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Kynoch's I M I 1950s Onwards

  • Thread starter Thread starter shannon
  • Start date Start date
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.
 
Out in the sticks Brummy said:
Here as promised I think its Dad's retirement If any body could name the faces I would be very grateful
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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.
 
Out in the sticks Brummy said:
Here as promised I think its Dad's retirement If any body could name the faces I would be very grateful
Click to expand...
Out in the sticks Brummy said:
Here as promised I think its Dad's retirement If any body could name the faces I would be very grateful
Click to expand...
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 one occasion he got to talking with the owner of one of the cars. It turned out that despite his best efforts his car never seemed to win any awards. Don was looking at the engine at the time, he told the owner that his engine was fitted with the wrong carburetor, perhaps this could be the reason for the lack of awards? The look on the owners face was a picture to behold!
 
Brassed Off said:
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.
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I know the little chap with the pipe was Winston I know Dad had a few run ins with him
 
Brassed Off said:
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 one occasion he got to talking with the owner of one of the cars. It turned out that despite his best efforts his car never seemed to win any awards. Don was looking at the engine at the time, he told the owner that his engine was fitted with the wrong carburetor, perhaps this could be the reason for the lack of awards? The look on the owners face was a picture to behold!
Click to expand...
I remember when I was little grinding the Valves in on a morris oxford (the one that looked like a big moggie 1000) Dad bought the MO as a box of bits and a shell, some of the bits in the box confused Dad then he knew what had happened the offending parts were VW so he went back to the garage on Wellington Rd not far from the junction with Wood Lane and said I think these are VW and the guy said well this box must be Morris swapped them and the car got rebuilt Photos Mom and me having a picnic in Sutton park at the back of the MO and Dad Cliff and me at Ludlow with the MO
 

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Out in the sticks Brummy said:
Hi yes there was an extensive railway system My Dad Don Commander worked in the loco sheds and there was a loco there. I remember going down to an open day ??? and they dressed it as Thomas the tank engine and it was by the side of central office block this must have been in the 60's. I can remember the rail tracks by the rod mill as this is where I used to slide my Ford Escort. Also it was where Dad got his push bike stuck in the lines and came over the handle bars
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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.
 
If anyone is interested I have recently updated my potted online history of Kynoch (1862 -) to bring it up to 2018. The link is at the bottom of this post. Haven't yet been able to check the updates on various platforms yet but it seems to work OK on Chrome.

Should be interested to hear whether anyone, unlike me, can spot the slightest similarity with the Company we knew decades ago. But it survives, thrives even, whilst the mighty ICI and many others are just a distant memory. Good luck to it and to those who work for it now and help to keep the Pension Fund healthy!

Chris

A History of Kynoch/ICI Metals/IMI)
 
ChrisM said:
If anyone is interested I have recently updated my potted online history of Kynoch (1862 -) to bring it up to 2018. The link is at the bottom of this post. Haven't yet been able to check the updates on various platforms yet but it seems to work OK on Chrome.

Should be interested to hear whether anyone, unlike me, can spot the slightest similarity with the Company we knew decades ago. But it survives, thrives even, whilst the mighty ICI and many others are just a distant memory. Good luck to it and to those who work for it now and help to keep the Pension Fund healthy!

Chris

A History of Kynoch/ICI Metals/IMI)
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Having a particular interest in, an not being a great lover of George Kynoch, for me the early history is to be commended.

George Kynoch is not portrayed as an icon of business, and is linked to Pursall and Phillips before they moved to Witton, and thereby associated with the 1859 explosion. Many sources claim that he was the founder of the company. As far as I can establish the explosion was the catalyst that forced the Government, through public pressure, to rule that the factories should be removed from populated areas.
 
The first pic taken 1975 outside supply dept by Amal carbs
left to right Jeanette P.M dept, Bob Hill Engineering workshops, June P.M Dept the girl in the black coat name escapes me the Bride the same both B.T.Dept and the old chap at the back was a buyer in B.T Laurie ?

