Our Phili-Pam

Meeting for breakfast last weekend was good. We were all what we had said 'on the tin'. It's more than just a social network site for a chat, as it provokes thought & sometimes action. Twice this week, a lady from the otherside of the world has said much the same, expressing her enjoyment of this site with memories from her past. A friend, not a member on here, but reads it from time to time, saw that I intend to have another stroll around the Wedge today and has decided to come with me. Understanding a little of our past gives us a better calculated view on what might be our future and how we might better handle it. If we can? Best wishes to you all

It was very good meet-up indeed - and I look forward to another one some time. This forum has come such along way in the 18 months or so since it began, and I only really started it as a sort of experiment! I was starting to get so many questions that I couldn't adequately answer, so I thought I'd combine my hobby of writing web-code with an attempt to create something useful that might get folk chatting and helping each other with various Coventry related conundrums. So, thanks go to everyone for making this forum such a success, and me very proud. And if I ever show signs that my feet aren't firmly on the ground.... just give me a kick. Cheers

My ramble yesterday took me past a cemetery. Not only did I recognise some of the names, I had played at their funeral. I am fulfilling a sad duty today at a city centre church. I have officiated at all junctures of peoples lives, christenings, weddings & funerals. In one case all three! My first job as organist was when I was fourteen, playing for christenings at a local Methodist church. Enough of the morbid, I am an optimist. I have investments that if there was no hope there would be little point in having them. Last evening, I attended my granddaughter's junior school Year 6 play. She moves on to her senior school in September, three years behind my grandson. Time does not stand still. The very nature of this site means that many on here are in the same stage of life as I am. That is why I so enjoy all of your company on here. I am dressed like a penguin at present, so no ramble today. Let's hope the sun shines again soon.

I am writing this at midnight after just listening to a discussion programme on Radio 4 called 'Loving Thy Neighbour'. They were classifying neighbours to include people who we meet or socialise with on the net, not just the man or lady from next door. Our next door neighbour is usually random, unless we live in a managed community, but our neighbours on the net are at least of some similar mind of interest, as on here, our local city. I know my neighbours next door, in that one is male, the other is female. That is a status that in society we usually are able take for granted, but not so on the internet. I could have entered myself on here as a twenty year old female of catwalk model proportions & supported it with a picture to suit, as was the case with an example quoted on this programme that I was listening to. As this is a site where it's the subject that matters, not a dating or grooming issue, I do not have a problem with someone who has a fantasy of identification. In spite of being told that I was good at acting the goat by my mum, I am not very good at acting, so I would struggle to pull off such a stunt in reality. Imagine the shock and disappointment at our breakfast meeting if I had faked my identity in such a manner. I knew someone once who claimed to be a test pilot, but worked as a cleaner at the Jag, but he was obvious. Many years ago, I learned of a site manager who was working for a huge construction company. The site manager had not a qualification to his name, which meant that documents, test certs, etc that he had signed were of no value. That was serious. I am sure that the characters, Jimmy & Happy, mentioned recently on here were their own enjoyable harmless fun characters, without any ramifications. I do hope that you all on here are my neighbours, no matter about personal circumstances, with our common interest in our city & our memories of it.

I had two motor bikes when in my teens. Well, three if I include a 32cc Cyclemaster moped that I used at uni. I live in a cul-de-sac, with good neighbours so they are worth respecting. Best wishes.

Our wedding day was the 7th Sept 68. Our honeymoon was delayed until the Monday, because the church choir was presenting a harvest cantata 'Garnered Grain', on the Sunday in which Pam was a contralto & I was organist. My eyesight is such that I was forced to retire as organist at the end of 2004. Fortunately I did not have to play for my own wedding My real father (I was adopted) Mr P Brown played. He had total mastery of church organs, he could play anything, with or without music.

One of the tools of my trade! Does this bring back memories to anyone?

In my time of working with Courtaulds Engineering, the company had one of the best teams of engineers in the world, ranging from chemical to civil construction. The company is still ongoing but under a new guise and at a new location. If I had an issue on any aspect, whether a course that I was on, or any such query, there was always someone that I could turn to. Even college homework in the early days that was far beyond most. My dad was a skilled development engineer, but he had to take his hat off to the expertise at where I worked. If any of our team from those days see this Coventry History site, please come on board. It's not all control estimates, thank the Lord, on here as you will see. There are so many of you that could make such a contribution. The number of venues that I have visited since retirement and bumped into former colleagues is so lovely. I used to see a former QS at steam shows who was always a fount of historical info. Please join in, even if you do live out Stratford way. Best wishes Philip

Ah! The good old "guessing stick". Here's mine - and I can still use it!

