• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Turner Brothers Toolmakers

That's very interesting I don't know if there was a connection. I wonder if your mother can help me. I know that during the war Turners were involved in jigs and fixtures for the war effort. I believe they were involved in the gun turrets for the Lancaster bomber but I can't verify this. Maybe your mother can remember. Of course this is a big ask but I would appreciate any information as to what was worked on in those war days.
 
Hi Dave, thanks for the information. I started at Turners in 1965 and left in 1976. Most of that time in B department then later they changed the name to Metro Tools. I would love to contact Fred, he really had a big influence on my life both at work and outside. If you have any details let me know. He must be in his mid 90's now. Your name is also very familiar. I worked with Harold Allsop, Cyril Johnson, Jimmy Wheeler, Albert Mansfield etc. The younger guys were Dave Averall and Maurice Jones.
 
Re: Turner Brothers

hi mike,i have only just come across this forum,i remember your dad claude from the planning office,we used to play table tennis in the ballroom of the social club with jack kyle.
 
hi paul I don't have any contact details for fred, i read thread from his daughter saying he was ok, i replied but never had an answer. as for war products i remember jack dutton foreman in g dept saying they produced bren gun parts and jerry cans.love pretoria by the way, i was drving my grandson in a golf buggy round the zoo in januarybefore going up to sun city.
 
Hi

Yep he is still alive I used to play for the Cricket team with him. I remember Alan Thompson. Yes Dad worked there on and off for many years.
What years would the Table Tennis. He taught me and I played in the Buisness League during the Mid 60,s. Got to a huge Final at the Metropolitan Cammel in
Ward end.

Mike Jenks
 
What a small world glad you enjoyed Pretoria. I wrote a poem about Turners that you can Google and I mentioned the Jerrycans. Maybe someone knows about the gun turrets. I have searched my memory and I can now place you. I starting working in B department on a bench next to Bob Price. I think you were around at that time. I will pursue Fred maybe someone can come up with some info.
 
Hi

Im with Dad Claude recall the years 1958 1959 when he played Table Tennis.
He remembers a big bloke who was a Foreman and a Star Player.
He remembers Allan Thompson playing at Lunchtime.

Mike Jenks
 
what happened to bob price? the last time i saw him he came to my wedding with dave fieldhouse and bill beckett in1966.i did see keith mannion last year, idon't know if you remember him,he also told me fred and cyril johnson were still alive.
 
Funnily enough the last time I saw Bob was when he came to my previous wedding also in 1966. I remember Keith but not as well as Dave Fieldhouse and Bill Becket. I re-married 25 years ago after I came to South Africa.
 
Later this month I will be doing a LoveArchitecture walk about Emett's Birmingham that will feature the Turner Brothers premises as that is where Rowland Emett was working when he found fame as a Punch cartoonist and learned many of the engineering skills that would help him to build his amazing machines (many of which are currently on display in Birmingham). It will include a visit to the top floor drawing office, now derelict, in which we will show a film from 1947 of Turner Bros by EFT himself with a slow panning shot across the drawing office.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who worked at Turner's during the war of shortly after or knows someone that did. I can be contacted through
The Turner Brothers Drawing Office.jpgThe Cliveland Street Works.jpgSpitfires Turning the Scale in the Battle of Britain.jpgHospital Street November 1940.jpgThe Jerrican Can.jpg
1. The drawing office in Cliveland Street in 1946
2. The Cliveland Street buildings as painted by Rowland Emett in 1946
3. A Spitfire dogfight (Emett)
4. The Hospital Street works after an air raid (Emett)
5. Jerrican tool production (more typically Emett)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi to everybody reading this thread. Only recently started using this site in earnest, although been a member on and off for a while. My dad, Eddie West, worked at Turner Brothers for some years mainly as a shaper I believe. He went from Turners to Lemarks at Minworth for more money, then back to Turners when they offered him his old job back on more money again. Must have been a shortage of labour in those days. I think his elder brother Arthur also worked there for a time. They both ended up working for Land Rover, firstly at Wellhead lane then finishing up at Lode Lane. Any body ever heard of either of them?
Live long and prosper
 
I can remember the name of Eddie West but cant put a face to the name but I think he worked in "A" Dept.which was mostly a machining shop. There were in the region of 1000 employees there when I started in 1958, so in many cases you new a face but not a name and vice versa. There was a big exodus of toolmakers and machinists from Turner Bros. in the early to mid sixties, most of them going to Lemark and Cincinnati in Minworth and GEC in Witton. Many of them drifted back to Turners when the work loads at these other places dropped off. There was a shortage of labour in those years as one has to remember that the early 60's was only 15 years after WW2 and many man never returned, but if you had been working for a company like Turners at the start of the war you would have been to be engaged in vital work to help the war effort. They were good days for employment then, you could get the sack from on job, walk a few yards and be employed in a similar job.
 
Does anyone remember Duggie Betts ,he worked at turners for years , and when I left school in 1955 , got me into toolmaking ,not at turners. But it served me well and I took my skills to different firms here and abroad, by the way Duggie was my uncle
 
I remember Duggie Betts well. I worked with him at Turners in B department. I started there in 1964 and eventually left in 1976.

Turners' experience also served me well and gave me a lot of skills and knowledge to eventually move into executive management and share my expertise around the world. Thanks for sharing.
 