The second pic is Ken Bailey and wife Ken worked in the garage visiting Mom and Dad down in Tregaron Wales

The third pic is John Parry Engineering workshops and me (Janice Commander) I worked in comptometres before going to MGWG
 

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I'm aware a lot of images were lost when this site was hacked. My late father used to work at Rolled Metals and I have just uploaded 45 issues (1961 to 2002) of ICI/IMI (Metals) Monitor onto the IMI(Kynoch) Apprentice School and Company site on Facebook. Some of these issues have articles that look back to historical events. I hope this helps to fill in some of the gaps. The group is public so you don't need to join it to see the files. Feel free to copy any or all of them here to here. I have listed the issues below.

Note, as an alternative to scrolling through the Facebook posts, you can find them by clicking on 'files'.

0 ICI Metals Monitor November 1961
189 December 1980
190 June 1981
202 September 1984
211 Autumn 1986
212 Summer 1987
213 Spring 1987
220 Winter 1988
221 Spring 1989
222 Summer 1989
223 Autumn 1989
224 Winter 1989*
225 Spring 1990
226 Summer 1990
227 Autumn 1990
229 Spring 1991
230 Summer 1991
232 Winter 1991
233 Spring 1992
234 Summer 1992
236 Winter 1992
237 Spring 1993
238 Summer 1993
239 Autumn 1993
240 Winter 1993
241 Spring 1994
242 Summer 1994
243 Autumn 1994
245 Spring 1995
246 Summer 1995
247 Autumn 1995
248 Winter 1995
249 Spring 1996
250 Summer 1996
251 Autumn 1996
253 Spring 1997
254 Summer 1997
255 Autumn 1997
256 Winter 1997
257 Spring 1998
258 Summer 1998
259 Autumn 1998
263 Autumn 1999
271 Summer 2002
272 Winter 2002
 
Welcome to the Forum, harryk. And thanks very much for pointing us to the wonderful IMI resource which you have pulled together and put online. So useful to those interested in the Company and to family history researchers.

I have a few of these Metals Monitors and have always thought of scanning and uploading them (to supplement the Kynoch/IMI information I have made available – potted Company history, photos of site and individuals from the 1960s, WW2 information etc. I'll check through them at some stage and see if they are additional to those which you have provided. They always used to appear as an insert into the ICI Magazine – a much more nicely produced publication but not as immediately interesting to Kynoch people. When I have dug them out I'll let you know if there are any additions.

Thanks also for your generous offer permitting this information to be shared. I think it would be very beneficial if, somehow or other, the detailed information could appear in this Forum. I think that the Forum is generally acknowledged to be a better repository of serious historical information like this – it avoids many of the Facebook limitations such as googleability, the way information can be presented and the risk of valuable information rapidly getting buried and lost. Added to which a number of members of this Forum are uncomfortable with Fb and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. So, perhaps this could happen at some stage. A new, dedicated thread could contain it.

(I'll just add a final plea. If Forum members do take up your kind offer about sharing this information from the Fb page, could they always remember, please, to mention and make acknowledgement to its source. I know from personal experience just how much hard work and effort goes into the sort of exercise which you have completed, in order to make useful information accessible to all. It is very irritating (and I COULD use stronger language, but this is a family group) to see one's own original information being used elsewhere without the slightest acknowledgement, even when it is protected by copyright. It's annoying, not only because one gets no credit – we should I suppose all be mature enough to put up with that and not resent all the WOWs!! and OMGs!!!!. But also because the poster hasn't even thought that someone might be sufficiently interested to find out more about the subject and would appreciate a pointer towards everything else which is available: much more detail, more and higher quality images, serious comment and so on......Rant over!)

Thanks again, harryk.

Chris
 
ChrisM said:
Welcome to the Forum, harryk. And thanks very much for pointing us to the wonderful IMI resource which you have pulled together and put online. So useful to those interested in the Company and to family history researchers.

I have a few of these Metals Monitors and have always thought of scanning and uploading them (to supplement the Kynoch/IMI information I have made available – potted Company history, photos of site and individuals from the 1960s, WW2 information etc. I'll check through them at some stage and see if they are additional to those which you have provided. They always used to appear as an insert into the ICI Magazine – a much more nicely produced publication but not as immediately interesting to Kynoch people. When I have dug them out I'll let you know if there are any additions.

