Coventry Climax

Kimbo, please do. The story behind Kathy's maternity leave is as follows: " ... Her one fear, however, centred on a curious office legend. Over the years there had been a succession of typists, all of whom left on maternity leave. The common denominator was that they had all sat in the same typist's chair, which appeared to be cursed. Kathy's trepidation was falling into the same predicament. Some time later, we heard her plaintive remark to Bert; "Mr. Harman. I think the chair's worked." The legend's curse had struck once again. ..." Lol.

Ha ha. Its potency obviously faded somewhat, as I can report that Bev was definitely never afflicted by it. I sent mum the pic, and unbelievably she failed to recognise Dot at first (thought it was a girl she grew up next door to!) Ah well. I did identify her later and the penny dropped. TBF, she's nearly ninety and her eyesight is far from good...

Well, Kathy was probably the last victim of the curse, as succeeding girls seem to be immune. That said ... As in most offices, certain personalities came to the fore to enliven the daily grind. One such character was Margaret - the food lady - a larger-than-life woman who trundled her refreshment cart down the corridor and visited every office room. Regular as clockwork when it was time for the morning and afternoon tea break, Margaret would open the door and, with a booming basso voce growl, announce, "Food!" This would get everyone's attention and there would be a scramble to buy cups of tea, sandwiches and filled batches from this formidable vendor. Although sullen in appearance, Margaret had a keen sense of humour that she let slip once in a while. ... Nice that your mother recognized Doris (given some prompting).

Did anyone stay on when it became Kalmar Climax?

I'd been made redundant before Kalmar took over, but my good friend Paul Knight was still there (and until he moved to Jag in '88). Don't think he was over-enamoured, but then, the previous management (Lansing Bagnall/Emmanuel Kaye, basically) did the company no favours either. I was there when Kaye took over.

Hello, I have only just discovered your interesting site whilst researching my family tree. I would like to pick your brains please! My Dad worked for Coventry Climax during WW2. I think he must have travelled from Birmingham everyday, he lived near the main Coventry Road but I've no idea how he would have got there as he only had a tandem! Maybe by train? He married in 1941 and soon after he and Mom went to Cambourne in Cornwall with the Climax. They were there for about 2 years, 1941-1943. I am curious why Climax moved. Was the factory in Coventry bombed out or was it for manufacturing too continue for the war effort? Dad never spoke much about his work but I know he was a skilled grinder working to thousands of an inch. He did say that Coventry Climax had a wonderful brass band. Thanking you in anticipation.

My brother, having served in the Fleet Air Arm on aircraft engines, came home about 1946 and worked at Coventry Climax for many years. He went to an eastern country for them around 1948 for a couple of years, returning to them in Coventry on testing of engines - I know little more. He made a lot of money by going to the east for them, enough to buy a house in Woodway Lane.

Hi KRIMBLE WOI, welcome to the forum. Sorry I can't help you but hopefully someone will have the right knowledge.

Hi Krimble - as Helen says someone with more knowledge will post soon I'm sure but Climax production carried on in the city well into the 70's IIRC so perhaps the move to Cornwall was to work on an additional Climax venture? A quick Google reveals it may have been to do with Albatross Marine perhaps?

Nothing here to shed any light on it

Did the Climax move, or did the Climax relocate your mum and dad to work in conjunction with another firm in Camborne? If you look up Camborne on Wikipedia it makes interesting reading which leads onto other projects for the war effort. Were the engines or compressors from Climax to be altered on site to suit the use and your father had the knowledge?

They were definitely on Mile Lane in to the 70's (thanks to Tony Lay on FB)

There is a company called Holman Climax in Camborne and it looks as if that was a merger of two companies, Holman and Climax, both manufacturing for the mining industry (hence Cornwall). Could this have led to name confusion? The Holman Climax choir is well known it seems! so that may be the 'brass band' reference.

Coventry Climax was still in Mile Lane in August 1980, as my father was still working there when he died.

There was a Coventry Climax factory in Widdrington Road opposite PR Motors which made gearboxes. PR (Percy Riley) had something to do with making gearboxes for Coventry Climax. PR Motors continued making gearboxes and became Newage Engineers.