Morris Engines, Courthouse Green

Hi Bloodnut, welcome to the forum

Hi Phil. Was your dad there until the end of September 1982 as one of the few who were stripping out the factory?

Hi, (to everybody still out there), I'm not sure many (if any) of you will remember me. I had 4 very happy years (1974-1978), at what was then called Coventry Engine Plant, in management. I was Cost & Financial Manager for the first 2 years and then 2 more years as the Financial Controller. I had a severe limp and walked with leg calipers - polio at age 7. Here are some names I remember that I have not seen in all your submissions:- Eddie Cowley/Bert Tonks/Herbert Raschke/Mark Yeatman-Read/David Hewitt/Jim Shipp/Frank Russell/Bob Smith/Tony Jennings/Ken Hollis/Neil Taylor/George (G.D.) Steele/Joe Greatorex/the Noon sisters/Ron Cripps. I have more details if any of you want to know, and thanks to Mr. Beard for his sterling efforts. I now live in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand and have a Thai wife. As I am now only able to get around in a wheelchair, my previous annual visits back to the UK are a lot more problematic. BobH

Hi BobH, welcome to the forum Sorry to hear about your mobility problems. I hope some of your former colleagues spot your post and get in touch. It does happen but often there is a long wait.

Welcome BobH - enjoy the old-Cov content

In 1972 I worked with Eddie Cowley's wife in Stratford On Avon for a few months. I only met him very briefly but was aware that he was in management at Morris Engines. He drove a maroon Jaguar XJ6 and his wife drove a very nice red MGB. They lived in what was then a new house next to the river in Tiddington.

Without a doubt, this was the best football pitch in the Coventry Works League. Used to love playing there.

Thought the Alvis pitch on Holyhead Road/Four Pounds Avenue was bostin too Mick. The DIY shop in the foreground was one of many scenes of great embarrassment for me as a very young inexperienced Post Office telephone engineer in the mid 70s. There was a planphone telephone system with an external extension to their other shop on the opposite side of the road closer to the railway bridge and neither premises could communicate with each other. I spent hours and hours trying to figure what was wrong and to this day I can't figure out how I got it to work........eventually

That shop was Maslins. I went to Courthouse Green school with the owner's son, Michael. The Morris sports facilities were great, loved the piping hot deep baths.

In response to Not Local saying worked with Eddie Cowley's wife in Stratford. He was a great boss for me and although I moved on, and the plant closed, I used to receive a Christmas card from him every year with a long and encouraging letter attached. Eventually he passed on and his letters are not with me here in Ubon, Thailand - they are still back in England. Coventry Engines (as it was called then) are, for me, happy memories - great hard-working people.

To Les Beard. Hi Les, do you remember collecting the surgery nurse from home and getting her to the Morris Engine surgery for the 6 am shift?

Hi Surgerybods, welcome to the forum. Sadly Les hasn't posted since 2016 but you never know who just reads but doesn't post until they see something.

Thank you for my welcome. I am sorry to hear that Les is not posting any more. I hope all is well. I have only just discovered this forum and I have been transported back to the time I worked as an Industrial Nurse at Courthouse Green,1966-1972. My husband Tony Kavanagh worked in J Block. All of the apprentices had a medical at the beginning of their training and I watched them grow from school boys to becoming young men. These would now be the mature men on this forum. I recognise a lot of the names in management. I look forward to continuing reading the posts. Thank you once again.