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Tubes Limited

Hi John. Thanks for posting those pics. Just look at the size of Dougie. Did you know that, unfortunately, Doug passed away in 2014? I had only recently before that started chatting with him on FB. Such a shame with making contact again after so many years, and then for him to pass away. He was a good guy Doug. Also, i don't know whether you knew, but Doug was at one time married to a woman named Janet? Well talk about coincidence, Janet for the past number of years, just happens to now be married to my brother. Small world eh? Well John, once again, thanks for the pics, and if you have any more, please keep them coming. I'm sure Astonian will like to see them. 'Bye for now, and take care.
 
BazzM said:
Hi John. Thanks for posting those pics. Just look at the size of Dougie. Did you know that, unfortunately, Doug passed away in 2014? I had only recently before that started chatting with him on FB. Such a shame with making contact again after so many years, and then for him to pass away. He was a good guy Doug. Also, i don't know whether you knew, but Doug was at one time married to a woman named Janet? Well talk about coincidence, Janet for the past number of years, just happens to now be married to my brother. Small world eh? Well John, once again, thanks for the pics, and if you have any more, please keep them coming. I'm sure Astonian will like to see them. 'Bye for now, and take care.
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hi bazz so sad about dougie had sum good times with him .yes I did know janet we went to see roy orbison live at the night out in town . take care will tex you soon john
 
bryanjeffries said:
Bramcote

I have been reading some of the Infirmation on the Tubes

Various mentions of my two brothers John and Jimmy Jeffries

Jimmy sadly no longer with us John is now living in Tasmania

My father John also worked there for well over 40 + years until an accident when slinging some tubes went awry and he was trapped in among it all , he never worked again

My brother John like a pint or three in the Hen and Chickens , his wife did not and turned up with his dinner on one occasion and tipped it over his head

Bryan jeffries
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Hi Bryan I knew both your brothers - sorry to hear about Jimmy -and other blokes in the Forging Department. I was a Bonus Clerk who was housed in a little office just by the Tool Shop. I was there from 1969 to 1975. I was often in the Foundry delivering wage slips and dealing with queries--got to know them all. Jimmy was a nice bloke-charge hand then
Foreman-always amenable. Johnnie on the furnaces--quiet many stories.
Dougie Westwood-Eugene-Eric Willocks-Big Bill-Stan Price and so many others--too many to mention. I was often in Big Bills office--chatting--think I was there too long-but always got my work done. Len Jones was in the office with men--Grey jacket--did records and stats for gaffer.
We went to London May 1972(Johnnie-Dougie etc) in Townsends old Bedford van--saw Blues win 1-0 against Millwall--to get back to First Division. Worst trip was 1975 coming back from Maine Road--the Fulham defeat--John was so down--it was a grim trip back home.
I could go on forever--please send my regards to Johnnie--and mention some of the little stories I have told.

Best wishes

Roger(a member of the Hen & Chickens Quiz team--we did rather well))
 
xmas 54 said:
Hi Bryan I knew both your brothers - sorry to hear about Jimmy -and other blokes in the Forging Department. I was a Bonus Clerk who was housed in a little office just by the Tool Shop. I was there from 1969 to 1975. I was often in the Foundry delivering wage slips and dealing with queries--got to know them all. Jimmy was a nice bloke-charge hand then
Foreman-always amenable. Johnnie on the furnaces--quiet many stories.
Dougie Westwood-Eugene-Eric Willocks-Big Bill-Stan Price and so many others--too many to mention. I was often in Big Bills office--chatting--think I was there too long-but always got my work done. Len Jones was in the office with men--Grey jacket--did records and stats for gaffer.
We went to London May 1972(Johnnie-Dougie etc) in Townsends old Bedford van--saw Blues win 1-0 against Millwall--to get back to First Division. Worst trip was 1975 coming back from Maine Road--the Fulham defeat--John was so down--it was a grim trip back home.
I could go on forever--please send my regards to Johnnie--and mention some of the little stories I have told.

