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Penfold Golf ball factory. Bromford Lane

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Penfold Factory Bromford lane.
Thanks to Penfold website.
 
Here is a close shot, the left is walter Smiths now demolished ready for old peoples home, and on the right the penfold with part building still standing.
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Orlroight, you got me - I didn't think that the brick building that went up as far as Fairholme Road was actually Penfolds

But what then was Walter Smith's ?
 
I'm resurrecting this thread in the hope that someone has some photographs of the Penfold Factory on Bromford Lane. The ones that have evidently been posted when the thread started, were deleted some time ago. We are refreshing our Outer Circle Talks for Local History Groups etc and looking for new material. Thanks for your memories.
 
It's alright you lot talking about Penfolds golf balls.I live opposite the 2 nd hole of a golf course and every weekend end up with a couple of differently named golf balls in my garden.Then give them to my S/in law so he doesn't have to buy any:p:p
 
I remember driving past the factory on many occasions. I don't have any pictures of it but I do have a china replica of it's famous advertising figure...................
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When I was an apprentice a fellow apprentice and friend of mines father was Jack Hargraves a Ryder Cup player and professional at Sutton Coldfield. He would take us to Penfold sometimes on a Friday afternoon. Unfortunately we were too young to appreciate what we saw.
 
My mum got me a summer job at Penfolds. She used to work afternoons on the new-fangled solid centred golfballs, a much cheaper product than traditional balls. I was at art school at the time and needed the money! I earned £40.00 per week, full time for a few weeks in the summer of 1977 or 1978. I felt so rich! I made the cores for the superior soft centred golfballs which were wound with miles of thin elastic by nimble-fingered piece workers. The factory was quite a landmark in its day. At one point in the early seventies Penfold’s merged with the Colgate Palmolive company, and staff were able to buy soaps and such like very cheaply, 2p per bar of soap, if l recall.
 
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Rosievoice said:
My mum got me a summer job at Penfolds. She used to work afternoons on the new-fangled solid centred golfballs, a much cheaper product than traditional balls. I was at art school at the time and needed the money! I earned £40.00 per week, full time for a few weeks in the summer of 1977 or 1978. I felt so rich! I made the cores for the superior soft centred golfballs which were wound with miles of thin elastic by nimble-fingered piece workers. The factory was quite a landmark in its day. At one point in the early seventies Penfold’s merged with the Colgate Palmolive company, and staff were able to buy soaps and such like very cheaply, 2p per bar of soap, if l recall.
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Thanks for your memories of working there.
I'm still looking for photographs of the old Penfold Factory, if anyone has any.
 
Sorry, I can’t help with photographs. It may be possible to contact the Penfold family directly. I think they lived in Sutton Coldfield. John Penfold was a young adult in the seventies.
 
Rosievoice said:
Sorry, I can’t help with photographs. It may be possible to contact the Penfold family directly. I think they lived in Sutton Coldfield. John Penfold was a young adult in the seventies.
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Yes, I seem to think Sutton Coldfield or Streetly. One of my fellow apprentices father was a golfer and played professionally using Penfold golf balls, everything seemed to revolve around Sutton or Streetly.
 
Hi all,

I am Gavin Perrett, the current CEO of Penfold Golf. I’ve enjoyed reading your replies on here and learning about the people that worked in the factory. We would love to hear more from you and your experiences of working and living around the factory. Maybe you have items from the factory that you’d like to share with us. We would love to take your stories and share them with Penfold fans around the world.

I have a couple images here of the factory and inside the factory during the late 80s…
 

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Sorry I should also mention that Penfold had been in business the entire time this thread has been going. I took on the brand in 2020 and have been working tirelessly to bring the name back to where it belongs in the game of golf. We do still fulfill our online orders out of Birmingham, and now also have a warehouse in Philadelphia. We just recently partnered with Justin Rose on his Junior Telegraph Championship, Rose Cup, and Rose Foundation. We are very excited to continue this historic brand and keep the Birmingham links strong!
 
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