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Chad Valley Toy Company Ltd, Harborne

How great to see pictures of Chad Valley again.......and my gran also did a few shifts at Chad thus getting us Escalado and a few other games that did us proud for a lot of Christmas' ......we too had extra horses that she had got ...unpainted !!!! what superb pleasure their games gave....they lasted longer than the company......I did see and Escalado for sale on a car boot down here in West Sussex a few weeks ago........what memories!!!
 
Mike this was the highlight of my year at Christmas, I loved escalado. We would set it up and take bets my brothers would turn the handle for all they were worth. I remember one horse lost its leg when it fell on the floor you were so lucky to have "spares".
 
I can remember various members of the family that operated the handle would only do it for so long as blisters would be appearing........we used the money from the Monopoly game for our bets........the hours we used to play Escalado over Christmas' was just unbeliveable.........not a lot of tele watched in those days.
 
hi i have a auntie who was a artist and did a lot of designs for boxes and stuff she also did some for blue bird toffee i can ask if she has any imformation
 
hi all the two photos, the second one is that the one in highgate, by the peacock,pub,? chad vally, toy,s dose anyone know what year it went on fire, & was there news coverage? please help,..christy,..why is cromwell x out?
 
hello, lefthooker_uk, i like the work u have done on your pics,, do you have any info on the toy factory of chad vally in dymoke st,[birmingham] it burned down in 1967-8,we all used to go & fetch all the burned toys, out to play with. there must have been 20,30 fire engines, on that night, it was on the local news,A.T.V, & NEWSPAPERS,,. all the best,..christy
 
christy said:
hello, lefthooker_uk, i like the work u have done on your pics,, do you have any info on the toy factory of chad vally in dymoke st,[birmingham] it burned down in 1967-8,we all used to go & fetch all the burned toys, out to play with. there must have been 20,30 fire engines, on that night, it was on the local news,A.T.V, & NEWSPAPERS,,. all the best,..christy
Click to expand...

Hi Christy! Glad you liked the pics!

I must admit, you've confused me very slightly with your reference to a Chad Valley factory in Dymoke St. I wasn't aware there was one.

I can only assume it was once the Hall and Lane (metal toys) plant, which was taken over by Chad Valley in 1951. This would certainly account for it being known as a Chad Valley factory by 1968...

...but then again, I always thought the old Hall and Lane plant was situated in Bradford Street, Birmingham - later becoming Chad Valley's main production factory after the closure of Harborne in 1972.

I have been working hard with my Chad Valley research over the last few months - of course, my main area of interest is with the Give a Show projector range of toys the company was famous for. I have published a website featuring my research if anyone would care to take a look ;)

Here is the link

www.giveashowprojector.co.nr



Cheers
Lefty

 
In the 1967-8 kellys there is no factory listed in dymoke St. and the only Cahd valley addresses are rose Road and Park hill road. Hall & Lane are't listed.
In 1964 there is a factory in Dymoke St, Hall & Lane Ltd,ticket writers, Darwin works.
mike
 
mikejee said:
In the 1967-8 kellys there is no factory listed in dymoke St. and the only Cahd valley addresses are rose Road and Park hill road. Hall & Lane are't listed.
In 1964 there is a factory in Dymoke St, Hall & Lane Ltd,ticket writers, Darwin works.
mike
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike! The plot thickens...

The metal toy makers, Hall and Lane, were defintely absorbed into the Chad Valley empire in 1951 - the company certainly wouldn't have existed (as a toy manufacturer) in 1968.

The reference you have discovered for Hall and Lane in 1964 is very interesting. It looks like at least some piece of the original company continued after the Chad Valley take over.

It's possible, of course, that the events Christy describes may have related to a Chad Valley wharehouse/storage facility (making use of the original Hall and Lane premises) rather than it being an actual factory.

Very interesting...


Cheers
Lefty
 
This may be a red herring as I may have got this wrong. In the 50s my uncle and his family moved from Kings Standing to Dawley in shropshire (now near Telford). I am sure that my cousin worked at Chad Valley in that area
 
Michael_Ingram said:
This may be a red herring as I may have got this wrong. In the 50s my uncle and his family moved from Kings Standing to Dawley in shropshire (now near Telford). I am sure that my cousin worked at Chad Valley in that area
Click to expand...

Hi. Not a red herring at all...

The Chad Valley Wrekin Toy Works was in Wellington, Shropshire. The factory was opened in 1920 and manufactured 90% of Chad Valley's soft toy production.

