Your first job in Coventry

Just noticed this reference to removal of dummies and it struck me as a great way of achieving the desired result. My daughter had a similar problem with my Granddaughter but we were fortunate in that while visiting the dentist he pointed out to her that it was time to give up dummies. To our absolute amazement she said OK and she has not worried about dummies since. Considering that all hell was let loose previously if we had the temerity to suggest giving up dummies it was an amazing result. Well done Mr Dentist

I'm starting to feel a little embarrassed now Col. Good job we are both retired. Unemployable comes to mind.

My first job was at City Pram in the Lower Precinct, I used to build the bikes in their little warehouse over near the old Irish centre (Studio 21 at the time). Was only there for about a month though, was on the old YTS schemes

Hi, My first job at 15 was with Cooksons Warehouse in the Precinct in '64, I earned a huge

Hi all My first job in Coventry was Saturday mornings helping at Lilly's greengrocers in Primrose Hill St. I did officially four hours (legal limit for a fourteen year old). I was there for nearly two years, my hours gradually increasing as I got older. I also had a school holiday job at the GEC in Stoke, in the transmission stores & then in the auto exchange lab stores. I nearly took up a full time job there, until Courtaulds offered me a pupil-ship with them as a trainee accountant. Good old Coventry. ps. My mind must be on its way out totally! I posted this info at the start of this thread, so please, will you all stop getting old!

My first job in Coventry was as a Police Cadet in the City of Coventry Police. On my first day in uniform, I was walking down Little Park Street when I spotted Mr Pendleton, I think that was his name, the Chief Constable, approaching me. I meant to snap off a text book salute but it came out as a very poor John Wayne impression. Unfortunately, it was witnessed by Sgt Eric Crowe, the training Sgt. Did I get a rollicking!! There was also Drill. The continuity drill organised by Sgt Harry Underwood for VIP visitors saw him going red with apoplexy as half the cadets went the wrong way and just marched off the parade ground. Harry Underwood was a fabulous man OFF the drill square. He also had a great sense of humour on it. If he spotted people on the 2nd floor, CID office, staring at us doing drill, he'd call us to attention and out of the corner of his mouth tell us that when he said "Look" we were all to stare at the 2nd floor window

I was there about 10 years after that......the bike thieves are still as bad now. Had one nicked out my garden recently

Head in the drawer While working for the GPO many moons ago I was installing a telephone sytem in an office block in Coventry town centre, cannot remember the exact location but it's not important to the story. I arrived bright and early in the morning about 10.30ish, after being made a cup of tea I settled down to begin the work on the installation. The main exchange junction box was fitted on the wall under a desk, it could just be seen protruding under the modesty board to the rear of the desk. (The modesty board was fitted at the rear of a desk, mainly used when the desk was situated in the middle of an office). The fact that the desk was situated against a wall the board was not needed but it was still in place, there was another board fitted just behind the drawers, with that in mind a space was afforded between the modesty board and the drawer board. The space was just big enough for my head to fit into so I could sit under the desk and work but at an angle, not very comfortable but it could be done. I asked the lady who was working at the desk if she could move to another desk while I carried out the work, she agreed and I proceeded to to do the job in hand, I eased myself under the desk and with a lot of discomfort began slide myself into place. All was going real well but I needed to stretch my legs as they had now gone dead. I extricated myself and had a walk round, meanwhile while I had gone the lady who normally sat at the desk returned to get something from the drawer, in doing so she left the drawer open, wide open. When I returned she had gone and I did not realise the drawer was open, I returned to my position under the table but for some reason It felt better, I was no longer stretched to one side? My head was in a much better position and I could see the junction box clearer, why did I not spot this gap before? I thought nothing more of it and began to settle down to complete my task. After a short while another lady (I found out later) appeared in the room and she was unaware that I was under the desk, the drawer was wide open and she thought it was a safety issue, without much ado she began to shut the drawer, it then became clear to me what I had done, I had my head in the wrong cavity (my head was between the back of the drawer and the backing board, not between the backing board and the modesty board, that's why it felt more comfortable). Well it hurt, she had slammed the drawer against my head, my ears began to ring and I shouted out in pain, "stop, I am under the table." Again unbeknown to me she did not hear me but the drawer was pulled open and I cried a sigh of relief, "thank God for that" I thought "I had better get out from under the desk and do a damage report on my head" my ears were ringing and it hurt. Before I could move the drawer began to slide back toward my head again but this time with more gusto than before. Wham, the drawer hit me in the head again causing me more pain and I was now slightly bloodied. I yelled again, "stop stop I am under the desk". It would appear that the lady tried to shut the drawer but she thought it had stuck (well it was stuck, on my head!) so she pulled the drawer back a little bit more and then slammed it in, wow, did that hurt? Well I can tell you, it did. Happy ending, though the lady was most sorry and could not do enough for me, coffee, tea, glass of pop etc and she rubbed my head. I think she said she would like to have my baby, not too sure what she meant by that. Lol. Colin.

