Now that we've left the EU (Debate)

Sat 16 Jan 2021, 10:52

Thanks Steve

That was a very interesting clip of film. A shame that the spare parts department for Peerless will have closed as i wouldn't mind stopping by.

Yes, the newbies were always given the rotten jobs. Sanding, you had it easy! The newbies for Bo had to take off the drive chains, wipe off all the grease, soak them in paraffin to wash off the remaining grease. Refit the chains, then apply new grease. If you could do that without complaining they would take you on.

Hand crank is a bit terrifying, knowing that if it kicks back that is either a broken wrist or worse. Terrifies me still. If we have one that might prove problematical the knack is to put a rope on the handle and pull on it with several people. Of course, you only get the one swing but with several people on the rope you can make it very quick which improves your chances of it firing first time. 

Bean also made light commercial vehicles. Several still survive. 

Fri 15 Jan 2021, 22:37

The enthusiasts' club is just down the road in Shipston on Stour.  Amazing cars which nearly became the "Ford" of the UK.  I drove one once.  Great fun!

https://www.beancarclub.org.uk/Short-Bean-Car-History/

Fri 15 Jan 2021, 18:21

Does anyone remember the Bean?

Fri 15 Jan 2021, 13:42 (last edited on Fri 15 Jan 2021, 13:44)

Nick - it was a stink and not flower or even flour bomb...

Fortunately for HW it did not turn out to be nearly so serious as it was for another famous Harold who was the unfortunate victim of a foreign object in the eye almost exactly 900 years, all but about four months, earlier.

A government website records the incident, but gets the year wrong claiming it happened in 1969. It also records that he made a witty remark about it (with an arm like that he ought to be in the English cricket XI). I have a strong suspicion that this has been added retrospectively.

Harold Wilson was at Oxford at the same time as our very eccentric and unworldly divinity teacher, who kept a few photos of them shaking hands. Unfortunately he (our teacher that is) was best known for his drinking and the secret stash of booze he kept in the classroom.

nb. how times have changes. Back in 1977, the left viewed the EEC as a plot intent on subverting the workers in the interests of evil capitalists. I know that because Piers Corbyn, brother of Jeremy, who was still active in student politics at Imperial College and being a thorn in the side of student union president, Trevor Phillips, said so when I was there. Tony Benn wrote a famous letter to his constituents on how the EEC would subvert Parliamentary Democracy. On the hand, Ted Heath was all gung-ho on the idea. At the time time of the 1975 referendum, I met Winston Churchill, Conservative MP for Stretford, and grandson of the man born down the road from us, at an event in which he was campaigning for continued membership of the EEC.

Fri 15 Jan 2021, 12:41

just caught up on Steve's mention of the flower bomb incident with Harold Wilson in 1966. I'd joined the Labour Party in 1965 (as a schoolboy!) via the Labour Party Young Socialists. This ceased when they were disaffiliated after the HW incident. Did my leaftie credentials a power of good to say I'd been thrown out the Labour Party before I'd even got to University.  I rejoined in the late seventies.

In response to Vicky Burton's original request: who say's we've left? Fake Noos. The flag's still up in my garden...

Fri 15 Jan 2021, 11:12

Tim,
  as you say, a small world. My work on Jezebel was 90% use of sandpaper in preparation for paining, varnishing. I did take a couple of short journeys on her. I'm not sure what was more worrying; travelling through London knowing the thing had, by modern standards, next to no brakes or the process of starting the beast. The starting handle had a reputation for breaking arms, although maybe that's what they just told us freshers. The process (from memory) used to involve turning the engine over and priming each cylinder in turn with fuel, then turning the engine over via the starting handle, taking it just past TDC and firing up the trembler coils and hoping the engine started and turned the right way. Get it wrong and the starting handle could do serious damage.

Incidentally, I've found this on Youtube about the early history of Slough Trading Estate aka the Depot or "the dump" to locals. It references Peerless and a picture of their old worker's canteen (which is where the pub was built later).

Fri 15 Jan 2021, 08:57

Hi Steve

Yes, quite right. Wasting time. Far better than politics.

Jez, I know Jez. I have seen it many times. My Brother (also Steve) was at Imperial College and got involved in their mascot Bo (a 1902 James and Brown if I remember) and was involved in taking Jez down to Brighton on the HCVS run. He also restored their Morris Commercial Clem (1926 I think). Small world. We bought the old tires which had been on Clem and were considered past it to use on a couple of our other restorations. A 1918 Dennis and a Thornycroft.

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 21:44 (last edited on Thu 14 Jan 2021, 21:45)

Tim, thanks for that, and it is very interesting. You would appear to have your work cut out. Citroen stopped assembly in Slough in 1965, so it's not something I was aware of at the time.

