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Francis Sumner Engineering, Portland St Aston
- Thread starter JohnJames
- Start date
It was commonly known as Buttons limited in lower portland street aston
And they had a little divison of a department at the bottom of wainwright street
They made the militAry buttons and assorted of buttons by the late sixtys they changed there name to the company
You are requesting from the very early years prior to war years and through to the seventys
By then they changed the name as they went into manufactoring of garden furniture
Buttons was made up stairs my younger brother worked there david , and his friends
And one was frenchie by nick name as his parents was french fruit and veg around on
Lichfield road next to dents and robinsons fruit and veg worked there for years
Also i had joined by then the late sixty early seventy
I was a tube bender in the garden chairs making department down stairs and they was paying me piece work rates for my wages
We lived just around the corner next to mattys radio and tv shop
Also in the forty and fifty years our neigbour facing us was a man of named albert gough
Whom worked in the electro plating department he was an old guy
He had a dispute with another guy ,whom threw acid in his face and albert lost one eye
Astonian,,,,
And they had a little divison of a department at the bottom of wainwright street
They made the militAry buttons and assorted of buttons by the late sixtys they changed there name to the company
You are requesting from the very early years prior to war years and through to the seventys
By then they changed the name as they went into manufactoring of garden furniture
Buttons was made up stairs my younger brother worked there david , and his friends
And one was frenchie by nick name as his parents was french fruit and veg around on
Lichfield road next to dents and robinsons fruit and veg worked there for years
Also i had joined by then the late sixty early seventy
I was a tube bender in the garden chairs making department down stairs and they was paying me piece work rates for my wages
We lived just around the corner next to mattys radio and tv shop
Also in the forty and fifty years our neigbour facing us was a man of named albert gough
Whom worked in the electro plating department he was an old guy
He had a dispute with another guy ,whom threw acid in his face and albert lost one eye
Astonian,,,,
JohnJames
master brummie
Thank you for all this info. I had almost forgotten about the place until I was over that way recently visiting Motorpoint which occupies the old Ansells Brewery site. I had a walk down Portland Street but it is all completely changed, apart from the pub on the corner. I also worked there briefly in the late spring/early summer of 1973 when I was sort of 'between jobs' as a 19 year old. I never managed to fully get the hang of the contraption I was put to work on, a foot operated (by rope) stamp that pressed out military buttons. I remember that they all seemed to be for the Nigerian army and I was very careful not to get my hand stamped which slowed me down in the opinion of 'management'. Strange days...
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