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  1. Actongrumpy

    Advertising in the past

    Standard Tube Company of the USA was the company that issued a card to which was attached a tube which they claimed was the smallest diameter tube in the world. A and P made a smaller one in nickel, ( drawn with a pair of tweezers ), and inserted it into the American tube, complete with a wire...
  2. Actongrumpy

    HANDS in Aston, Handsworth, Ladywood and ???

    I have a Mary Ann Hands, born circa 1826, Shrewsbury. Father William, a Carrier. Mary married Frederick Hill in 1844 in Aston - they both gave Duddeston as their address. Frederick was a Jappanner at the time but went on to be a stained glass cartoonist trained by, and working with, A W N...
  3. Actongrumpy

    Dummy Loader

    Thanks Baz, I am proud of him but why is it that you never really appreciate someone until they are dead? I have a feeling that only one of his dummy loaders was ever built at that it was used exclusively at Tonfanau but I don't think I'm going to find out.
  4. Actongrumpy

    Dummy Loader

    Hi maypolebaz, You were right. Had a great reply from Larkhill - I sent them all the photos of the dummy loader plus my father's release document and they confirm it's a 3.7. Hope you find some of this interesting although a lot of it is personal. DISCHARGE PAPER - INFO Line 1: WO1 (ASM)...
  5. Actongrumpy

    George Dixons Grammar School

    I didn't know that, and all these years I've been thinking that it was the lad next to me that was using Chanel No 5!
  6. Actongrumpy

    The Lady From Dum Dum

    Thanks to the ‘Heads Up’ from jukebox concerning the five days of free ‘Find My Past’, I have discovered a new branch of my family tree - the Bergins. Michael Bergin, born in Ireland, joined the army and served in South Africa and India. While in India his wife, Catherine, gave birth to three...
  7. Actongrumpy

    Tracking Down Medal Citations?

    Thanks Lynn. I do have his medal card but I haven't heard of the emblem before unless it means Oak Leaves. I have a photo record of his medals - these include the Queens Africa Medal from the Boer War. The mention in the London Gazette doesn't say why he was gazetted as far as I can see.
  8. Actongrumpy

    Tracking Down Medal Citations?

    Albert Thomas Smith, army number 15/491, was a Sergeant Cook in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment - 15th (Service) Battalion (2nd Birmingham). Theatre of war - France, entered 21st November 1915. Gazetted 15th April 1918. Mentioned in despatches and awarded the Belgium Croix de Guerre but I don't...
  9. Actongrumpy

    George Dixons Grammar School

    Until the day I left, I found GD to be an unfathomable maze. I remember certain areas such as the main hall with it’s ‘In and Out’ doors, (you went through the wrong door at the risk of having your forelock ripped out), the quadrangle where running was a capital offence, the Metro with it’s...
  10. Actongrumpy

    Patrick O''brian

    The one thing that really disappoints me is reading a brilliant book only to find that the author hasn’t written another one! Fortunately, Patrick O’Brian has written umpteen including my favourite the Aubrey/Maturin series - 20 books. I like these books so much that I’m reading them for the...
  11. Actongrumpy

    Forum Donations

    I know this is a bit like asking, 'How long is a piece of string' but how often do you need members to donate to keep this fantastic forum going? I have donated but presumably you don't want me to do it just once. If I donate what I think the forum is worth I'll have to take out a mortgage. (...
  12. Actongrumpy

    George Dixons Grammar School

    Does any one know why the Metro was so called; I know it was underground but you couldn't catch a train down there? I remember that there were safety buttons dotted about the room so that the power could be cut if someone caught his tie, tongue, or anything else that was dangling, in the...
  13. Actongrumpy

    Dummy Loader

    Would you believe it? The Firepower museum closed last year! It's just re-opened on a small scale at Larkhill. I will contact them.
  14. Actongrumpy

    Old street pics..

    https://www.search.birminghamimages.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=7976&SearchType=2&ThemeID=839 Another few feet right and my prayers might have been answered!
  15. Actongrumpy

    Old street pics..

    I live in hope.
  16. Actongrumpy

    Old street pics..

    Thanks for that. It's getting tantalizing close.
  17. Actongrumpy

    Dummy Loader

    That's very interesting - what was your dummy loader like? How near was the speed of operation to the real thing? I've Googled dummy loaders. They looked nothing like my pictures and it wasn't obvious how they worked. In my father's release cert. it mentions that he was, 'instrumental in...
  18. Actongrumpy

    Old street pics..

    Hi Dave It's in about the right place but that's a modern island I would imagine. What I'm after is a photo taken before they made the Hagley Road a dual carriage way, which is many years ago. The position is shown on this old map. Dave2
  19. Actongrumpy

    Dummy Loader

    My father always refered to 25 pounders; I'm guessing that they were the 3.7" cal. that you mention. I contacted the REME museum some time ago but they had no record of the Dummy Loader. I'll try the Firepower museum as you suggest. I'm hoping to find someone who had an ancestor who actually...
  20. Actongrumpy

    Dummy Loader

    During the war, the AA training camp at Tonfanau, Wales, was responsible for training gun crews to load and fire Anti Aircraft guns. The standard method was to use dummy shells in an actual gun but this had the drawback that, after each firing, the shell had to be levered back out with a...
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