Name
|
Position
|
Notes/Comments
|
Albert Smith |
Possibly Welfare |
Remembers Mr Jones was over the clerical staff. Mr
McKella was head. Mr McMaster was No2
and Mr Bond*No3. (Mr McMaster is
the man on the left of the photo on page 13 of Drakelow Unearthed
- Revised Edition). |
Wilfred Weston |
Offices |
Info from his daughter. He worked with a Mr Bromley,
Mr Clayton and Mr Ross |
John Scott |
Aeronautical Inspector |
Worked at Drakelow around 1942. |
Gladys Witts |
Milling Machine |
She stayed at the hostel and went home occasionally
at weekends. Gladys has donated some small workpieces she made to
our collection of artifacts. (P36 Drakelow Unearthed) |
Ken Walton |
Tool Room |
|
Mary Izon |
Technical Records |
She remembers several famous people visited the hostel
to perform. Also remembers Mr Nightingale, Mr Harbach, Joyce Shutt,
Mr Brookes, Mr Wade, Mr Woodward and Mr Bramley. |
Charlie Ravenhall
(Known as 'Mick') |
|
Recalled that Mr McMaster (Assistant chief draftsman)
had a 1/3rd scale working model of a car made for the tool room
foreman. The car was made by Fred Hemmings, Albert Bowles and Charlie
Ravenhall. (Mr McMaster is the man on the left of the photo on
page 13 of Drakelow Unearthed - Revised Edition). Photos |
William (Bill) Osbourne |
Reduction Gear Casing |
In the photo on page 13 of Drakelow Unearthed (Page
11 of original version), to the right behind, part hidden is
my father William (Bill) Osborne. Who Worked at No1 shadow factory
at Acocks Green and then at No1D shadow factory at Drakelow. He
often took us there in I think the 60s to see what was left of the
site. He stayed at the Hostel during the week and came home some
weekends, he also mentioned trips some weekends too The Nautical
William public house which I think is on the A442 towards Bridgnorth.
He worked for the Rover until 1966 finishing at Foremans Road.
(From Mick Osbourne - Son) |
Albert Fowler |
Polishing Shop Foreman |
Albert's family have sent us his detailed
memoirs of his time at Drakelow. He was one of the first staff to
arrive and one of the last to leave. His family have kindly given
us permission to reproduce his memoirs.They
can be found here. |
Don Harwood |
Offices, messenger and duplication |
|
John Seaburn |
Standards Room |
Worked at Drakelow from 24th April 1944 to 14th December
1945. |
Charles (Charlie) Dumper |
Welfare |
After leaving Drakelow Charlie went to work as a photographer
at the Summerfield rocket research station. He appears in the 1946
Drakelow Works Council photo elsewhere
on this website. |
Doris Price |
No Further info. |
|
Dorothy L'estrange |
Labour Bureax |
She was better known as 'Madge'.Remembers working
with Joan Griffiths. She remembers working for Mr S.R.Jones and
Mr Booth. She also remembers Mr F.R.Jones, Mr Harper, and Mr
C.Dumper. She later Married George Gilbert. Dorothy died in
September 2010. |
George Gilbert |
Accounts |
Came to Drakelow from Solihull (No2 Shadow Factory)
around 1942.Lived at the hostel during the week, returning home
at the weekends. George was an accomplished pianist and used to
play the piano during lunchtimes and for the concerts at the hostel. |
Eileen Bevan |
Nurse |
Eileen worked in the surgery with her sister, Haymes, from around
1943 -1945.
In the photo she returned to the surgery in 2002.
|
![](../images/Eileen.jpg) |
Doris Shield |
Purchasing |
Doris lived at the hostel and remembers working with
Mr Gilmore, Mr Weston, Mr Small and Mr Sid Gibbons (engineer). She
also remembers Miss Wiltshire in welfare and the security officer
Sergeant Mulligan. |
Jessie Irene Hartshorne |
Final View |
Horace Webb, who was to become her husband also worked
in Final View. |
Bill Chapman |
Raw Materials View |
Bill had extensive memories of his time at Drakelow.