Best wishes

Roger(a member of the Hen & Chickens Quiz team--we did rather well))
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hi roger nice to hear from you, after all these years I do remember ,that game ,how cane one forget that. do you remember going to see blues play Chelsea in London we won 1.0 as a omen you drove us around wembley. I remember going yo see roy orbison with dougie .we went into a restaurant in town and his eyes lit up ,and he said I have to have that,i look at the menu it said a he man meal. did you know that dougie passed away in 2014, sorry for the late reply have been sick with bronchitis ,look forward to hearing from john
 
john jeffries said:
hi astonian, my name is john Jeffries, it was nice reading all those names that I haven't heard for a long time, great memories. I started there in the 60s and worked there for 15 years, as a labourer, I then went onto learning to drive the crane in bay 3. from there I moved on to the ajax machpeople ine with jimmy, my brother. then I became a leading hand on there. in charge of dougie westwood and frank Higgins who were both big boys!!! just to mention a few names, eric Wilcox who worked in the machine shop with dennis brassinton. people like paddy fod and his brother Eugene, and tony lewis who used to drive the crane in bay 2. I remember yogi well. bob Williams who worked in the next department, mick parsons, jimmy currie, who worked in the lf department. they are the ones who run the soccer team, lf roma on sundays. mick meeny came in on the afternoon shift, it was hot, he got a bottle of milk off bootsy, he then went over in the far corner of the forging dept. where the gfm machine is, which was right by the canal, he tied a rope around the bottle of milk and dropped it in the canal to keep it cold. what he didn't know was some of the boys seen him doing it and when he went away they took the milk out and threw the rope back in, when he came back to get his milk and it wasn't on the end of the rope, he then dived in to the canal to try and find his milk!!!!!! funny. hi to all the tubes guys that I know. cheers.
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Hi John I recall when you where a crane driver and was a crack shot with a pee shooter from the over head cranes and how you would torment Bootsy,lucky for you he never caught you
 
john jeffries said:
hi roger nice to hear from you, after all these years I do remember ,that game ,how cane one forget that. do you remember going to see blues play Chelsea in London we won 1.0 as a omen you drove us around wembley. I remember going yo see roy orbison with dougie .we went into a restaurant in town and his eyes lit up ,and he said I have to have that,i look at the menu it said a he man meal. did you know that dougie passed away in 2014, sorry for the late reply have been sick with bronchitis ,look forward to hearing from john
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Hi John Great to hear from you. Wow--poor Dougie--so sad. Yes the Chelsea game! If you remember I did not go to the game with you but--had a rendezvous in Harrow.
So many memories--good times. I did my work quickly so I could chat all over the place
--`Bill Antro`s` with the team--and up the road with Bob Jinks and Co. In the Tool Room I was always sitting next to Dennis Brassington & Eric. What about the Leyton Orient trip May 1972--Bob Latchford goal--beat Millwall. Loud Fire Cracker was set off--and we with Dougie and others behind the goal. We went in Townsend`s Vaushall Commer van.
A few years later(left 1975)--I nipped in and spoke to Ted Bilston--the place was running down. Sad--I think many of the older crowd must have passed on? I`m still lucky 72 but can still sprint 60 yards with the dog--and beat him(he is small)!
I would like to hear more about your life John--how it panned out--happy? Poxy hole of course--bad environment--chesty for most ex-workers.

Blues at Huddersfield btoday--kick off ninety minutes. Fingers crossed as always.

Best wishes

Roger
 
Last week was the first time I returned to tubes since February 1986
All.the overhead cranes have gone and the haze of smoke.The circular
saws no longer cut the billets from random lengths and cut lengths of tube
to produce top quality forging such as Salisbury 13655/6 ,Bmc 9001 and many more.
The Swager,Ajax , and Gfm have been silenced by time but
time can never take memories of people and times gone by.
 
Punch said:
Hi John I recall when you where a crane driver and was a crack shot with a pee shooter from the over head cranes and how you would torment Bootsy,lucky for you he never caught you
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hi punch, yes I do remember bootsy, had some good times with him. used to have a water pistol, used to squirt him, I think if he had of cught me he would have killed me. by the way, what I your name, I don't recall a punch. john.
 
xmas 54 said:
Hi John Great to hear from you. Wow--poor Dougie--so sad. Yes the Chelsea game! If you remember I did not go to the game with you but--had a rendezvous in Harrow.
So many memories--good times. I did my work quickly so I could chat all over the place
--`Bill Antro`s` with the team--and up the road with Bob Jinks and Co. In the Tool Room I was always sitting next to Dennis Brassington & Eric. What about the Leyton Orient trip May 1972--Bob Latchford goal--beat Millwall. Loud Fire Cracker was set off--and we with Dougie and others behind the goal. We went in Townsend`s Vaushall Commer van.
A few years later(left 1975)--I nipped in and spoke to Ted Bilston--the place was running down. Sad--I think many of the older crowd must have passed on? I`m still lucky 72 but can still sprint 60 yards with the dog--and beat him(he is small)!
I would like to hear more about your life John--how it panned out--happy? Poxy hole of course--bad environment--chesty for most ex-workers.

