I went to the presentation last night and would recommend going to one if you ever see it advertised, it was given by Andrew Lound, Curator of the Avery Historical Museum, who does these talks to small groups around the midlands.
The talk covered the early history of Avery's, their contribution to the war effort and the Birmingham Blitz when parts of the factory were bombed twice and rebuilt .
A story which ran through the talk involved a young apprentice who started at Avery's in 1938, became part of the factory Home Guard and ARP unit, who then joined the Army when he was old enough, landed at Dunkirk travelled through Europe and was at Belson when it was liberated, he returned home after the war and married a girl who worked at Avery's, at the talk were his daughter and grand daughter who had supplied information and photos of him.
Many of the photos in the talk had only recently been found, they had all been documented so a lot of information was gained from this collection. The museum is only open for visits be appointment but, I spoke to Andrew about the possibility of doing a talk for BHF members, so watch this space.
Colin