Back in my university days I did do a little bit of work on a vehicle of a similar vintage. That was a 1916 Dennis Fire Engine, which was a college mascot, and goes by the name of Jezebel.

That link ought to work (for some reason yours doesn't show up as a link).

John,
  thanks for that picture of Slough Estates 3. I believe Slough Estates 5 is still around as well. Presumably, as these seem to have been in service up to about 1973, they must have been among the oldest steam engines still working in UK outside of heritage lines.

There is a book on Slough Estates Railway, and my uncle had one. I've just found a second hand copy on Amazon and ordered it.

nb. I've just note that the Vicky Burton said this thread with only for time wasters, so I feel I'm helping to meet that requirement.

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 19:31

One for Steve  https://granddadjohn.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/jrh_2498t.jpg

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 17:25

Thanks Steve

That is very interesting. I always assumed that it would be a bit rough. I drove around the estate some 20 years ago in an attempt to see if it still remained, but long gone by then. I had come across the pub in a book on Slough estates.

My interest in the Peerless is that we have been restoring a Peerless. WW1 ex British army no doubt ex Slough dump. We are cracking on with it but still have a long way to go though. I started a blog about its restoration and hopefully (and if you are interested in that sort of thing) this link should take you to it.

WW1 Peerless lorry restoration - Pre WW2 vehicles - HMVF - Historic Military Vehicles Forum

If that does not work you can copy and paste it into google and that should take you there. But don’t feel compelled to take a look, this is a debate about the EU of course after all.

FWD became Hardy motors, then AEC and then became a plant for Citroen I believe. It all changes.

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 17:14

Wow, Steve, a Triumph Tiger Cub with fitted bar billiards table?  Sort of a sidecar, I guess.  Must have been a rarity.  Do you have a photo?

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 14:09

Tim,

I do recall the Peerless public house. It's been replaced by a row of shops and was quite close to the building featured in the Office.

I did go in it on a few occasions with a friend when I would have been about 17 or 18. I would have turned up on my Lambretta LI 150 scooter and, later, on a Triumph Tiger Cub as it had a bar billiards table (a real rarity these days).

The Peerless pub was on the site of giant workers canteen, that had been built during the early days of the Trading Estate and replaced with the New Peerless Restaurant. When it was first constructed at the tail end of WW I it was called "the dump" and huge numbers of ex-army lorries were refurbished there before being sold on into the civilian market. One of the makes commonly refurbished was an American one, the Peerless Lorry Company of Ohio, and the name seems to have its origins in that brand.

Needless to say the Peerless pub was never less than seedy.

As for FWD factories, the term doesn't mean much to me. I can remember a lot of the signature companies in the estate, like High Duty Alloys and Bestobell (previously Bells Asbestos and Engineering) with the stone "Bestobell Man" statue resplendent in his asbestos fireproof suit outside the factory.

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 13:45

I, of course, know why it was named after Sir William Herschel. Unfortunately, Observatory House was, in an act of historic vandalism, demolished in 1960 (and replaced with an office block with the same name).

It was opposite the Granada cinema, itself a victim of the bulldozers in recent years.

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 11:49

The reason the school is called Herschel grammar is because astronomy was very much enhanced by William Herschel in Slough. He was sponsored by George III who was near at Windsor. His house is long gone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Herschel

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 11:42

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!

It isn't fit for humans now,

There isn't grass to graze a cow.

Swarm over, Death!

Come, bombs and blow to smithereens

Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,

Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,

Tinned minds, tinned breath.

Mess up the mess they call a town-

A house for ninety-seven down

And once a week a half a crown

For twenty years.

And get that man with double chin

Who'll always cheat and always win,

Who washes his repulsive skin

In women's tears:

And smash his desk of polished oak

And smash his hands so used to stroke

And stop his boring dirty joke

And make him yell.

But spare the bald young clerks who add

The profits of the stinking cad;

It's not their fault that they are mad,

They've tasted Hell.

It's not their fault they do not know

The birdsong from the radio,

It's not their fault they often go

To Maidenhead

And talk of sport and makes of cars

In various bogus-Tudor bars

And daren't look up and see the stars

But belch instead.

In labour-saving homes, with care

Their wives frizz out peroxide hair

And dry it in synthetic air

And paint their nails.

Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough

To get it ready for the plough.

The cabbages are coming now;

The earth exhales.

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 11:03

Interesting read. Thanks. Do you remember the Peerless or FWD factories (taken over by AEC) or the pub "The Peerless" all now long gone, but of interest to me.

