sure that their mate took the correct mug. After a moment or two, having taken a sip from his mug he lets out a scream! It turned out that a sheep’s eye had been put into his mug. Being cold it had sunk, but as it warmed up it rose from the depths to stare at the drinker!
 
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