Blues at Huddersfield btoday--kick off ninety minutes. Fingers crossed as always.

Best wishes
hi roger, I came out in 1980, got a job at ez looking after houses, till I got put of in 97, then got back into painting, which is what I used to do when I was younger. I'm nearly 72 so going to retire fully from work.

still follow the blues, we should have beat villa 3-1 the other week. my son is a hospital orderly, my daughter is a hairdresser and lives in Brisbane. divorced from wife, and I have lived with cheryle for the last 26 years. we have 2 cats 1 dog, chooks, birds and fish. I follow Melbourne victory in the soccer and in afl I follow carlton, who are also called the blues. john.
Roger
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john jeffries said:
hi punch, yes I do remember bootsy, had some good times with him. used to have a water pistol, used to squirt him, I think if he had of cught me he would have killed me. by the way, what I your name, I don't recall a punch. john.
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Hi John nice to hear from you there doesn't seem to be many people from the forge on this forum.I worked in the forge for 18years I don't know if you can recall me my name is Steve Collingwood I used to be the welder at the top of 2 bay nearest the canal and was a pull bearer
at your brother Jimmy's funeral,that was a very sad time for because we became very good friends when we were put together as Supervisor s over the Gfms ,cold Ajax , Massey hammer and Fielding press. I can remember the day Jimmy finished Tubes he put his crash helmet on and turned to say goodbye and through his visor there was a tear in his eyes,we both couldn't speak
because working in the forge people weren't just work they were friends.
 
GetAttachmentThumbnail
D
 
IMG_2299.JPG Outside the entrance of 5 bay towards 4 bay where the Lamberton and Number 5 Ajax
once stood
 
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Lovely to see some pics of the old forge again. Thanks Punch. I visited there back in 2008 (i think) and also took some pics inside. Unfortunately then, there weren't any furnaces left, but i did get some shots of one of the overhead cranes, and 1 or 2 of the outside of the building (what's left). Also the pub opposite. I used to work in the foremans office for 6 years, alongside Bill Antrobus, Don Fell, & quite a few others. Great times i have never forgotten.
 
Punch said:
Hi John nice to hear from you there doesn't seem to be many people from the forge on this forum.I worked in the forge for 18years I don't know if you can recall me my name is Steve Collingwood I used to be the welder at the top of 2 bay nearest the canal and was a pull bearer
at your brother Jimmy's funeral,that was a very sad time for because we became very good friends when we were put together as Supervisor s over the Gfms ,cold Ajax , Massey hammer and Fielding press. I can remember the day Jimmy finished Tubes he put his crash helmet on and turned to say goodbye and through his visor there was a tear in his eyes,we both couldn't speak
because working in the forge people weren't just work they were friends.
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hi steve, yes I do remember you walking up and down 2 bay from the welding shop, harry Bolton asked me if I could weld, said yes but I wasn't qualified. so he put me in the welding shop welding the end of the tubes. that must have been before you started. went back 2 years ago, nothing in there but the foremans office, was just like it was when we left....very strange feeling. hope you and yours have a nice xmas. john.
 
BazzM said:
Hello and welcome Richard. Glad you picked up on the Tubes Ltd thread. Just like you I joined Tubes in 1964 after leaving school. Was an office junior in Production Control (Harry Brough,s dept). I left in 197o, but came back in 1971 in the Forge Deot till 1977 when I moved up here. I too remember the freezing games of table tennis at lunch-times, eventually I played for the works team. I also knew some lads that played for the football team too (although Im going to have to put the thinking cap on to recall their names). And regarding the Boldmere Rd sports club, I spent hours and hours up there, before becoming the club steward when I was only 18, thanks to Ray Cook who virtually ran the club on his own in them days. Nice to hear from someone that actually remembers a lot of the things I do. I hope you enjoy the forum, and will continue to post any more memories of Tubes Ltd. Also, feel free to contact anytime you wish. Cheers, Barry.
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Was Boldmere the original sports ground for Tubes, Spent many happy times at Boldmere with my grandson it was excellent junior football
 
I would like to see all these photos that have been posted, but I can't see anything to click on. There are no thumnails or links. Pleae, somebody, HELP
 
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