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H W Wards Lathe Makers, Selly Oak. Any ex Apprentices out there?

Denis0151 said:
Hello Phil, I was a technical apprentice from 1967 to 1971, when I shortened the apprenticeship to 4 years so that I could take a job at the Worcester plant. I remember Phil Luke very well. Having recently left school I remember being told off by him for calling him sir! My first placement on the shop floor was on the screw section, which was run by a section leader called Bass, but I can't remember his first name. The labourer was called Johnny. After that I too was on the 7D section under Harry Woodward. The big day came for me to take the lead in lowering a turret saddle on to a bed. Despite great care, when the saddle was moved along the bed there was an awful noise and it was scratched! Harry was far from impressed as the machine had to be stripped so that the bed could be reground! I had a placement in R&D and I remember Edgar Powell and Dilip Chawathe very well. Dilip was very bright. I think I also remember Steve Pitman. Was he an apprentice that the company had sponsored through university? You must have been in R&D when I was there. I went to work in the drawing office at Worcester and was part of the team that designed the tooling for the 10D Autoward. I left the company in 1973 to work on light commercial vehicles at British Leyland, Longbridge. I have many happy memories of H W Ward, both in Selly Oak and Worcester. I remember fellow apprentices, Trevor Hemus and Neil Buffery, who bought a house near where I was living in 1975.
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Hallo, my father Vin Dufficy worked in the Worcester office for many years. He loved working at Wards, I wonder if you remember him.He died in 1967 aged only 55years.
 
bridget holliday said:
Hallo, my father Vin Dufficy worked in the Worcester office for many years. He loved working at Wards, I wonder if you remember him.He died in 1967 aged only 55years.
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I don’t I’m afraid. As a Selly Oak apprentice, my first period of work in the Worcester drawing office was in 1969.
 
Dick Page said:
Hello John, we worked together in the Methods Dept in HWWards along with Roger Parish, Vince Mercer,
great Memories of working for Martin Clee
keep safe. Richard ( Dick ) Page
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Hello Dick, I remember working with you in the methods office during my technical apprenticeship. I guess it would have been during 1970. I remember working with Roger Parish on the ERTO scheme. I was playing in a band at the time and helped Roger move house using the group van. I also remember Carol Butler. We both got told off for chatting to each other too much! Denis McCann
 
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Mick Hooson said:
Not sure if George Hooson (grandfather) designer / chief designer at H W Ward & Co was an apprentice there? but please find attached a list of students' and exam results. Unfortunately, I don't have the certificate or know when or where he studied, but am guessing it might have been the 1920's or 1930's and at a technical college possibly in the Birmingham area? Does anyone recognise any of the other student's names? or have any thoughts about the name and location of the college?

Thanks & regards,

Mick Hooson
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John Markall said:
I was an apprentice at Selly Oak 1960/1966 and remained with Wards and associate companies EW Machines and EW Marine till 1982. I have many happy memories working with Fred Litchfield (sadly no longer with us ) Ron Arkley,Ivor Myttion Martin Clee and of course David Godwin (hope your keeping well David)
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Roger J Austin said:
Hi to all the H W Wards family, I served my apprenticeship 1966 to 1971. My training officer was Phil Luke, good man. I had my machine shop training, remember Ron Bass well, good man and I had the fitting bench training. I spent time in Design Office and Jig & Tool/process planning Office. After Selly Oak closed went to Worcester before moving on. Everyday at Selly Oak we played football. I became a member of the table tennis team playing in the local league. I remember quite a lot of the names mentioned and stayed friends with personal friends on FB. Wards was recognised as a quality Engineering Company with the apprenticeship scheme being one of the best. Retired and happy with lots of great memories. Roger
(Other names remembered - Sue and Paul Coleman, Roger Parish, Malcolm Day, Roger Harris, Dickie Page, Bob Williams, Jim Salmons?
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I have had a request from tcameron, who has had some difficulties in posting,= a new thread so I have said i would start a thread for them:

Hello, sorry to bother you. I’m trying to find some info from HW Ward in the 1960’s.
I own a race race which I have been told was manufactured in the apprentice department at HW Ward in the 1960’s under the guidance of Ted Williams. t’s a small single seater which I am trying to restore but I would like to find out some more info on it please and also if I could find the person who made it they might like to see it again.
Thank you for your help
Tracy
 
For further information the Kellys 1965 entry for Wards is :
Ward H. W. & Co. Ltd. machine tool makers. Dale road, Selly Oak 29. T A "Tudor, Birmingham;"Telex 33547; T N Selly Oak 1131
 
I'm not quite clear precisely what it is which this member is saying he's trying to restore......

Chris
 
I maybe wrong but I thought in the other thread about Wards apprentices they talked about that racing car built by apprentices. I could not find that thread (sorry) maybe one of the moderators can help. Those members that talked about the car should/could be able to help.
 
ChrisM said:
I'm not quite clear precisely what it is which this member is saying he's trying to restore......

