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Wilmot Breeden Limited

Astonian

gone but not forgotten
HI THERE
Doe,s Any=body Recall Wilmott Breedon Of Camden Street
Hockley Spring hill Did Any body Work There
I Used To Lve In King edwards Rd Just Up The Road By The Kirby Gang
Wilmotts and Breedon Had Afew Factory,s Around Brum
They Had One Next To The Ice Rink At Spring Hill And They Had One In Cheston Rd Aston Off Rocky Lane
I Have Got AN Invoice Addressed To R,H Burman Ltd Avon Works
Tyburn Rd Bham 24, FOR Reqeusting Payment For Materials Supplied
I Have Down Loaded The Copy On The Thread If Any-body Wants To See It
Best Wishes ASTONIAN ,;;
 
Hi,
I am starting to research this Birmingham company as there is very little about it on the internet, and it was a major employer up to the 1970’s – turning out car bumpers, door locks, window winders, badges etc. for all manufacturers.

I worked there as an apprentice from 1966, based at the Kings Road Works then the Amington Road factory. I also worked for a time at the Head Office in Goodman Street (Sandpits). Other locations were a warehouse in Digbeth; Fordhouse Lane in Stirchley (later taken over by Rockwell); an R&D facility at Umberslade Hall and the former Civil Service Sports Ground at Elmdon plus the Camden Street works you mentioned.

Most of the Amington Road buildings are still there, although converted to other uses. Up until 1972, I worked in the computer dept. (ground floor front) of the 60’s-style office block, using an ICL 1902 room-size computer with a massive 8mb memory!
I swear that the window blinds in that room today are the same ones that were there in 1972.

I find it incredible that a company of that size can just disappear from public view in just a few short years and therefore want to record as much about it as possible whilst people can still remember.
 
Hi tom
i think you will find that this wilmott company is mentioned by us on this forum afew years ago by variuos members past and present
even some members even worked there as well i noticed you mentioned them all , but one which i,m prety sure was the head office when you mentioned goode street well up around the block in camden street by spring hill there was that one at the same time that was operationianal
i lived between the two of them and passed and walked by them daily .
And i lived in speedwell rd as well so i am aware of that one as well
i thought i would mention camden street to you . I hope you don,t mind
it probaly slipped your mind i am still researching the burmam metal
company whom supplied some metals to good old breedon in camden street i have in my possesion some company receipts made to breedon ,s
requesting paymentsfor the materials they supplied from the fifties
and burmans received from there supplyers from ireland whom supplyed burmans hence they supplyed willmotts breedon ,
look forewarded to hearing from you again on the forum
and i am prety sure you will hear more from our older forum members whom know more than me best of luck on the research astonian ,;;
 
Other locations were a warehouse in Digbeth; Fordhouse Lane in Stirchley (later taken over by Rockwell); Tom 24 which is now vandalised:(and Astonian was that Jimmy Kirby and sons:D
 
Hi phil again
nearly missed your thread ,yes you are quite right its jimmy and sons
i,ve known jimmy and his family for donkey years and the sister
and all of his brothers i ,ve got a picture shot of there yard in king edwards rd as well with a lorry they had just bought way back in the fifties ,when they had just bought wakeling the builders yard in king edwards rd lady wood the wakelins builders merchants office was in sprng feild stre around the cornerin the days there builder and painters and decoraters did not have a van in those days they used only
big hand carts to to take there building materils or paint and paper
with the bucket of sand swinging under neath the handles of the cart or the big bags of sand on topi,ve seen two or three guys pushing there hand cart back to the yard there was two guys i recall from wakelins
one was a builder ginger williams from inglby st and the painter called
dinkie yes getting back to the kirby s i know the family
and from when i was a kid and from stan running the old windmil pub dudley rd thanks phil speak to you soon astonian ,;
 
Greetings all. Have just found this thread by accident. I am an ex employee. I was apprenticed at Ammington Road in 1958 - first job after school. Did the full 5 years but not all in the factory. After 9 months in the Training School I suffered an industrial accident which saw me off-work for 4 weeks.
On returning to work, I was shunted out to Umberslade Park Research and Development Facility, where I completed "my time". One of the bonuses of this move was that I went out to MIRA (Motor Industry Research Association) test track at Nuneaton on a multitude of occasions, running a test vehicle with our Door Lock and Window Winder test rigs mounted there-on.
On completion I was advised there was no possibility of a job so I took a trip - to Sydney Australia and I'm still here. Well and truly retired now though and enjoying a much more relaxed lifestyle.

OldBrummie.
 
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hi Astonion my first wife lived in King Edwards road in the 50s her name was Dorothy Clements then i am sure she live at 135 i worked for a market firm and i am sure i delivered fruit and veg to Willmot Breden about the same time
 
hi gibbo
as you know thee was afew branches around; we had one in king edwards rd andif my calculations are correct her house was
more or less facing the king edwards rd branch
there main exit was where all the personnel would come and go
and delivery,s in and out the main gates which would have been
on the king edwards rd we lived at 243 kingedwards rd
duringthe fifties next to the chimney sweet house
and facing the kirbys yard
i also can remember the clements family
andalso the half of wilmotts was down and around the back of the libary in camden street and then there was the houses and then the grotto pub a cracking pub great food and and beer witha warm a welcoming by the gather and is wife a friend of mine remembers the clements family as well wholly watkings from around the corner in spring field street
some other names close was the wrights the laundy shop
chatwins , the ellis .the vernons of king edwards rd
i am just trying to remember the fruit and veg supplyers
i use to see them most days of the week and an old friend of mine also worked for the same company delivering fruit and veg there
i do not what you to tell me just let me think of it
and then you can tell me if i am right or wrong ,
at this precise moment i have got alot of things flashing thriugh my mind but i will remember it
have a good day gibbospeak again soon best wishes astonian ;;;
 