Morning RKid, Why was it when I read 'head in the drawer' I thought to myself, here we go again. You wouldn't be related to Frank Spencer would you by any chance. Were you sure you were hearing correctly or seeing stars. Enough said !

Newspaper seller Not too long after the Coventry Point tower was built I had a job of installing a telephone system on the first floor overlooking the Precinct and Woolworth as it was then. I remember it being a very hot day and all the windows were open in order to keep cool. As you can imagine it was a bit noisy, you could hear the everyday chatter of shoppers as they went about their business, but above all that noise you could hear the Coventry newspaper seller shouting his call to buy his newspapers. "Evening final, Telegraph, evening final", or "City final etc " the unique call could be heard all along the Precinct (citeee finull etc.) this call was beginning to annoy the office manager who was conducting a meeting in an office just above the paper seller, shutting the windows was not an option so he sent one of his underlings to approach the newspaper seller and tell him to please move to another location, about ten minutes later he returned and the man could still be heard shouting his call. I asked the lad who had been sent to approach the paper seller "he is still shouting then, what did he say?" his reply "tell your bloody boss to move, I have been here for years, his problem not mine." His reply did not go down too well judging by the shouting that came from his office after being told he was not going to move. After a few minutes the underling reappeared holding a bundle of cash, "what is the plan now then?" I asked. "The boss has told me to buy all his papers in order to shut him up". It made me chuckle, but I thought that was not a bad plan, I wished him good luck and he continued on his quest to shut the paper seller up. And it worked, all went quiet and the lad return victorious. We had a laugh and he returned to the office to give the boss the good news, I heard them give a loud hooray and things settled down, well not really, ten minutes later and all we could hear was "Telegraph, finul etc." what the 'eck now? "I heard the boss shout "get down there and find out what he is up to" The door of the office was ajar and he copped me laughing, he voiced some abusive comment and I forced a straight face and carried on. Again the office pleb returned "wait till I tell him what he has gone and done" the boss went ballistic, shouting, ranting and raving, "he won, close the bloody windows" he exclaimed. As the pleb passed me, having been told to close the windows I could not hold back with the question! "so what did he do then?" I asked. He replied "the seller, after selling all his papers walked up to the Coventry Evening Telegraph and collected another batch of newspapers" the paper seller was well chuffed he was on a winner. Just goes to show money cannot buy everything. From what I remember the boss made a complaint to the C.E.T. and asked if he could be moved, answer, no. "He was there before you" . Although I felt a little sorry for the boss I think if he had treated the seller with a bit more respect the outcome may have been different. Nah,maybe not lol. Colin.

Hi MR, how long did you stay at Banner Lane for? I joined in 1966 on £3.16.4d as a 1st year apprentice.

Hi Tricia. It was Brooklands Annex, went there from 66-70 for evening classes.