W. E. Jones

Anyone remember an old Coventry firm called W E Jones of East Street? Ran by Jack Allen. When I was at Wickman, they used to do all of the flame hardening of our slides.

Mick, W E Jones was the father in law of Peter Deeley , head of a number of different firms within the Deeley group. In the early 70,s I was working for Clements Plant hire, one of these firms and 3 of us with 2 machines were tasked with clearing a wood on land upon which Mr Jones house stood, it was a long job. At an early age I was partial to a good cigar and he was quite free with his Villiger cigars , he was a nice man. His daughter was Pat Deeley who was a solicitor or barrister,I think . The factory as I recall was at the top of east street on the left.

Served my Toolmaker Apprenticeship (later transferring to the Drawing Office) at W E Jones. The company specialized in Jigs and Fixtures, Press Tools and the design and manufacture of one-off machine tools for companies such as Ford and Raleigh Bicycles. The company also worked on the Concorde project. The heat treatment arm was only a small sub-contract/in-house operation - Jack was a real character. At the start of my employment the Managing Director was Jack Perkins, succeeded by Alan Wheeler. Head of Production was Ron Patrick. Head of Inspection was Malcolm Jackson. Head of Planning/Estimating and all Apprentice training was Alan Needham.