My first job on leaving school, at Easter 1952 was in the Export Sales Office of Hercules at Rocky Lane. I started off as a filing clerk, we covered countries like Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Zanzibar and Rhodesia, the last three have now been renamed. Also all the Americas and West Indies. It was really interesting. Not the filing but the letters from those countries.
I went to the secretarial college on day release; for shorthand and typing, this was at Kingsbury Road Erdington. We went every Friday, and would call back into the office at about 4.30 for our wages all 30/- of it (£1.50 in todays money). It never occured to me that i should really have stayed and not gone home because the day didn't finish until 5.45; after all, i was on
Day Release!.
Funny you should say that you worked at Hercules John, because the Office Boy, with me (the Office Girl) was named John Houghton. It wasn't you though was it :?: :wink: He used to be in charge of the transfers that were put on the Hercules Bike frames. And when the girls from the factory would come with a docket for transfers he was across that office :arrow: like grease lightening. God but he was handsome (so he said) :lol:
A few of us decided that we were 'not bad' cyclists, so thought it might be a bit of a wizz to start the Hercules Cycling Club. Which we did, but we never got further than Stratford on Avon, or the Cyclists Memorial Service at Meriden every year. We did try to cycle to Malvern one Sunday, what a joke :!: Some of the lads carried on - or so they said, we couldn't prove that they DIDN'T get to Malvern. But we gals gave it up as a bad job. The company did encourage us though, and supplied us with cotton sew on badges for our tunics, with the Hercules Logo and HCC enscribed.
From time to time there were weekend trips, to Lilleshall for a sports weekend, i usually took the easy option and had the table tennis coaching. We went with the apprentices on these weekends; (which was a lot of the attraction for most of us girls). Actually, we did get quite good at the Table Tennis as well :!: And we started going to the Hercules Club to play table tennis - I'm not completely sure were that was, but i think it might have been along Witton Road somewhere, what am i like :?:
My boss was Mr J Kendrick (known as JK to us minor mortals - but never said within his hearing) I remember that we had a rise every 6 months, which was usually about 5 shillings, but i always had to go in and ask for mine, we never got our rise automatically. Not in our office anyway, my friend in the Commerical Office, got her rise 6 monthly (but then she did have a bit of a harriden for supervisor). :twisted:
There was a dinner and dance every Christmas at the Grand Hotel in Colmore Row, I remember being shocked
to see the very starchy JK getting legless. What a giggle though :lol:
I only worked at Hercules for about 2 years (seemed like a lifetime)