Hi All,
Just got back to this thread. I remember the two brothers who ran the place during the sixties. Miles Breeden and David Breeden. Whilst working at Goodman Street in 1967, I was told to take a very important document down to David's London flat for signature. I was given my train and taxi fare (about £10) if I remember correctly! David had a flat in a very posh Edwardian block behind the Albert Hall. When I arrived there, he was out, so I had to leave the document with his secretary. She invited me to stay to lunch (smoked salmon) as the Harrods van was just about to deliver. How the other half lived! I declined and made do with a Wimpy back at Euston station.
Every year, the apprentice association organised a coach trip to the Motor Show at Earls Court. My main memory of this is spending the day on the Wilmot Breeden stand - upstairs in the hospitality area. Free alcohol and nibbles all day until they threw us out! Then spending the evening wandering around London (didn't have any money to spend...) before getting back at midnight to the coach pickup at Marble Arch.
One other memory to share with you. During the seventies when the miners were on strike and we had the power blackouts, it was a great time to be a computer operator. Although we tried to work around the scheduled power outtages, there were lots of unscheduled ones. This caused havoc with the computer system and meant that we often had to re-run a lot of fairly lengthy processing. This meant lots of lovely overtime! We were fully in support of the miners.
Heady days indeed!
 
My late grandfather, John "Jack" Lewis, worked as a time and motion engineer for Wilmot's virtually all of his working life (40 years as I understand). For school, he had attended King Edward's at Aston.

Jack retired either in 1970 or 1971 but lived only briefly for a short time thereafter.

I remember him as a very intelligent, highly resourceful, firm-handed and fair-minded man.

I can still see him now, in my memory as a young child, working on his Ford (Poplar?) car, registration number 'WON 752' and setting up my Matchbox electric racing car track at Christmas in 1970.

Are there any ex-Wilmot folks out there who remember my grandfather?

Dave Gray,
ex-Sheldon, now Canada
 
Anyone remember any of the Moore or Probyn family members that worked at both Ammington Rd and Fordhouse Lane?
 
Hi Dave Gray.
I don't recall the name Lewis from Wilmots but the name does ring bells in Sheldon. I'd be interested to know what the address was in Sheldon. I spent my first 23 years in Lyndon Road - just up from the Sheldon Cinema - before moving to Aus at the end of my apprenticeship.

Old Brummie.
 
Hi Dave Gray.
I don't recall the name Lewis from Wilmots but the name does ring bells in Sheldon. I'd be interested to know what the address was in Sheldon. I spent my first 23 years in Lyndon Road - just up from the Sheldon Cinema - before moving to Aus at the end of my apprenticeship.

Old Brummie.

Hi Old Brummie,

We lived at 47 Cranes Park. In the 1960s and 1970s the Fowlers lived to one side of us and the Mathers to the other.

Some of the many characters who also lived in the area were Percy Jinks (corner of Cranes Park and Forest Hill) and his very gracious wife and Charlie Wall who remained as fit as a fiddle most of his life and lived a way up Forest Hill.

My mother Margaret still lives at the Cranes Park address.

There were other Lewis relatives on Church Road near to the Radleys and my aunt lived in Ivydale Avenue.

I remember the old Sheldon Cinema as well. The last film that I remember seeing there was something like "Herbie the Love Bug" (the VW Beetle car that could think like a person). Now there is an NCR building on the site.

I also remember that the old Three Horse Shoes pub was just about still standing at that time. Why they didn't preserve that building I don't know.
 
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There used to be a Wilmot Breedon place in Ladywood opposite Goodman St rec where we used to play when we were kids

Mossy
 
Thinking about it, my recollection is that my grandfather Jack may have worked at the Castle Vale/Castle Bromwich Wilmot Breeden location(s).

Some of his retirement gifts included (pewter?) ashtrays specially milled for his pipestand, a carriage clock and some other things.
 
Hi again Dave.
Looks like another Lewis family. They lived in Lyndon Road a couple of doors from home and although I knew who they were, I didn't "know" them that well. Thanks for responding anyway.
Regards, OldBrummie.
 
Wilmot Breedon Ltd Factory, Amington Rd, Tyseley. Len,
Lost photo replaced
Hay Mills Wilmot Breedon Amington Rd 1950  .jpg
 
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Wilmott Breedon, yet another Birmingham company that failed to move with the times. My father was in the tool design section in the late 60,s and he took some German visitors round the press shop.They actually laughed when they saw men sitting at presses. They hadn't done that for over 10 years. He went to Germany to look at tape contolled machines. In the end WB bought one or two instead of the 40 they needed. The machines were never used properly because they wouldn't pay for training.
Just like so much of Birmingham Industry, when times were good they said they didn't need to invest, when times were hard they said they couldn't afford it. The families lived off the dividends and the sale of the business and the workers joined the dole queue. They couldn't run a fish and chip shop.
 
Your so right pipmk, when i worked for a Power Press repair firm in Birmingham we used to repair some of the power presses at Wilmot Breedon. Now we've got kids
leaving school who don't now HOW Cars, Washing Machines, Vacuum Cleaners and umpteen other appliances that were manufactured in Birmingham/ West Midlands.
I think we must blame ourselves for buying foreign imports as they were cheaper. Little realising we we putting our own manufacturing industry in jeopardy. Now all we've left them with is a degree in shelf stacking.
 
Hi
A lad i was at school with bought out the lock side of Wilmot Breeden, he started a company called Weston Body Hardware in Redditch, they are still in existence & may have old info on Wilmot Breeden. I think that Peter Weston has retired or got out of the business but they featured on a local TV news programme a few weeks ago.
Cheers
Dave Rock
 
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