Thanks also for your generous offer permitting this information to be shared. I think it would be very beneficial if, somehow or other, the detailed information could appear in this Forum. I think that the Forum is generally acknowledged to be a better repository of serious historical information like this – it avoids many of the Facebook limitations such as googleability, the way information can be presented and the risk of valuable information rapidly getting buried and lost. Added to which a number of members of this Forum are uncomfortable with Fb and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. So, perhaps this could happen at some stage. A new, dedicated thread could contain it.

(I'll just add a final plea. If Forum members do take up your kind offer about sharing this information from the Fb page, could they always remember, please, to mention and make acknowledgement to its source. I know from personal experience just how much hard work and effort goes into the sort of exercise which you have completed, in order to make useful information accessible to all. It is very irritating (and I COULD use stronger language, but this is a family group) to see one's own original information being used elsewhere without the slightest acknowledgement, even when it is protected by copyright. It's annoying, not only because one gets no credit – we should I suppose all be mature enough to put up with that and not resent all the WOWs!! and OMGs!!!!. But also because the poster hasn't even thought that someone might be sufficiently interested to find out more about the subject and would appreciate a pointer towards everything else which is available: much more detail, more and higher quality images, serious comment and so on......Rant over!)

Thanks again, harryk.

Chris
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Chris, 100% agree with all your thoughts and sentiments.

I did think about posting them directly, but 45 pdf files in a post did not seem the best way to do it. I could not see a file repository on the site which might have been the ideal way. A new thread makes sense, but should it be more than one, depending on how many other copies get found?

Thanks Harry
 
Thanks, Harry, you raise some interesting questions. I haven’t thought them through completely yet and I’ll consult the rest of the Admin team and see what the consensus is about the best way forward. We want to find a way whereby the information is presented here in an attractive and a fully accessible way.

A few random thoughts.

In order to make this mass of information more handleable, splitting it down into manageable chunks, like years, might be a possibility.

And I am sure you will have given thought to the best ways of presenting this information to the wider world. My gut feeling is that ultimately it deserves its own website which would provide a framework of your own choosing within which it could sit. Have you considered creating your own site?

It will be worthwhile at some stage investigating the extent to which the content of these PDF files could be made searchable/Googleable. I don’t know the answer to that, personally, and have never been able to do it with jpeg images. But if there was a practical way to do it - to make all the names findable - it would add immensely to the value of the resource.

I’ll see what the Admin team think about all this, from a BHF perspective. Meanwhile could you please post just one Metals Monitor here, so that everyone can see what we are talking about. Thanks.

Chris
 
Harry could use the forum's Image Host (Coppermine) I have dozens of PDF files on it such as the Keith Berry archive etc. There is a file size limit of 10Mb but I have found that the pdf quality setting can be reduced to as low as 40% without any visible effects. All that is needed on the main forum is a link to the pdf which is on the Image Host.

An example of it in use can be seen in the post below ...

Keith Berry's Photo Legacy

Keith Berry's 'Old Birmingham & Surroundings' Photo Gallery Recovery of 600 approx photos is complete, 15 albums click on any to see. Keith Berry's titles and comments are in the albums ... 1 1950s /1960s Aston, Birchfield, Lozells, Handsworth. (48) 2 1950s/1960s Handsworth, Handsworth Park...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Thanks for the comments.

The Coppermine option looks to be very suitable. The file sizes I have are generally around 7 Meg so that is not an issue. The only one that is a lot bigger is the first one in the list which is an ICI magazine insert era version with more pages, but I can fix that.

I'm putting up issue 246 - Summer 1995 as example. I have had to shrink & split it into three to get it to sneak under the file size limit for upload.

Unfortunately these PDFs are generated from images to they cannot be searchable without a huge amount of effort (OCR).
 

