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8 Tree rope swing; at the rear of one of the mills that I worked in was the remains of an inlet from the nearby River Tame (at the time a filthy polluted piece of water). I think that this may have been put into place for George Kynoch the factory founder, because it ran from the river area to...

7 A Bit of a Come Down; In the lifting and weights dept. one of the fitters used to race to where his chair was and literally leap onto it. This amused us apprentices a great deal, each time he did it, we expected him to go “base over apex” he never did. A plan was devised where we would saw off...

6 Altering the scales; Whilst working in the weights and lifting dept (they maintained all the cranes and weighing machines of which there were several hundred, all over the site), it was the habit of the office staff to weigh themselves on a daily basis. This amused the 3 apprentices no end...

5 Sky hooks; Another task was given to another lad who was told to go out of the factory and buy some sky hooks. Being an earnest lad and to save time he tried to leave via the companies reception, this was greatly frowned upon. Whilst trying to leave, one of the “gaffers” caught him, and asked...

Apprentice Pranks 4 Box of sparks; One of the fitters was grinding a piece of brass on the grinder, he shouldn’t have been because it could clog up the wheel but, one of the observant lads noticed that there were no sparks being given off the wheel. To show how observant he was he mentioned it...

3 Leaving the School; Upon leaving the apprentice school to go out into the factory, all those leaving had to line up with the toolboxes that we had made. The chief instructor Billy Y. used to go through each box to make sure that we had not “won” anything. Whilst I was being trained in his area...

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...

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...

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.

I don't think the chap you refer to is Winston, he happened to be a neighbor of my parents, not the person in the photo who I recall was a very happy go lucky sort of a chap.

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...

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.

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.

My Name is Alan Harper, I was in charge of the maintenance in the Research for a few years and then left IMI.

Further to the above comments:- John Elstub the then MD of Kynochs appeared on the TV news to show how safe the powder should have been. He demonstrated with a container full of the powder and threw a lighted match onto it! The powder would only explode if it was in a confined space, the tube...

The story that was told at Kynochs following this terrible accident was that a maintenance person was drilling a hole to mount a notice onto the loading chute that led down to the room below. As he neared the end of drilling the hot "pip" of metal from the rear of the hole that was being drilled...

Yes I lived at New Oscott and we could also hear the testing of the munitions. When I worked in the Research, the rear windows looking out of "E" Block, looked out over the loading field that was situated in the middle of the factory. Occasionally we would see one of the testers come into an...

Hi Dean, Another thing I remember Joe Beresford said when he discussed his transfer to the Villa. If you recall that after signing for them he asked "who have I signed for". When asked about this, and remember that in the 1960's trade union beliefs were a little more volatile than today, and we...

With regards to the Bond Trades as they were known, yes they were situated opposite the Oscott Canteen. Next to "E" block of the Research were the plumbers, then Steam Water & Gas, Central Millwrights and the Lifting Tackle lads. Next up the Bond was the Carpenters shop, and at the far end was...

Hello Dean, I have just seen your piece about your granddad Joe. One day the lads were discussing the dirty sometimes violent tackles that were being "dished out" at the time 1960's. Joe listened to the chat and was asked what he thought, we all thought that when he played for the Villa things...