Chris
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Hi Chris, it’s a single seater race car. The car is called ‘The Ward’ and was manufactured at Wards during the 1960’s. I have been told by an ex employee that it’s the car built in the R&D department under the guidance to Ted Williams with the families passion for motorsport. I want to make sure the resortation does the car proud. It is beautifully made with great attention to detail. Any help, info or old photos would be greatly appreciate
 
Richard Dye said:
I maybe wrong but I thought in the other thread about Wards apprentices they talked about that racing car built by apprentices. I could not find that thread (sorry) maybe one of the moderators can help. Those members that talked about the car should/could be able to help.
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It would be great if anyone could find the thread and any info on it please. I would love to get the car out competing at local hullclimbs.
 
Your posts are now on that thread. Go to the top of the page. You will see . just above the posts on the left the numbers 1 2 3 4. Click on the 1 and that will bring you to the beginning
 
This is an old photo I have of the car if this helps to jog anyone’s memories….. I think these wheels may have been a later addition
 

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mikejee said:
Your posts are now on that thread. Go to the top of the page. You will see . just above the posts on the left the numbers 1 2 3 4. Click on the 1 and that will bring you to the beginning
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Thank you, I have had a look through but can’t seem to find any threads on the cars
 
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Hello and sorry I'm not an ex apprentice, although I did start as a trainee. That was way back in 1961, firstly under the guidance of a rather large fellow called Harry Chapman. He was there to train new kids how to file and know which parts fitted where. that followed a short term on the gearbox section, before spending some time on the drilling section. Not really my cup of tea as "I broke too many drills" , so said the foreman. I managed to get a transfer to the Parts and Small Tools Sales Department, as a Junior, which was then under the leadership of William (Bill) Jennings. His section Leaders being Norman Adams and Eric Jacques. Also in the department was Len Sealey and my old friend Jimmy Woolridge who later moved to Worcester, and married Carol in 1968 when she worked in the Drawing Office on the top floor, There was also an ex serviceman in the office who was the Order Chaser, whose name sadly I can't remember. A young lad followed me as Junior called Joe Duek. He later went to fight in the Arab- Israel war. I later transferred to the Despatch Office in 1968 and worked as an assistant to Jeff Leaver who was the Manager. This job unfortunately, although interesting, gave me a view into the troubling future the company was heading. The vision of rows and rows of unsold finished lathes covered in plastic sheeting, stored at one of the Williams foundries factories in the Black Country, finally made my decision to leave in 1969. Trouble had been brewing earlier with sales of reconditioned lathes, using parts purchased from the company, together with the invasion of cheaper Japanese products all added to my decision. While there, I did enjoy some sporting moments, either at the Snooker Hall above Burton's, on the gravel playing cricket at the nearby park (?) or being the mad goalkeeper in some of our local matches or at Worcester. Needles to say, I enjoyed my time and only wished I could have remembered all the names of those genuine and helpful people I met and worked with.
Stephen Young
 
Hi to all on the forum. Names and dates are not my strong point, so bear with me.
I left school in 1962 aged 15 and 1/2, and started work at Wards in Worcester, signing my apprenticeship papers in 1963 when I was 16. I did the rounds in the factory starting with the fittings benches to Capstan lathes, to Headstocks, to Barfeeds then back to Radial drills etc etc. Moved into Jig and tool working with Brian Wood, Arthur Rowe and one other guy, sorry can’t remember his name. Next moved to planning, working on ERTO, I had a spell helping a guy run the subcontracted work, sorry I cannot remember his name. From there I moved to methods working alongside Terry Cox. I finished my apprenticeship there and was lucky enough to carry on in that department (thanks to Martin Clee) until I left Wards in 1980, I think. I won’t bore you anymore, if I can I will finish with a question, would anyone know if there was a Wards pension scheme in operation at the time I worked there?
Thanks in advance
David Twigg
 
David Twigg said:
Hi to all on the forum. Names and dates are not my strong point, so bear with me.
I left school in 1962 aged 15 and 1/2, and started work at Wards in Worcester, signing my apprenticeship papers in 1963 when I was 16. I did the rounds in the factory starting with the fittings benches to Capstan lathes, to Headstocks, to Barfeeds then back to Radial drills etc etc. Moved into Jig and tool working with Brian Wood, Arthur Rowe and one other guy, sorry can’t remember his name. Next moved to planning, working on ERTO, I had a spell helping a guy run the subcontracted work, sorry I cannot remember his name. From there I moved to methods working alongside Terry Cox. I finished my apprenticeship there and was lucky enough to carry on in that department (thanks to Martin Clee) until I left Wards in 1980, I think. I won’t bore you anymore, if I can I will finish with a question, would anyone know if there was a Wards pension scheme in operation at the time I worked there?
Thanks in advance
David Twigg
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Welcome to BHF David! A lot of good information on here and great folks, I’m sure someone will have something for you, enjoy!
 
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