Davy United Group

[skippy 11]

I met a woman today on the beach in Wollongong [Australia] originally from Sheffield,now Chesterfield, her husband is out here organising building of a new mill at the Port Kembla Steelworks For Davy United, I think is name is John ? she has come with him and having a bit of a holiday whilst he is working. My cousin, John Wallace worked for them some years ago, mind you I only met him once, that was 60 years ago.

[Intake1952 10]

Hi there, very interesting forum!!!

I also knew George, I'm one of thse mentioned amongst those names, Brian from Swallownest was probably Brian Taylor (spike) Peter was Peter Marsden.

In the training school '' Supervised'' By Charlie Warren, the other instructors were, Bill Gregory (fabricating) Frank Biddulph (paternmaking) Wilf Thornton(machining) Frank Bellamy (draughting)

I also went into 6bay about the same time as George along with Ken Littlewood, he was still there when I left Xmas 2002

 

Hi,

 

I knew a George Burford at Davy's but it goes back over 50 years ago: which one might it be? I started in the apprentice training shop at Davy's in 1952. That's where we met. We were both part of a group of eight apprentice fitters. Some of the names were: Peter Moss, Ken Littlewood, John Lloyd, Jim Hydes. Making up the rest of the group were George, a lad called Brian from Swallownest, a Peter from Southey Green, and of course, me.

 

After the shop training, the George I knew went into the main fitting shop (6 bay) and I went into the light fitting shop (2 bay). We would see one another around the works but we never worked together again after our time in the training shop. After a year in 2 bay, I spent the next four years moving around various departments and ended up in the engineering office. I left Davy's in 1965.

 

Small world.

[Falls 10]

Hi there, very interesting forum!!!

I also knew George, I'm one of thse mentioned amongst those names, Brian from Swallownest was probably Brian Taylor (spike) Peter was Peter Marsden.

In the training school '' Supervised'' By Charlie Warren, the other instructors were, Bill Gregory (fabricating) Frank Biddulph (paternmaking) Wilf Thornton(machining) Frank Bellamy (draughting)

I also went into 6bay about the same time as George along with Ken Littlewood, he was still there when I left Xmas 2002

 

Hi Peter,

 

Good to hear you are still alive and kicking. its been a long time. How is the weather there in Portugal? I'm sure it's better than Canada right now. I tried sending you a PM but it was rejected. Don't know were the problem was: your end or mine.

 

Regards

[Intake1952 10]

Hi there falls.

I'm new to this try again

Regards

[andyf16 10]

Andy, when were you last in Davy's? In my job I used to visit a lot of heavy machine shops and, to me, Davy's was always interesting. I've got a great photo taken from the crane walkway, up in the roof of one of the bays, but on this forum it appears that I've got to have a minimum of 15 posts before using URL links...

 

BTW, are you in or near Huntingdon?

 

Dave

 

 

hi dave, sorry been offline for almost a week, i was last in there end of february this year and as i say quite a bit going on, at least in bay 6

i know they'd taken something very big out early in feb. but not sure what

 

yes mate i'm in huntingdon

[martss 10]

Forgemasters supply them with rough machined mill housings. One went to Davy's earlier this year. There's another at Forgemasters now which will be going up soon, I was working on it this week.

 

There was a large casting heading from Forgemasters probably to Davys last night, it was at the roundabout at Broughton Lane at around 19.30.

[helbco 10]

Anyone's Dad (or Mum) work at Davy's?

 

Did you go to the "Field Day' with games and sports. Do you remember the amazing Christmas display the Drawing Office staged - eg the Dr Who Dalek? '64//'65?

 

What happened to the company in the end?

[steamrollus 10]

I never worked at Davy United but was a regular at the Sports and Social club, probably the best designed and well managed of its type. The Manager wa called Brownhill, who went on to manage Bakewell show I believe, really nice guy and lovely family.

 

Friends who worked at Davys included Roy Smith, Wendy Wragg, her brother Malcolm, Frank Hammond, Joan Foster, good people smashing memories.

 

I lost touch many years ago. I do not know exactly why the place closed down but guess like the rest of british manufacturing did not get the government support that competitors got, unions got too strong and beligerent hence uneconomical.

[goldenbabe1966 10]

Anyone's Dad (or Mum) work at Davey's?

 

Did you go to the "Field Day' with games and sports. Do you remember the amazing Christmas display the Drawing Office staged - eg the Dr Who Dalek? '64//'65?

 

What happened to the company in the end?

 

hiya helbco, my dad use to work as a crane driver at davy's his name was jack briggs.

[ptrA 10]

I worked at Davy' as an electrician, left in1972 and my Father retired from Davy's in the 80s. As a boy I went to the sports days at Myrtle Springs (Davy's Sports Ground) Later on they built the existing sports club & ground at the side of the factory. Had a number of names and now Davy has come back as Davy-Markham.

[Falls 10]

Anyone's Dad (or Mum) work at Davey's?

 

Did you go to the "Field Day' with games and sports. Do you remember the amazing Christmas display the Drawing Office staged - eg the Dr Who Dalek? '64//'65?

 

What happened to the company in the end?

 

Hello,

 

I worked in the engineering drawing office at D-U from 1957 to 1965.

In fact our section was the first to work in the new drawing office when the building opened in December 1957. The rest of the drawing office arrived from Park Iron Works the week after.

 

Regarding the Christmas decorations, the whole thing started at Christmas 1958. The management put up a notice that year saying that because it was a new building, there was to be no decorations attached to the walls or ceiling, ect. Some Smart-Alec in the office - I cant remember who - read the notice and pointed out that it didn't say anything about decorations attached (or anchored) to the floor.

 

Some of the boys then went down to the chemist shops in Darnall and bought/ordered all the ingredients and lab equipment needed to make hydrogen. It was quite an industry with all these gas plants bubbling away under peoples desks. Once they had made enough hydrogen, it was pumped into enough balloons to hoist up sets of Christmas decorations. Of course, to stop the balloons floating away, they were anchored to the FLOOR.

 

The next year, they used the ventilation registers in the ceiling as anchor points and hoisted up the decorations. The weight of the decorations was so great that some of the registers were almost torn out of the ceiling. It cost the company a fortuned to get all the damage to the ventilation system repaired.

 

Because they were now banned from using the ceiling, etc., thats when the Daleks and all the other amazing motorised machines made their appearance. After that, the decorations got more and more spectacular every year. I left in 1965 so I don't know what happened after that.

 

Regards

[buck 11]

I worked for Davy United Instrument Company during 1866 to 1968. We were a subsidiary of the main company making electronic control equipment for all kinds of industiries as well as for rolling mills. They were a great group of people and even helped me to get my stuff packed when I emigrated to Canada. I can just heaer some of you cynics say " just to get rid of him ". I'm not telling.