The original building still stands today

https://www.wellingtonla21.org.uk/discover/ancestors_toy_stories.html


Cheers
Lefty
 
Lefty
To go back further in the directories, the Dymoke st works have been there since at least 1913, listed always with the same description (ticket machines). On looking for Hall & Lane over the same directories, of all the ones I have the firm is described as either ticket machine maker and/or metal box manufacturer, and only the dymoke st and a leopold st address was found. No mention of toys. so possibly they were taken over for their abilities to manipulate metal rather than because they previously were a toy manufacturer
mike
 
mikejee said:
possibly they were taken over for their abilities to manipulate metal rather than because they previously were a toy manufacturer
mike
Click to expand...

That is very possible. Hall and Lane could well have been supplying Chad Valley with metal parts and components for quite some time previously.

And, of course, the early 1950's was a boom period for Chad Valley - particularly with their range of metal toys, London buses, die-cast cars etc - so an in-house metals specialist would have been a very wise investment.

I really appreciate your help, Mike. Thanks again.


Cheers
Lefty
 
hi,lefthooker_uk, all i can say is it had plenty of burned toys in the factory, on one of the posts, on the forum, one of the young girls used to work there i will ask her what it was used for i.e [storage/warehouse] i am sure it was chad valley, it was next door to the peacock pub.also there is a chap on the forum who knows most of the history of that area [highgate]his name phil 1947, & i have a ariel photo of all of highgate date 1960, so it must be there in the pic,?, as a kids, we picked up hundrens of small plastic planes, to play with, the factory was empty for years many, it did move to bradford st on the corner facing st annes church, i will let you know what this girl did at chad valley, o,k. take care. regards....christy.
 
Just for info. Harborne Library has a fair number of photographs on the Chad Valley Toy Company including some very early ones & some notes on firm's history.

Even better, the Central Library/Local Studies has a whole box of Chad Valley Phots including scenes inside the factory. Well worth a visit - some really great photographs.

Roy
 
hi,lefthooker, i asked the lady where she worked, she said chad valley she was there 1965, her job was vacunm packing toys, so, i have also said was it called [chad valley] or [hall & lane] i will let you know? regards,...christy,..this was in highgate,..b,ham 12. when it burned down it was in the evening mail 1967-8,& on the news of that day . all the best,...christy...
 
lefthooker, how are you, i spoke to phil on the forum, he said there was a toy company making toys in angelina st,[ highgate,b,ham12,] OSKY METALS TOYS,. HALL & LANE,leopold st made metal boxes, did they branch out & make toys?. i will let you know soon when dot gets back to me who worked at this factory in [leopold st or dymoke] st o,k all the best,....take care...christy.
 
Does anyone know if Kenneth Horne, of round the horne fame, was managing director of this company at one time, I seem to remember reading that he was. Or was I dreaming?
 
Hi Lefty; The Chad Valley place was actualy in Garretts Green Lane a modern
building just up on the left going from Granby Avenue going towards the Collage.
I have a wind up tin racing car with Chad valley on the fin all metal would say
from the 50's.
 
I worked in the chad as we called it 69/70 we lived in Station Rd it was 3mins away my sister worked there for years when they shut shop in Harborne they were given a choice
redundancy,or a coach laid on to take them to the factory in Balsall Heath, a lot of them
done that but after a while one by one they left,My chargehand had worked there nearly 40 yrs and retired only weeks b4 they announced the closure,she was most upset at missing out on her redundancy pay, not least because she was sure they must have known and felt very let down that they hadn't told her,Liz
 
I can remember Chad Valley having a packing warehouse on A.B. row late 50s early 60s can anybody else recall it or am i going da-da.Dek
 
hi all
I had a girlfriend whose name now eludes me who lived in the row of cottages near Chad Valley Harborne and I would walk from Weoley Castle to her house every night (true love)
at 14/15 and see her for about 1/2 hr then walk home I don't know what year it was but Jonny Tillitson's Poetry in Motion was always on the juke box, one night her brother answered the door and said "she don want to se ya any more" heartbroken or what!!
regards
paul
 
Facinating to hear how many members are interested in Chad Valley. The book called "Old harborne" by Roy Clarke contains about a dozen photographs of Harborne factory (mainly from the collection at Harborne Library).

The Birminhgham Central Library also has a whole box file of photographs (mainly pre-war) which would be of interest to anyone researching the subject.

Hope this helps,

Roy
 
hi phil
just going through the chads threads and you mentioned they sold to palitoy; it was ashame really and they done chad an injustice
i think ; even thou palitoy did make a wide range of toys
i also think there manufacturing skills of production
was on the same scale of quaitly as chad valleys
there models are holdind and fetching good prices
on the collectable scene now
have a nice day astonian ;;;;
 
Hi, does anyone have any pictures of this factory in rose road harborne, i have vague memories of this. next to the fire station??, i remeber the trains that used to go there over the bridge in parkhill road, would love to see pics as i lwas a child living and growing up in that area
 
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