WW2 War Effort Production in Nottingham


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Still plenty of oil to be had around there. In the last few years I have seen working Nodding Donkeys at Beckingham and near Gainsborough. I dare say there are more.

Interestingly, over the years, there has been lots stuff in the Nottingham Post concerning Nottingham's war, the best stuff has been letters from people who suffered air raids and being shot at by enemy fighters here in Nottingham. I have copied all this stuff and mounted it for anyone in the family who is interested.

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  • 6 months later...

My mam told me she worked for a short while in a factory (maybe Nottingham Road, Basford) when it was taken over by Avro during the war.  Can anyone shed any light on this?

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I didn't know that Avro (as in Lancaster and Vulcan) was formed by Alliott Verdon Roe and his brother Humphrey.  Yer learn summat every day.

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In my long interest in aviation, I have never heard of the Bairnswear factory being taken over by Avro during the war. Anyone got owt in writing?

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#32 Mum would have been in her 30s at that time she was a smocker for her sins. If you ever visited the factory you will remember the din from the machinists section, that loud all the women carried out their chats by lip reading. For my sins I found out pretty early on that you never said anything untoward if mum could see your lips no matter how far away you were a clip round the lughole was a certainty when she got close enough.

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On 2/16/2015 at 8:16 AM, Chulla said:

In 1943 a film unit visited most of the Rolls-Royce factories and filmed footage to be later used in a documentary film. Many still photographs were taken at the same time, and the photo, and the one below, were two of them.

The control cabins were in the side walls with a large glass viewing window positioned just ahead of the engine's propeller. I have a photo some where of the control desk, but cannot find it. There were no windows in the test cells. The ends were open to the sky. Air came down the front opening and passed through louvres that turned the air 90 degrees to feed the propeller. At the rear of the cell were another set of louvres that turned the propwash air 90 degrees to exit vertically .

The photograph below was taken inside the Garden Street repair factory, recently demolished. This used to be the old Hollins Mill before the war.

Garden%20Street%20factory_zpsurxw3qmb.jp

Hi Chulla.

 

A family rumour was that my late grandmother worked on Spitfire engines in Nottingham during the war, but everyone dismissed it as just a rumour as we all know that Merlins were built in Derby and tested at Hucknall. Then I stumbled accross your post. My gran lived on Anfield Terrace, off Denman Street, which is walking distance from Garden Street. Do you have any further info on the Rolls Royce site? My two older aunts are now dead and my mum was only born in 1939 and has no memory of what her mum did. Cheers. Mark.

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Think I already mentioned somewhere on here that my Mum worked at Brough Superior on munitions work.  I never got around to asking whether she worked at the Highbury Vale plant or the other one ( Haydn Rd?) She lived on Bulwell Hall Est at the time, so the 43 would be the obvious bus.

My Mum was 16 in 1939.

From what she told me I think she was working capstan or turret lathes.

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#37 Mark. When the war broke out, the Rolls-Royce factory at Derby could not expand to take on the increased work of engine repair and overhaul. It looked around for suitable nearby premises and occupied the old Hollins, Radford Mill factory on Garden Street. It also occupied large factories at Leen Gate, Lenton, and New Basford to support the operation. The latter is where the Dganogly College is now. The first completed repaired engines were despatched late in 1941.

 

If your grandmother worked there then she certainly did work on Spitfire engines, and Lancaster engines and other Merlins from other types of fighters and bombers.

 

The engine testbeds at Derby were fully occupied with running new engines and development engines, so the engines repaired at Garden Street had to have their own testbeds. A plot of land was secured at the Balloon Woods crossroads, Bilborough where eight testbeds, in pairs, with an accompanying hangar building, were constructed. These are still there today. Many thousands of engines passed through Garden Street until the factory was closed down.During this time the factory was owned by the government, not Rolls-Royce.

 

Hope this helps.

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#42

 

As I've mentioned before, I had relatives who lived at 4 Garden Street which stood opposite the tower structure of Radford Mill.  I had no idea that the mill building was used for aircraft engine repair etc during the war.

 

My great uncle was too old to be conscripted, having been born in 1895, but he did regular stints of firewatching which meant he was out all night. His wife refused to stay in the house when he was doing this and decamped to stay with my maternal grandparents in Bobbers Mill Road. I wonder if this was because she was aware of the work going on a stone's throw from her front door and she feared the Luftwaffe would drop bombs on it. It could have happened at anytime but she possibly felt she didn't want to be alone if they came at night.

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  • 5 months later...
On 12/02/2015 at 11:25 AM, DAVIDW said:

This is another film in the "Britain Carries On" films on Pathe News from 1940 .

This features a bombed sweet factory . A bit boring unless your Mum worked in the sweet factory but could this be Nottingham ?

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/britain-carries-on-1940/query/britain+carries+on

Short film under 2 mins and right at the end are these two location shots . Look familiar ?

15886638454_5a4d2bf950_b.jpg

 

 

Someone (a Guest) has posted this message to possibly identify the location. Unfortunately, instead of posting it as a reply, they posted it as a 'Report' so it won't be displayed here.

 

Hi Just been looking at your photo of the sweet factory and believe It is Matlow & Swizzels In Newton, New Mills Derbyshire do hope this helps ! Alan .

 

If the person who posted that is reading this, they might like to click on the 'Reply' box below here.

 

And looking on Streetview, that suggestion seems to fit.  https://goo.gl/maps/bNEfUptMS6E2

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