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Smith's Foundry, steel works?, Aston

B

bob54

Brummie babby
My father was apprenticed to a foundry/ steel works which I believe was in Aston and was owned by a Mr Smith. He possibly had a partner in the business but not too sure. My father joined the company in 1927 ish.

I would love to find out if there is any basis for these recollections.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Bob54
 
Yes john you beat me to it as well
i remember it very well indeed it was always very dark in there and very noisie and very smokie in deed
it was more noise and darkness than tubes foundry i called it the black hole of calcutter
beleive me those guys whom worked in there really did slave and to earn there crust of wages
the flames from them furnances was very blue and high
the banging was loud if you stood by the gates to have a conversation with some one you could not them
you could hear the banging way around portland street as well wich is the top of end of good old wainwright st
we worked at tubes bazzm and myself it was dark and noisey and smokie but know near than smithys foundry
and i was over head crane driver there at tubes alongwith my mate bazz smithy was very hard and a wicked envoiroment to work in
and you could hear the banging up park rd by the vine pub some days my aunty ede lived at no 10 park rd just yards from the vine pub also in sandy lane
those guys whom worked there way back did work hard
happy new year to each and every one of you best wishes astonion
 
I hope it's okay to post a comment on a thread that is so old.

I remember Smith's Forgings very well as my step-dad worked there in the late 1970s until it closed down and he got his redundancy. As a schoolboy at the time, I was there a lot, waiting for him to finish work and get a lift home, so I waited outside and inside many times.

Interestingly, the factory was featured in a TV documentary series in about 1979, a complete episode devoted to it. The series was called ENGLAND, THEIR ENGLAND. At the time of the filming there was a photographer also there - maybe connected to the TV crew - a young American woman, who was just taking photographs. She took pictures of me waiting outside the factory, I remember. Never saw them, though.
 
hi andy do you recall a cafe ajoing betwen the foundry you had to go up some steps to it almost facing park street which was at the bottom of wainwright street
it may have just before your time thou i think it was early 1950;s cannot be sure about the year it was a close to christmas time
the photograph was taken and it was in the evening mail in those years and also my mother and father was there on the steps at the time some one sent me the picture and i beeive it is or was some where in previuosly forums as it was on here some years back
good old wainwright street i wonder how many if any other members on the forum are from them i had alot of friends down there and cousins
good old days best wishes astonian;
 
Hi Astonian

I don't remember that café. Might have been gone by the late 70s. In my memory, it seemed that Smiths Forgings was the only business still operating on Wainwright Street back then, apart from the pub on the corner, just down from Smiths. Can't remember the name of it, but I'm going to the library some time in the next week to do some research and will have a look in Kelly's Directory. The place now, if you view it on Google Street Map, is unrecognisable from then.
 
hi andy
many thanks for your feed back i recall the foundry very well indeed some of my old pals lived across the rd where the back hoses was and with there gates wide open constanly it was always very black and smokey in there i am just trying to recal the period i was thinking of it must have been late thirty or forty period
it had a picture of father christmas coming down and around the streets of aston and it either went up wain wright street as it aproached the foundry or turn left and headed to wards the pub my mother and father i would have imagined they would have been in there age group around the age group of about there late twentys or
possible thirtys years old if i could dig the news paper cutting out i could say what year it was it was in the evening mai a large picture of the street and a close up one as well it was my mom and dad was on the steps of the cafe it looked like there was a large number of steps to walk up to enter the cafe
and it belong to my grand fathers brother george jelf they all came out to see father christmas
on the subject of the pub ; i knew the pub very well indeed and i worked around the corner from it but my late brother inlaw when he was young got stabbed in the back at that pub day time was okay but evening thee was some terrible people in there when the wife comes home later i will asked her the name of he pub as she oly lived along the rd themselves from the pub as she grew up there i worked in cheston rd and at tubes along with bazzm our other member a sincere guy and a nice guy and a worker
and i keep in ouch with him now even thou he is up in bonny scotland bes wishes astonian
 
I was taking photos at Smith's Forgings(Aston) in the late 1970s and have just had a photo book on the forge published by Cafe Royal Books. Would really like to get in touch with those who I photographed ! Please contact me.
 