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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 had seen and been through trials and tribulations in their lives that most of us can only start to think about.
‘prentice Pranks
Apprenticeship; At the time of entered the working environment, I like all those of my generation were very fortunate, it was not a matter of could I get a job, but what job did I want to do! How lucky we were! I followed in the family tradition of going into engineering.
Most of the family were employed at Kynochs, B’ham.
Dad, his brother, my brother and sister as well as a cousin were all working there, so it was obvious that I would join the family firm.
I was given a 5 year apprenticeship, starting at the age of 16, I had stayed on at school for an extra year to get a few more exam passes.
In the school, there were about 12 new starts in my induction group. The whole scheme throughout the factory employed several hundred lads, and one girl! We were a real mix from the academically bright, some later went on to become senior management and even directors, to the more mundane, myself included. The company, as many did, recruit and promote from within their workforce, and to do this they had to invest in people and train them. Many of the leading companies in B’ham did the same, with most having comprehensive apprenticeship schemes. With such a diversity of lads there were of course many different outlooks and types of humour. The various test pieces and tasks that were set for us were, looking back on them well thought out and of benefit for our future employment needs. Although at the time with all the callowness of youth, we thought most if not all to be a waste of time!
Early on in my test pieces, I made one and presented it to the instructor, after looking at it for a few moments, the look on his face said it all, his comment was “ well young ‘arper if yo tek this down to your old man (father) and he says it’s OK then I’ll pass it as well” after a moments pause he then (holding the test piece over his rubbish bin) asked if I would prefer to try again. I did and after that I tried to make any other pieces presentable to Dad. A lesson learnt!
 
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 were placed onto a tray to be carried back for our tea breaks. Not too difficult a task if the weather was fine. On one occasion the lads fetching the tea decided to pull a prank on one of their mates. Knowing him to be bit squeamish the came up with the plot put something into his mug of tea. To achieve this they went into Witton during their lunch break and made a purchase.
Upon returning to the annex that afternoon with tray of tea mugs, they made sure that their mate took the correct mug. After a moment or two, having taken a sip from his mug he lets out a scream! It turned out that a sheep’s eye had been put into his mug. Being cold it had sunk, but as it warmed up it rose from the depths to stare at the drinker!
 
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 I found amongst one of his cupboards a “home made” milling tool holder. On it was stamped my Dads name! many year previously Dad and Billy had worked together. I decided to “repatriate” it to the Harper family.
The leaving inspection was carried out with the other instructors lining up to observe this ritual.
I was one of the first to be inspected, Dads tool was on the top of my other tools but the name was face down. Upon opening my box Billy leapt upon the “won” item. Holding aloft he proclaimed that it belonged to him. “It can’t be Billy, it’s got my Dads name on it”. The look of consternation on his face as he turned it over was a picture. The other instructors sniggered, he threw the tool back in my toolbox, and told us all to “bugger off”. Which we promptly did.
 
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 to the fitter, “ Good heavens” was the reply, “ it must have run out of sparks, run along to the stores and ask for a box of new sparks” The store man whose humour matched the fitters duly after much looking found and supplied a box of new sparks. These were duly presented to the fitter, who in the mean time had changed the brass for a piece of steel. The boxes contents were poured into the grinder with great care, and lo and behold when the steel was put on the wheel it duly gave off a great many sparks. The apprentice looked pleased with himself, and it was some time later that he found out that brass when
ground doesn’t give sparks whereas steel does!
Glass hammer; To rid himself of his apprentice for a while the tradesman decided to give his lad a task that should get rid of him for quite some time. He decided to send him off to get a glass hammer. The lad was given some cash to purchase the said hammer, and off he went. The lad realised what was being done to him and decided to teach the joker a lesson. Having caught the bus he went into the town and managed to actually purchase a glass hammer. He then returned and presented the hammer and the bill to cover its cost to the fitter, he had to pay up realising that his bit of fun had backfired badly.
 
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 him just what he thought he was up to. Having explained that he had been sent out on an important mission by his immediate superior. After a moments thought he took the lad into his office. The gaffer produced some paper bags and paper clips, he blew the bags up and tied a paper clip around each one, making a hook with the end of the clip. Now asked the director “how much were you given to get the sky hooks?” Having been told of the sum it was divided in half, the lad being given his share and the boss keeping the rest. “Now go and tell your fitter to accept these sky hooks with my compliments, and young man don’t let me catch you using the reception again for any reason”.
 
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, and a plan was hatched to mess this ritual up. To adjust the scales during calibration you could add or subtract small amounts of lead shot. To this end we decided to remove an excessive amount, and make people think that they had lost a lot of weight. The first couple of staff came in just after lunch, their favourite time, and left with big smiles, thinking that they had lost weight. We quickly replaced the shot, and sat back to watch. Both of the weight loss staff returned with their witnesses to view their losses on the scales, obviously the scales now showed no loss. Having boasted of their losses and having brought obviously dubious colleagues to witness the said losses, they were perplexed and unable to explain them. We decided to keep quiet about this prank as messing about with the scales would have upset our superiors.
 