Hello to everyone on this website and came across this thread. My dad and brother worked at Turner Brothers in the 1950s and 1960s as toolmakers. Does anyone have any photos of Turners that I can print out? I know my brother would love to see them. Unfortunately I can't open michaelsgallery for some reason.
 
hi shirley and welcome...the site so hacked some time back now and we lost all of our images..doing our best to repost them where possible...

mike is there any chance you could repost your photos please..

many thanks

lyn
 
Thanks lyn and carolina. I'll see if I can print this one out and any more that may get posted and make up a file for my brother who will be celebrating a special birthday this year. He's a computer phone so wouldn't even know how to switch one on!!
 
Hi all, my Dad, John Thain, started his apprenticeship here in 1954 aged 15 and stayed for 10 years before going to Park Lane. He served his apprenticeship with Bob Hill and remembers Norman Jewell but says his nickname was 'Jimmy' Jewell. Does anyone on here remember my dad? After Park Lane, in 1973 he set up Rowth Engineering with Alan Rowley before going alone.
 
Hello, just joined this site. I was an apprentice at Turners starting in 1966. 6 of us started, myself, Dave Shepherd, Rob Littley, Rob Cooke, Trevor Webb and Roger Horlick. I clearly remember the apprentice section, run by Les Lloyd, with Pat Richards and for the 2nd year Dave Warren. From there I went to B dept and Freddie Barlow was the foreman and we walked around the shop to find a toolmaker to work with. I worked with Cyril Johnson and Freddie Scarf. Both nice men but more so Cyril, such a gent. My bench was next to Paul Harding.
 
As new apprentices we all spent the first part of our jobs, working in thr offices. I worked in the despatch office, Norman Sidaway was Manager, with John Vyse and Jim Cox outside. Also 2 ladies, Sandra was the junior and the other lady I think was Maureen. Part of my job was to find the trucks to move stuff about the factory, they were Jack Scrannage, Ted Timmins and Pat Kelly. Ted mainly drove the flat truck. As stated Larry, known as The Duckegg, drove the list. Favourite ploy was to stop the lift mid floors and turn the lights off, especially when there were young ladies in the lift with us.
 
hello mike and welcome to the forum...thank you for your memories of working at turners...quite strange and its most likely coinsidence but i know a les lloyd he is the brother of my next door neighbour...how old would les be now

lyn
 
Hi Lyn, if he is still alive, I would think that Les Lloyd must be 100 years old by now. I was 15 when I started and Les must have been in his 50,s then.
Below the apprentice section was the Maintenance department and on the ground floor, it was the Despatch office then B department. Next door was the Die cast shop, the Forman was Ernie Dudley. There was also a very large radial drilling machine in here and 2 Keller machines. We had an elderly man who used to sweep up on the apprentice section, his name I think was Les he used to say he had been a boxer in his youth. Prior to being on the App, Sect, when I worked in Despatch, I can remember old Mr Frank Turner driving up in his big car and they would send me into town to buy his fancy cigarettes, Pink Russian I think.
 
ahh it cant be the les lloyd know then mike but please keep your memories coming..there is an awful lot of history on this forum

lyn
 
Also when I was in Despatch, Dave was in the Drawing Dept under Ted Pountney. Roger I think was in the Pattern shop. Trevor was in the press shop wher Arther Cox was one of the bosses. Rob Cooke and Rob Littley worked in the Buying office and the Cost office. We spent about six months in these offices I think before we went to work on the apprentice section.
When old Toolmkers retired they quite often sold their tools for new apprentices to purchase, and there was also a Tool club which helped us buy tools.
All toolmakers had a wooden toolbox, mine came from the kind family of Tom Davies who unfortunately passed away in a car crash soon after I joined B dept. I have still got it full of tools that I have gathered over 50 years in Engineering. Being an apprentice at Turners was considered to be a great start for Toolmakers and carried lots of credence amongst other toolmakers.
 
The man who was labourer on the Apprentice section was called Len Harvey, nice chap, probably in his 70,s when he used to clean up there. Les Lloyd was a funny man and for a man that worked in a factory, Les never swore, but if he heard the apprentices swear he would stick his own words in like "Flopping" and he also called us "lardheads". Pat Richards taught the new lads most of the basic skills in the 1st year. Then we moved across to the second year where we worked under Dave Warren, here we repaired press tools and also made new small tools. When we went onto the shop floor, some of us went to the Moulding section, some of us like me went onto Press tooling. I can remember the first time I worked on a Saturday, Freddie Barlow met me and we went to Warwick for tool trials on a new moulding die for pedal bins. This was totally new for me and quite an experience, but I remember that we problems getting a complete product from the die. Fred used to drive a bright red Ford Cortina.
 
Paul Harding said:
I remember Duggie Betts well. I worked with him at Turners in B department. I started there in 1964 and eventually left in 1976.

Turners' experience also served me well and gave me a lot of skills and knowledge to eventually move into executive management and share my expertise around the world. Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...
I remember the name but can't recall the man. I remember you Paul, you used to have a little sideline, selling cigarettes and other things. I was on the next bench to you nearest the door into next door. Next to us was Jack Perks and another, could have been Billy Lancaster, then there was Brian and Billy, then on the last benches, Freddy and Cryil Johnson. I can remember some on the chaps on moulding but did not know them as well.
 
Mike Harrier said:
As new apprentices we all spent the first part of our jobs, working in thr offices. I worked in the despatch office, Norman Sidaway was Manager, with John Vyse and Jim Cox outside. Also 2 ladies, Sandra was the junior and the other lady I think was Maureen. Part of my job was to find the trucks to move stuff about the factory, they were Jack Scrannage, Ted Timmins and Pat Kelly. Ted mainly drove the flat truck. As stated Larry, known as The Duckegg, drove the list. Favourite ploy was to stop the lift mid floors and turn the lights off, especially when there were young ladies in the lift with us.
Click to expand...
Mike Ted is still alive - he is my cousin
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top