That is fabulous. Mine on show is a nine inch, perfect for constants. The top slide scale is the same as the bottom, but the top is moved halfway along. It means that I could read off all of values for a set constant, without having to move the slide. One of our engineering inspectors had a similar instrument to yours. I do have my dad's ten-inch engineers' slide rule that many a Hillman problem was sorted out with. There are a couple of pre-war Hillman cars in our museum that when I see them I picture him in his office, slide rule in one hand, his specs at the top of his forehead as he searched for an idea. Unlike me, he was a very slim six footer, who weighed in at about nine stone. His colleagues referred to him as Jock! He was a fabulous dad. PS. I have his door name plate on the inside of my garden wendy house door. My door name plate is on the door to my music and model railway room. I love it on here with people like you.

Thanks Philip, I feel the same. I think we should be on a new thread with our slide rule topic but I'm sure Rob will do that if he thinks it's best. My Otis Calculator has a 60" scale so it can be quite accurate, although it is a bit slow and cumbersome, unlike my Aristo 10"! To use a slide rule, you have to have some idea of quantity to correctly place the DP, unlike the modern electronic equivalent, there's no = button! How nice to have your dad's door nameplate and yours too. I have one on my study - but it doesn't work!

The sound of Allesley parish bells for years haunted me. Spending so much of the first fifteen years of my life in and out of Paybody Hospital, they featured so strongly, the church being right next to the hospital (now demolished). As a child, the worst time of the week was a Sunday evening. In those days, visiting times were confined to just a couple of times a week, which included from 3 to 4pm on a Sunday. After 4pm, every child in the ward knew that the next glimpse that you would have of mum and dad was halfway through the coming week. All boys together, you did not cry, but I am sure every child wanted to weep buckets. After visiting had finished on Sunday, the next event was the parish bells, that taunted a message that confirmed that it was the low point of the week. Enough of that, you will be pleased to know that I am off on hols, to Torquay in Devon so, no more of me for a bit. It's not good to advertise absence for security reasons, but my home will not be empty. We like Shearings as we trust their holiday management. We have in the past used a Coventry-based operator, but in my ten years of retirement we have learned who we can depend on, even if they are based in Wigan. As Shearings have their South of England departure base at Bayton Road, once you are aboard the bus there, there are no more depot changes. Another positive reason for going with them for a south coast break. We climb aboard with our buckets and spades, and singing 'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside' at the top of our voices, we are off. PS. I made that bit up.

Hi all My Pam has been busy this afternoon. You at least can see why life is so good for me. I can vouch for the authenticity of both the local sausages in the sausage rolls as well as the home made jam in the tarts. It is ALL COVENTRY. EDIT. Before you ask about the gaps on the stand, two lots have already gone to our elderly neighbours.

Hello all Weather permitting, the last week in February was always the first serious outing of garden tools in our home. It was for my mum & dad. My home in Sewall Highway with a very small front & back garden had a very traditional bit of lawn (sorry, grass), a few flower borders, a small paved area & that was about it, all kept in place by privet. How all of those names have changed, what hey! With the onset of garden centres, the late Percy Thrower, in his unglazed inside studio green house does not stand a chance nowadays! Living in Holbrooks for forty four years, our garden (the oddest shape you ever did see) goes around the house, there are a few pics on our gallery. We have a section that we call the 'Wilderness' where we use the green ecology excuse that it is for the wildlife. The one thing that I did not want was a 'Noddy' garden, with every inch manicured like a billiard table, but then that is me. We have chosen to live in a suburb, so it is a suburban garden, our outdoor rooms, where we can pretend that we are in the middle of sticks, but in five minutes can walk to Morrisons. We can't have it all roads, my dad used to say. So, we have woken up our neighbours at 11am with the sounds of a petrol strimmer & an electric grass cutter. Those sounds are different from my Sewall Highway days. Hey! What's a strimmer anyway? ps. We miss the sound of the back & forward push mowers.