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 a couple of inches from each of his chair legs. It was then realized that he would be able to tell the difference in height because the table at which he sat would remain as it was. So the table legs also had the same amount sawn off. We also dirtied the saw cuts so that he would not be able to see what we had done, a good job because the first thing he did was to turn the chair up to look at the bottom of the legs.
The following day the fitters usual approach to his chair was carried out. Well after ,I don’t know how many years of doing this leap onto the chair, he almost fell off! He knew something was different but could not ascertain what. He sat and checked the relationship of the table and chair heights, and of course each was compatible with the other. After a few days we told him what we had done, fortunately he saw the funny side of it.
Go faster:- A form of transport for the Bond Trades was a small petrol three wheeled runabout. We were allowed to drive/ride this vehicle. To make it go faster we could lean over the engine and reach the carburettor, by this means we could pull on the control mechanism to get more speed (at least 2 mile an hour extra). The best time was during the Winter, on some of the car parks large puddles would freeze over leaving a skating rink. By going flat out, and slamming on the brakes the truck would spin quite rapidly. Those passengers on the back had to hang on otherwise they were flung off. No apprentices were damaged or hurt, we must have been able to “bounce” in those days!
 
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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 his house called Holford House. By the time I was there this water way had become silted up and much overgrown. A lot of willow trees had grown alongside the water course and leaned over what remained of the water. Ideal for a piece of rope to be attached and used for swinging from. Imagine our surprise and delight in finding such a rope ready and waiting for us. We all had a go at doing a Tarzan over the mud/water. It went quite well for several weeks, and then one of our heavier mates was in mid swing when the rope broke! He went in up to his waist, and came out smelling to high heaven. What to do about this? He had to get home to change, but this meant that he’d got to get permission from the foreman. The foreman was quite a tartar and had a reputation for being pretty strict, so with much trepidation he was approached for permission to go home and change. Upon seeing the lad covered in mud etc. he burst out laughing. He knew exactly where we had been, because many years earlier he had put up the first rope when he was younger! What a let off!
 
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Part of our training meant that we had to attend a local technical college, I went to Erdington. Part of the course was in a classroom, in the afternoon we were in the workshop. During the lunch break, we used to go down the High Street, one day a bright spark suggested that we buy some mussels and cook them in the furnace in the workshop. We found an old tin put some water in it and put it in the furnace. Well they started to smoke and smell, upon which the instructor investigated. Locating the source he retrieved the tin and its contents, whereby he declared that the tin had previously been used for some heat treatment of metal. The ingredient for this has been cyanide!! A close shave that one, and the instructor wisely decided not to pursue the guilty.
Another prank carried out in the workshop was a flame throwing demonstration. One of the lads worked at a petrol station part time and reckoned he could throw flames. Much ridicule and derision was cast about this claim. Whereupon the lad agreed to perform the act for us but only if we had a “whip round”. Duly a few “bob” was gathered and the demonstration proceeded. Unfortunately the only flammable liquid turned out to be some paraffin. The theory was that this was near enough to petrol not to matter. Money and credibility was at stake! A mouthful of paraffin was taken, a lighted flame was held by the Flame thrower in front of his mouth and he blew! A great gush of flame went across the far end of the workshop and blackened the far wall. The instructor came racing up enquiring what had just occurred. Silence, again he didn’t delve too deeply into it. It was presumed that the furnace had had a blow back, it being an old gas one!
 