Andy Conway said:
I hope it's okay to post a comment on a thread that is so old.

I remember Smith's Forgings very well as my step-dad worked there in the late 1970s until it closed down and he got his redundancy. As a schoolboy at the time, I was there a lot, waiting for him to finish work and get a lift home, so I waited outside and inside many times.

Interestingly, the factory was featured in a TV documentary series in about 1979, a complete episode devoted to it. The series was called ENGLAND, THEIR ENGLAND. At the time of the filming there was a photographer also there - maybe connected to the TV crew - a young American woman, who was just taking photographs. She took pictures of me waiting outside the factory, I remember. Never saw them, though.
Click to expand...

Hi Andy, that photographer was me! And I do have that photo of you. Also have just published a book of photos of the Forge. Do contact me.
 
janinephotographer said:
I was taking photos at Smith's Forgings(Aston) in the late 1970s and have just had a photo book on the forge published by Cafe Royal Books. Would really like to get in touch with those who I photographed ! Please contact me.
Click to expand...
Hi I lived at 120 Wainwright Street opposite Smiths Forgings, the noise was so bad at times that the items on the fireplace would jump up and down. We lived there from 1940 to 1958. I remember the Wafstaffs, Barbara Crook, our relations the Faardons, the Organs and the Bartrams all lived ion the same terrace.
 
People might be interested that the Guardian today published a taster of Ms. Wiedel's amazing photographs:

www.theguardian.com

Heavy metal: how Janine Wiedel captured the filth and glory of Britain’s industrial 70s

The photographer travelled the West Midlands in a campervan to document the workers risking their lives to toil in steel mills, coal mines and blast furnaces
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

There is a link to a Kickstarter for a planned book of them:
 
Astonian said:
hi andy do you recall a cafe ajoing betwen the foundry you had to go up some steps to it almost facing park street which was at the bottom of wainwright street
it may have just before your time thou i think it was early 1950;s cannot be sure about the year it was a close to christmas time
the photograph was taken and it was in the evening mail in those years and also my mother and father was there on the steps at the time some one sent me the picture and i beeive it is or was some where in previuosly forums as it was on here some years back
good old wainwright street i wonder how many if any other members on the forum are from them i had alot of friends down there and cousins
good old days best wishes astonian;
Click to expand...
when I worked at Smith's fo rgings we used "GORDONS CAFE" fill our Billy cans for a tanner.and Camp coffee 6d.to give you more info..the forge was owned by Reliant Motor Co.and George Gummery was the manager..as my dad Frank Barton was head of maintenance. the saw shop was run by Harold Claire.the Die Shop foreman George Darlow.Harry Mac. Des Howard and Wally Liney as general manager. later on from the bottom shop they made Stamper Frankie Eades foreman. I left there in 1969. stated as a clipper.driver.and then became a Stamper.my dad stated work at 7am to light all the furnaces.the street was black with the smoke.below are names of workers.
Frank Barton
Raymond Barton
John Barton
Ron Barton
Freddie Mills
Alfie Mills
John Burden
Raymond Pritchard
Jimmy Harris
Snotty Hoppo
Brian Beasmore
Nobby Clarke (Aurther)
Keith Alan Beasmore
Freddie Martin
Tommy Roberts AKA ROBBO
Peter Crawford
Joey Mills AKA COCOA
many more names rembered.
SAW SHOP..
Jimmy Nolan.
John Wells AKA Lofty
Harold Claire Foreman
Frankie Tye.AKA Fatty Tye.
Tool setters. Frank Morton John Mills plus one more
there are many many more names. memories too many to put here
one final though....
Xmas kids party at Dyson Hall when we were kids.brilliant
 
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