He was one of the first workers to arrive in 1942/3. Aged around
21.When he arrived the construction work was being completed and
plant was still being installed. Bill believes that the two men
working at machine tools in the photo of tunnel 3 on page 9 of Drakelow
Unearthed (Revised edition), could be Charlie and Sam Wright. He
remembers celebrities John Clements and Googie Withers visiting
the hostel to entertain them. He used to clock in at Tunnel 1. |
Jean Cole |
Tool Store |
Worked around 1943-44 but left to have a baby. |
Mrs D.J.Giles |
|
Worked at Drakelow for a short time only checking components
with a micrometer.Remembers Harry Depper was killed during the
construction.
|
Mrs Spatham |
Machinist |
Remembers that they produced crankshafts,pistons and
tappets and there was a completed engine on display for the workforce
to look at. |
James Terry |
Drawing Office |
Mr Terry was also one of the first workers to arrive
when the factory was completed. |
Margarie Brookes |
Wages Office |
Margarie remembers being picked up by bus from Stourbridge.
She worked a comptometer in the wages office around 1944. Her father
William and sister Dorothy also worked at Drakelow. She later married
Frank Ludlow (below). |
William Brookes |
Head of clerical staff |
|
Dorothy Brookes |
Lathe operator
|
|
Frank Ludlow |
"In charge of keys" |
Frank remembers driving one of the electric trucks
and crashing it into an engine! He used to cycle to work. |
*Mr Edward
Bond |
Exact position not known but certainly Managerial. May have been
3rd in charge overall.
|
Mr Bond Relaxes in the sunshine. Looking at
the stone structure behind him, this must be the wall of the old
Blakeshall Common school building.
|
This Hercules piston section was presented to
Mr Bond when he left the No1D factory. The inscription states
"Hercules Engines Rover No1D Shadow Factory 1940-1945".
|
![](../images/Mr%20Bond.jpg) |
![](../images/piston.jpg) |
George Palmer |
Electrician |
Goerge had many detailed memories
of his time at Draklelow. Including that one of his many jobs was
to refurbish and set to work some american roll threading machines
which had been recovered from ships sunk in Liverpool bay.They had
no instructions and were designed for american power supplies (60Hz)
which made the task very difficult. |
Vera Churchette |
Telephonist |
Vera worked in an office within
the RAF stores area. Amongst many other jobs, she used to read a
weather report to the workers over the Tannoy system. She used to
travel to work by coach from Kidderminster and also remembers the
concerts at the hostel. She recalled that the mining engineer was
a Mr Jack Edwards. |
Lillian Lane |
Milling machine |
Worked between 1942 and 1944
producing crankshaft sleeves for aircraft engines. |
Sylvia Blake |
Comptometer |
|
Margaret LLoyd |
Financial Accounts |
Met, engaged to and then married
Tommy Lynn who worked in Cost Accounts. Margaret remembers her boss
was Mr Eric Bale and other names such as Sylvia Blake, Mr S.R.Jones,
Mr Harbach and Mr Bramley. Margaret's two sisters Phyllis and Dai
also worked at Drakelow and collectively they were known as 'Faith',
'Hope' and 'Charity' but she refuses to say which was which! She
remembered that Sylvia Blake married a man from the Drawing Office.
He had previously asked Margaret out, but she had declined as she
was already engaged to Tommy. |
William Chesterman |
|
My granfather William Chesterman worked for James Archdale and
Company as an engineer . He wanted to sign up as a submariner
, however , an inner ear problem and the fact that he was needed
in his capacity as an engineer kept him out of the forces. My
aunt who was quite young at the time can remember him mention
''going to the tunnels''..... and that is as much as I know .
I presume that Archdales made tooling or something for the factory.
(From Anne Hatton - Grandaughter)
|
Eric Harold Newman |
Security/ Goods Inwards and Outwards |
My father Eric Harold Newman
worked at Drakelow up until 14th October 1944. According to my mother
(now deceased) he worked on security/goods inwards and outwards.
He was killed in a road traffic accident in Kingsford Lane when
returning home on his motorcycle after a shift at the factory. His
motorcycle was in collision with the bus used to transport workers
to and from the factory. His brother Bert Newman may have also worked
at the factory. The driver of the bus was a Mr Wilkes.
(From Warwick Newman - Son) |