Daft Doings
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Titanium blast; Another of the departments that I passed through was the Titanium Plant. Each lunchtime at the back of the melting furnaces there was an open space that we utilised for a game of football. The only time that play didn’t take place was if it rained. One such rainy lunchtime one of the 3 main furnaces decide to blow out! These furnaces were operated with a vacuum system, and were designed so that should they ever explode, then the blast would go away from the building. This was achieved by making the outer wall very flimsy, while the other 3 walls were steel reinforced concrete. Had it not been raining we would have been in the direct path of the explosion! It was a major explosion but because of the design, there were no injuries with the exception of one unlucky soul. He happened to be sitting below a light fitting, and the bulb fell out hitting him on the head.
Following this explosion the company decided to compensate households in the vicinity for any damage that had been caused. This opened a “Pandora’s box” for many around the Witton site. A great many more repairs were carried out than had been anticipated, quite a few were of questionable origin! But they were done anyway.
Burning the evidence; Each Friday was pay day, in those days you were paid cash in a little envelope. In the envelope was a pay slip saying how much there should be and how it had been calculated. It was noted that in a strict order several of the men would go up to a small stove (used to heat soldering irons) it was usually left on all day, you could also do toast in it! Each man would put the pay slip into oven and watch it burn, this was so that their wives would not know how much they were earning. Being inquisitive lads we wanted to know how much these craftsmen were paid, after burning, the paper could still be read unless it was crushed. Imagine their horror when we told them we knew how much they were earning, the real fear was what if their wives ever found out! After that the ritual included vigorous raking and stirring of the paper ashes.
 
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Betting in the mills; In some of the mills/depts. there was a tendency amongst the men to either discuss drinking or gambling etc. having just left the apprentice school and being very green, this came as quite a culture shock. The laying of bets in company time was against the rules, this did not slow the practise down at all. One of the mill operatives had a large steel cupboard with a slot in the top of it. It was just tall enough to be able to see the slot into which were posted the betting slips and cash. This was before mobile phones or any other means of communication with outside of the factory. The cupboard owner was a bookies runner, he was provided with a leather satchel that could be locked with a time key, when turned it stamped the time on a card inside the satchel. The bookmaker knew that all the bets inside, with the cash, were deposited prior to the time on the card. The runner used to get a commission from the bookie, as well as a bung from the lucky winners. This system was greatly used and appreciated by most of the men. However the manager was a bit of a miserable sod, and I asked the runner how he managed not to incur the wroth of the manager. He gave me a wry smile and suggested that around 10 o’clock, I hide myself up the mill but be able to keep an eye on the cupboard. A short while before 10 o’clock the manager strolls down the mill with an envelope in his hand, he heads straight for the cupboard, and pops the envelope into the slot, he gives the top of the cupboard a couple of lucky taps and continues down the mill! The runner having observed this waits for the manager to go on his way, and with a big smile and a thumbs up to me opens the cupboard to carry on his bookmaking duties. I should have realised what would happen. On my first day in the mill I presented myself to the foreman’s office, on knocking the door and opening it, I found half a dozen men on their hands and knees studying every available sporting paper. Every surface was covered with them, the senior foreman was in the middle of them on the floor. His greeting to me was “do you like a bet”, my reply was non committal.
 
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Means of transport; Because of the size of the factory site, several means of transport were available. I worked in the Central Millwrights which meant that we had to work throughout the whole site. This involved the installation of heavy machines and equipment, for this we had a very low diesel truck that could carry several tons in weight. At the end of day, if the job was one that involved a team of men, then the easiest way back to our dept. was on this truck. Up to 20 men would cling onto the truck and each other, with those on the outer edge barely having enough foot room, the truck couldn’t go too fast but it was quicker than walking. This mode of transport would give modern day H & Safety people nightmares, but it was just taken as a normal days occurrence, and a few minutes fun.
Roll on Roll off; I had to use this vehicle to transport an old roll from Holford Sheet Mill to the Metal Recovery at the other end of the factory, it weighed over a ton.
An easy job, get it loaded by overhead crane and strap it down for the journey. Having got to my destination all I had to do was remove the straps and take off the retaining device, reverse into the bay available, stop suddenly to get the roll to actually roll into the bay. The platform on the back of the truck was hinged so that it tipped, this helped to slide off any load that could be unloaded this way.
A few days later another of the millwrights was given an identical job to shift another roll down to Metal Recovery.
He asked how I had done it, as he had heard how easy it had been for me.
Having duly explained how to do it, away he went. Imagine my surprise when he came back and roundly cursed me.
I ha forgotten to tell him to remove the retaining device, this meant that instead of tilting and allowing the roll to roll down the tilt, it had lifted the front of the truck several feet into the air, with him clinging on for dear life.
 
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