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 11:01 (last edited on Thu 14 Jan 2021, 11:02)

I used to work fairly close to the building used in the opening credits of the Office. I believe it used to be occupied by Crane Packing and was near the junction of the Leigh Road and Buckingham Avenue junction. It is now gone.

My old school is to the east of Farnham Road and is now called Herschel Grammar, but when I first attended in 1966 it was called Slough Technical High School, and a couple of years later became Herschel High School. It had been set up as part of a post-war initiative to produce selective schools orientated towards science and engineering. I imagine it was consciously placed so close to the Trading Estate as it was a major centre of light engineering (now more likely to be warehouses and tile emporiums).

In the event, very few appeared (unlike Germany where they are common). Even by 1966 that intention had faded (hence the change of name) and I had taken the 11 plus (when originally set up post WW II, they frequently had separate selection exams).

Now, remind me, what was this thread meant to be about?

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 07:39

Indeed it is still the largest, and you may already know the TV programme "The Office" was filmed at a distribution warehouse there. ( that supplies a well known high street stationary shop. )

Thu 14 Jan 2021, 02:54 (last edited on Thu 14 Jan 2021, 02:56)

Crumbs Steve, we were cheek by jowl!

I practised conveyancing in Slough, near the Trading Estate.    Many years ago.

I was very impressed when two of my friends bought a house in Stoke Poges (Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard").

Is the Trading Estate still the largest in the UK?

"Spangles" - that brings back memories.  Thank you.

Wed 13 Jan 2021, 20:41 (last edited on Wed 13 Jan 2021, 20:49)

As a native of Slough, I attended a school on the very borders of Slough Trading Estate, not 10 minutes walk from where Thunderbirds was filmed and the first Ford GT 40s (which went on to win Le Mans) were engineered, I can say that my memories of studying for GCSEs are forever linked with the smell of Old English Spangles being brewed up at the Mars factory about a mile away.

It's also at my old school where an errant schoolboy (albeit from a different establishment) managed to hit Harold Wilson in the eye right with a stink bomb during a public meeting whilst campaigning in 1966. The stink bomb was bought at Coopers, a joke shop on Slough High Street. owned by Tommy Cooper's brother David.

Also, back in those distant days, there was a standard gauge railway which ran along and across the roadside, which once served the factories where once they assembled armaments (and Citroens). It was, in those last days of its existence, limited to a weekly service of a steam tank locomotive that ferried oil tankers from the mainline to the generating station next the Mars factory that also made the steam that was piped to the factories. I once worked in one of those very places.

I believe a couple of those Slough Estates locos are chuffing around, Covid permitting, on preserved railway lines and not intimidating car drivers in my home town as they once did.

Wed 13 Jan 2021, 19:20

Yes Wendy.

Fantastic place.  I took my 3 there years ago (with a few others).  They didn't charge then, they might not now.  Anyway, we will have to wait a bit.

Even for someone like me (who hasn't got a sweet tooth) it was fascinating and very well conducted.  Everyone was given free goody bags which, for some mysterious reason, my children still remember, decades on!

Wed 13 Jan 2021, 11:13

Good reason to buy a Mars bar instead. (Made in Slough)

Mon 11 Jan 2021, 21:00

.... hey hun, did you tell the kids what you done?

Mon 11 Jan 2021, 13:35

I’m still surprised no-one has done a “Since I Left EU” version of the classic Avalanches song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTIV0bJH3uA

(Though their second best known track, Frontier Psychiatrist, might be more fitting...)

Mon 11 Jan 2021, 12:15

Now that we've left the EU...

Brexit's sealed.

The fact that this can be abbreviated to "BS" is entirely coincidental, but the amount of BS that we are fed will, I am sure, increase exponentially ...

Mon 11 Jan 2021, 07:17

Sam we now know the meaning of "lies,damn lies" and political statements!

Sun 10 Jan 2021, 23:08

The often mentioned £330 million per week (during the lead-up to the referendum) is notably absent now - hmmm, I wonder why that is.

Sun 10 Jan 2021, 22:51 (last edited on Sun 10 Jan 2021, 22:54)

Now that we've left the EU...

If this lot ruled the world

Every day would be the first day of??

Sun 10 Jan 2021, 22:29

I have a old phone with an Italian SIM card for use when there. Several days ago I turned it on and when it connected to a network the welcome message that greeted me read: Benvenuto in <[NOME PAESE]>! Con TIM ti senti a casa in tutta Europa:...  Sad to see Regno Unito no longer in the database.

Sun 10 Jan 2021, 22:10

No more French, Italian, German and Spanish wine.😂

Sun 10 Jan 2021, 20:30

No more Belgian chocolate?🤭

Sun 10 Jan 2021, 12:54

Complete the sentence: Now that we've left the EU..

Time wasters ONLY please.