Trickymicky

Another one, which i can confirm .. is the firewood concession. They would let you buy a barrow load of firewood off the waste heap for five bob, but of course you had to show the receipt that you had paid for it to go out the main gate to the car park. It proved very popular- people were taking the wood out on a new wheelbarrow they had just got from the stores and not returning with it.

I spent a lot of time making stuff for myself, probably too much. Being on maintenance, it was easy to get a "pink slip" off the foreman, which enabled you to get more or less what you wanted made on the shop floor. The big issue for me was security- MOD police at the main gate, and as everyone left at the end of the shift there was always a random search where a couple of us were pulled in. I once got caught with a large cycle thread tap, which was actually my own, that i had just made something with. The cops loved it, and next morning it was sat on my managers desk. He just laughed and gav

Thats right. "Come on lads" in that distinctive voice which most of us used to impersonate.

Did you get the weekly visit to the swimming baths ?. We had a chap called Les Brooks off the shop floor who would walk us through the meadows to the swimming baths for the compulsory exercise session. He reckoned he was a championship swimmer, but never went in himself, he would just stand at the deep end shouting at us. On the last visit there someone got behind him and shoved him in. Not sure he could actually swim at all, but he learned then. He was furious..

I moved to the Maintenance section in 1975- the final year of your apprenticeship was when you moved to whatever department you had opted for. Yes, the maintenance section was above the rifle range by then, opposite the medical centre ( that was always a great place to "rest" for a couple of hours, or get a ride home in that old Bedford ambulance- " i feel dizzy,nurse" usually did the trick) While i was there, the engineering department Mechanical (EDM), and the engineering department electrical (EDE) were in the same area, having one half of the building each. Did they have the separate co

terence 12 I worked with a Ken Pembleton, or Pemberton. He worked in the Maintenance section. We called him Pembo. Remember him quite well if it was him. Guessing he would be in his nineties now.

It was a Hillman Hunter. Always kept in its own garage on site, yes quite modest really, the chauffeur was the extravagance. Very old fashioned, even back then. Management had seperate dining facilities, toilets etc.

The four instructors in the apprentice shop while i was there were- Tom Streets, Mr Williams, Joe Morrell and Fred Logan, a horrible little man who sounds like your scrappit man. Logans' nephew was in our year, and funnily enough he got a job in the tool room..

I remember Grenville Turner, Basfordlad. A year or two older than me. If its the same one, i think he was in the TA as well. Mo Edis was a "whitecoat" while i was there. Most who were promoted there quickly distanced themselves from their shop floor mates, but i seem to remember that Mo remained pretty much one of the lads. As i said earlier, it always seemed a strange place to me. There were 'umpteen levels of staff grades, then assistant Managers, then Managers, then the Director. The Director always had a chauffeur, i would see him being picked up from his house in Ruddington most mornin

We used to get our own back. We had to take it in turns to make a big pot of tea for the four instructors, and take it up to their office. Well, sometimes it became "contaminated" before it got there..

I worked there from 1972 until about 1979. Served a four year apprenticeship, ending up as a Millwright. Quite a strict regime in some ways. As a first year apprentice, if you did something wrong, they would make you cut through a piece of a 4 inch diameter steel bar with a hacksaw as punishment

Did it sound like this,catfan ?

They had a variable speed, controlled by moving the lever on top, rather than by changing gears. An engineer friend of mine acquired one, and whilst showing me round it, took it up to its maximum speed of around 2000rpm. Unfortunately, as he started to decrease the speed , the rather substantial chuck unscrewed itself from the lathe,and dropped on the floor, still rotating at full speed. It just missed his foot and shot off up his building at about 50mph, changing direction each time it hit something. They were quite popular as a training lathe in schools and colleges. My school (Rushcliffe

My problems with bt are supposedly at an end, but not before they stole a further £244 from my account without warning, causing mayhem for me. They very quickly did a telegraphic transfer back to me of a total of £410 in stolen money of mine when i told them. Even after that and over 6 hours on the phone to them, to get back the bank charges they had caused, they wanted copies of my bank statements and a letter from the bank stating that the charges were a direct result of their theft.. Very reluctantly they offered twenty five quid compensation, which didnt even cover the lost amazon vouch

I've got a picture of my car at Plumtree Station in 1973, i'll try and find it and see what else it shows.

There must have been several, i remember visiting somewhere on Greaves Lane, Edingley which was allegedly a "Kelloggs house.

We have just moved house, and against my better judgement went with BT. However, the engineer who visited, connected broadband to someone elses phone line, not ours - i sort of sensed something might be amiss when he said "leave it for half an hour before you plug the router in" , as he drove away. Since that day we have been on the phone to BT for a total of over 6 hours, speaking to 14 different people. I wont bore you with the whole, still ongoing story, but here's just a taste of what was to come- First we had to battle through a voice activated system and eventually got through to a lad

Sounds like Ruddington Depot, By the 1970's it was an MOD disposal depot where vehicles and plant were sold off at regular auctions. We used to go there to buy the motorbikes. Bit off topic, but at the time rumours were rife of people buying say a lorry, and then finding the back of it full of motorbikes... There were strange goings on at the auctions though, whereby a handful of people ended up with most of the vehicles and then met up at the Nottingham Knight pub where my brother worked, just up the road, and shared out the vehicles amongst themselves. I never fully understood wha

1974 is about right. I started work in september 1972 and we used it for about a year before it closed.

Thanks PP and Cliff Ton. I have one of the enamel badges somewhere, if i ever find it i will post a pic. Pretty sure that was their purpose as there was another peculiarity about them, it may not have been East Riding on them it was an area which didnt actually exist. PP, I served my apprenticeship there but started in 1972. The facilities were excellent for my motorcycle interests, although getting my bike bits out again was not always as easy, as security was tight.

PeverilPeril, i was told that during the war, ROF employees had to wear a badge which said "East Riding works & Services". The reason being that it would disorientate the enemy should an employee be captured. Seems a bit far fetched, but i found a sackful of these enamel badges, each with an individual employee number in the South Shop, so they must have been there for some reason.

I've been on one. As said previously, you dont fail- unless you turn up very late or refuse to participate, but in reality you hardly need to anyway if you dont want to. Just a few simple questions at the end, and in our case you marked your own sheet as the answers were gone through. I'd get on the first available course and get it over with.

My brother used to work at a club called the 8 till late, on stanford street. I used to go and help him during the school holidays. The draymen usually delivered first thing in the morning. They always had a free pint each waiting when they had finished and would drink it before leaving, even though it was only 9 am.

Luckily its an MZ, not an Ariel, so not too great a loss.

If Royal Mail attempt to deliver a parcel or package to me, and i'm not in, rather than leave it at my village post office, they take it to one 5 miles away. Hows that for customer service?