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Wright's Rope Works

Snowball

master brummie
Could anybody supply information about the above business. My mother was born in Garrison Street opposite this business and for our family tree I would love to add a bit more information about them. A photograph would be absolutely terrific.

Regards, Snowball.
 
hi snowball
wrights rope became btitish ropes afew years ago and i worked for them
in the eighty,s down garrison lane it was a great company to work for
did any of your family work there
best wishes astonian ,,
 
I also worked at Wright's Ropes for a short while as a temp secretary, around 1963. It was a great firm to work for and although I can't remember which department I worked in, they were all lovely people, very friendly.

Judy
 
We had a neighbour who worked at Wright’s Ropes, I’d joined the ‘Scouts’ and we’d been told to fix a whistle to the lanyard, I’d made an attempt at it, but I was a bit of a mess.
Mrs Lee the neighbour saw my effort, and said “give it to me I’ll have a go” she obviously did ‘splicing’ at work, when she brought it back, it was a perfect job.
I’ll always remember the ‘Scout-Masters’ face, when I turned up to show him the result
:D
 
My first job was with Wrights' Ropes, back in 1963. I worked in the Export Dept. for a littel Irish chap called Gerard Neilan. Looking back now he was a bit of an oddity, but at the time I was terrified of him; he was so fussy & particular about everything, I was frightened to do anything! I don't remeber much about the work itself, but I do remember there that everybody had to '#clock in' or out. It was a great big circular clock, with a sort of arm attached, & that you pushed in, and it recorded the time you came in or left. I can also remember gazing in awe at the comptometer operators, pushing bunches of keys on this machine, that somehow ended up calculating the costs of an order, or an invoice, or something. I never did get to understand how they worked.
 
hi millie.
so you met our gerry , yes he was abit of a grumpy man ,but when you got to know him he was okay , always had a fag in his mouth gerry died afew years ago now
do you remember little emily thompson whom worked in the costing department
she worked in billy blackburns office she handed and worked out the costing
and gave us the customers order sheets for us to make the ropes required by customers ,little emily died two years ago a sweet little lady i used to go to her home in selly park regularshe was getting on abit in age
i think it was the down fall when she went to dogpool lane post office
two years ago to collect her pension and when she came out of the post office
she colasped in the heat and there was a middle age man befriended her
and attendend her and when he sat her up the rotton so and so made of with her bag and pension money thats when she went down hill and died
do you recall janet from in the splicing department she lived by the white horse in chelmsley wood , have a nice day best wishes astonian ,;;
 
my father worked at WRIGHTS ROPES during the war.does anybody remember
him. his name was CHARLES BUCKNALL, he played football and cricket for them.
 
My uncle worked there, his name was Frank Millichamp, I don't know if anyone remembers him.

trebor
 
Sorry Astonian, I don't remember any names, though I do remember a few hazy faces after all these years. Like I said, I was a raw youngster, terrified of everybody, with all these 'grown ups' around me who seemed to know everything & friends with eachother. I think they trie dto include me but I was so shy that I couldn't respond. I do remember that Gerard had some sort of eye affliction, & that he loved to sing, and that whenever he had a concert on he would get so anxious that his eyes would flare up all red and weepy, so that he was no good to go on stage anyway! I think he got round things in the end, but I'm not really sure coz I never saw him in concert. It was quite a traumatic event every time there was a concert on.
 
hi millie
many thanks for your reply yes he was that person and how he was
it ,s a pitty dear old emily is,t around she started there as a young girl in the offices
stayed there and worked from the war years right through to her old aged
she had a remarkable memory right up to the day she died and a heart of gold
after my service there emily was one of the last people to come out of there
even when she retired the company gave her shares in the company
and she always got letters and cards of birth days and christma cards from head office right up until the day she died she would have remembered you ok
she would always talk abot people of yesterday years and never forgot there names
even in her old age i spent hours with her some of the things and topics was amazing
apperently her husband got killed and he was a proffessional painter
and thats when she took the job at the wrights ropes and gerrard used to try and chat her up but she was frighened of him and she told the department manager over the company about him and she was going to leave but he then had a word with him and he stopped pestering her,she used to handle all the company papersand oreders for the branch she was one terifficable lady god bless her ,
best wishes atonian ;;
 
Hi

The Factory became a Land Rover Plant and in my days it
produced all the welded Chassis Frames. The Layout was
ideal the long lines previously used to draw the wire ropes
was ideal for the Layout of the welding lines.
Sadly it was part of a 13 plant closure programme in the late 1980's.
For a while it was transfered to Solihull but finally came to rest
at GKN Telford. Around 30,000 of these frames are still built at
Telford for Land Rover. What a History from a wire Factory.

Mike Jenks
 
Sounds to me that Emily was really a terrific lady - I wish I'd known or remembered her, she could have told us so much about Birmingham and what she'd seen. I think Gerry was harmless really, no doubt he did chat up people but looking back I think he was really lonely person who wanted to be friends though I must admit I was frightened of him at the time. A bit later it the time when Kennedy was assassinated, & I remember that all the Irish people in the department took the day off because they were so upset about it, it was very taumatic just then & went on for ages.
 
Hi folks, I've been using google and other mapping sites to get a picture of the above factory. Can anyone tell me if the facade of the building I can see today in a "bird's eye view" has changed very much from what it would have looked like in the 1920's ?. I'll just pretend that the large semi trailer that is parked in the street outside the present factory is waiting for a new team of fresh horses to drag it away !;)

My mother says that when she lived in Garrison Street opposite the factory, from 1918 to 1939, a lot of her neighbours worked at the factory, and why not, it was on their doorstep, she will write down the names she remembers and i'll post them here at the next opportunity.

For the old timers - when my mother was just a little girl she can remember that the outside wall that enclosed the factory had a much wider plinth on which this wall was built. This meant that there was a narrow parapet that ran along the front of the factory and, children being what they are, all of the local kids would climb onto the parapet and walk along it, often falling off since there was no handrail or anything else to hang onto. Nearly all the kids had cuts and bruises from falling off the wall !

In the process of running the factory they would at odd times carry out some unknown operation that resulted in all of the local residents getting bitten by fleas ! Can anyone throw any light on what they were doing ?:dft005:

Regards,

Snowball
 
The Coachsmiths Arms, was always known has the 'Chain' to the locals.

don't know why,
wasn't there once a rope factory in the watery lane area? down near lawley st goods depot, i think rope manufacturers used to measure their ropes in areas known as chain walks,not sure but i seem to remember reading that somewhere.
 
Hi Snowball
Just found your notes on Wrights Ropes. I was born in Garrison Street so remember the factory. My mother worked there as a teenager and was always telling us a story about how one day she was taking a crafty break from working the loom when she was caught by the bosses son who asked what she was up to. Noticing there was a mirror nearby she said she had just been getting some dust from her eye. She went back to the loom but he stood for sometime watching her. After he went a man came to her and said she was wanted in the foremans office. This is it she thought the sack. But the Foreman said the bosses son had been watching her work and thought she deserved a raise!! Sixpence extra a week. My Mom was quite a looker in her teens and I think perhaps he had gone soft on her.
By the way did your Mom remember the people who lived in Garrison St. in the late twenties and early thirties? My family names are Green and Burt.
LesG128
 
I recently found this photo amongst a pile of family papers. I don't know what the date is - there's nothing written on the back - my grandfather who worked there isn't in the picture and neither is his brother. I wonder if anybody recognises anyone in the photo?

s Rope Walk (2).jpg
 
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