Hi, Smokey What a good read. Thanks for sharing. British products ... I'm reminded of high school days in a village on the coast of British Columbia. Twin sets were the height of fashion in those days. Mrs. Hamilton, herself a British export, sold ladies wear in a tiny shop near the post office. Money earned by 'babysitting' was invested in good British woollen sweaters (jumpers) -- St, Michael's brand. I learned the connection with Marks and Spencer when its first shop in Vancouver opened decades later. Best wishes, Frances original message: ENG-BANBURY-AREA-D Digest V04 #330 >X-Message: #1 >Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 08:17:27 +0100 >From: Joe Connell <jfc.public@virgin.net> >To: ENG-BANBURY-AREA-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: Re: Memoroies of the 50s > >School days eventually came to an end, and were followed by an >five-year engineering apprenticeship. The Coventry area hummed with >companies involved in machine tool manufacture. The hum came from >the heavy mineral oil used for cooling machining operation. Whilst >at school an entrance examination had been taken, and one week after >leaving school I was in control of my first machine, a centre lathe. > >There was a surprising absence of bureaucracy. On my first morning >I was given a pair of overalls, introduced to the foreman, taken to >my machine, and told that the man in front would explain what to do. >For some time I did very little. His lecture on the wisdom of >wearing safety glasses was unforgettably illustrated by removal of >his glass eye. > >My industrial career started at the peak of post-war engineering; >British products had an enviable International reputation. No >numerical or program control systems; each component was produced >individually, the machine being controlled entirely through the >skill of the operator, and possibly a setter. This involved >calculation of gear trains and allowances for backlash. My career >ended with manufacturing having almost completely disappeared from >the Coventry area. I don't think I was entirely responsible. > >Training consisted of spending a three-month period in different >areas of the factory; with one day of attendance each week at the >technical college. One could not choose the allocated area, and >some were better than others. Worst perhaps was the time spent in >Heat Treatment, removing white hot metal items from furnaces and >plunging them into oil baths. Spectacular, but at that temperature >the novelty soon wore off. I didn't enjoy packing the cyanide >furnaces ( and wash your hands before eating any sandwiches.). I >preferred my time spent in the Drawing Office. ( I'm not >daydreaming -- I'm designing.) > >The standard of training depended entirely on the attitude of >adjacent workers, anything produced that passed quality inspection >being credited to the section. No module testing, no feedback other >than a weekly tick by the section foreman ( is that lad still with >us?). At the end of three months, musical chairs again. I wonder >anyone survived. > >I finished my time as a design draughtsman. By that time the >Company had opened a training school, attended by all first-year >apprentices. > >Smokey >