Dunlop

Derrickarthur, spot on with dates, Elmsdale Ave, Windmill Rd School 49-59, your brother would have been two classes higher I presume.

Kaga. My brother thinks he remembers Janet but from school rather than Dunlop. He says she lived in Elmsdale Avenue between Starkey's shop and the back entrance to the William IV pub. He thinks she lived next door or one away from Dave Rees who was in his class at Windmill Road school and also went to work at Dunlop. I remember the Litwin family who lived opposite the rear entrance to the William. I worked with Rod Litwin at Dunlop (we are both retired now) and Mick Litwin who I discovered died last month aged 65. There were a few other brothers whose names escape me. My brother also thinks there was a family of Simpsons that lived opposite Janet. Any relation to you. He also thinks that Janet had a brother that he vaguely remembers. Regards Derrick Oldham

Corner of Alma Street and Hood Street in 1897 showing the Dunlop works on the left:

Derrick, no the Simpsons in Elmsdale Ave were not related as far as I know, never checked them out. Janet's brother was Barry Blythe.

John Dunlop was a veterinary surgeon in Belfast, not an engineer or inventor, but bicycles were made with solid wheels, then fixed with an iron band. But John's son rode his bike round Belfast's cobblestones (boneshaker). John set about making it easier, he cut some garden hose into strips, tied them round the wheels, blew them up, better. It had been done before, but lost in France. John Dunlop had invented the pneumatic tyre. He then experimented after a guy in the U.S.A. named Goodyear was experimenting with vulcanised rubber. Because of complaints at the Dunlop factory in Dublin about the smell of his factory, he moved to Coventry.

Found this aerial photo. Foreground shows former Dunlop Sports grounds on Lythalls Lane and Chapel Square & Reform Church on either side of Chapel Lane, later Old Church Road, Workhouse circled in red. Post copied from topic Coventry Workhouses on 3rd Dec 2020 6:34 pm

Hi Derrick. That is a great photograph. I remember the Dunlop sports ground, did you ever go to the fairs they used to have there. I seem to remember that the Dunlop had another sports ground at the top of Lythalls Lane, on the left, just past Sunningdale Avenue. Can you remember this?

John Wright. I remember the Dunlop Sports Days very well. My brother [9 years older and born 1942] was also an apprentice there and I used to go every year. The Fair was huge [as good as Hearsall Common]. I remember Police Dog displays, Parachutists dropping in and lots of other attractions. I do not remember Dunlop owning the other sports ground but I did watch football and cricket matches there. I'm sure that at that time it was owned by The Coventry Evening Telegraph. It is now a housing estate [Lancaster Gardens] aerial photo attached. Take care John. Regards to Watermouth Bay.

Derrickarthur, You see that horseshoe, middle of your photo, the straight piece there is four houses. The second one along was mine in 1962, we moved from there to Brighton in 1966. We met at the dunlop in 1960.

Derrickarthur, Could well be that the small sportsground at the top of Lythalls Lane was owned by The Coventry Evening Telegraph, your memory and knowledge of the area is greater than mine. There were a number of small sports grounds around in my day. Can you remember the one at the bottom of Dovedale Avenue, owned by Courtaulds? I remember going there once when they had a fete. There was also a cricket pitch on the right going down Bedlam Lane, we often watched cricket there. I believe that this was owned by the Gas Works.

johnwright, Dovedale Ave was between the Rivoli and the canal - you sure about a cricket pitch?

There is an article in a 1959 newspaper announcing that the Courtaulds pavilion was to be opened on Saturday. They had levelled a soccer and rugby pitch and fenced the surrounds at their sports field. It mentions that they already had a first class cricket pitch. The one in Lythalls Lane is called the Riley Sportsground but changes to the Dunlop Sportsground in the 1940's, if they are referring to the same place!! There is no mention of who owned Bedlam Lane.

Hi Kaga. The cricket pitch that I mentioned was in Bedlam Lane, about half way down, passed the level crossing on the right hand side. The sports ground in Dovedale Avenue I believe belonged to Courtaulds. As you remember, Dovedale Avenue is a dead end, at the bottom were two big green gates (similar to the ones in Clinton Road) through the gates was a sports ground which is where I said that I went to a fete and sports day there. I believed it belonged to Courtaulds because there were lots of old, container type things lying around one part of the ground. These were, I believe obsolete gear from their production lines.

There was a huge swathe of land at the far end of Dovedale. The aerial photo shows new roads being planned. Not sure about the year of this. I do remember football pitches there.

Moving away from the geography of the factory. Dunlop apprentices had a great football team (1965/66). I remember a guy called Keith Lenton whom kicked chunks out of me on the field. I met him again some 30 years later, when he was working as a buyer in the Dunlop sub-contracts office.