The "LIFE of BRIAN" Part 8 & 9

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The LIFE of BRIAN Part 8

………COINCIDENCE 4 Unbeknown to me at that time, in fact not until approx 30 years later This area of Burton Joyce is precisely where my namesakes and ancestors lived and worked . For years my cousins searched for our 4x Great Grandfather referred to as “Missing JOHN Alvey” and it was only in 2006 that a good probability for his location was established in the area.
In the mid 1990’s, as Self employed Consultant Designer, I was asked by the MD of an Italian Company - manufacturing hosiery in Italy, exporting throughout the world , and who had recently established an extensive Sales & Distribution facility in the area, to design and create a Promotional Product as a give-away, which was associated with hosiery and manufactured from Nottingham Lace. As a direct result of the success of this project, Sandra and I began a business in “Nottingham Lace” product design, manufacture, sales and marketing. Rapidly the business became a great success and as a result most mornings I would visit the many out/home workers we used in the villages of Burton Joyce, Gunthorpe, Calverton, Woodthorpe, Carlton, Bestwood, etc, I began each day taking materials for making up products - 100’s at a time and collecting the completed work from the previous day - ( I had become the modern day version of the 19 century Lace Bagman)

see our websites http://www.weddinglace.co.uk/ and http://www.english-lace.co.uk/

……COINCIDENCE 5 My ancestors were Stockingers operating Framework Knitting Machines in their homes, these were the earliest creators of machine made hosiery and Nottingham Lace, Machine Made Lace is reputed to have been originally created on a machine design and made by the Rev Lee of Calverton. The Rev. Lee had difficulty gaining a patent for his invention from Queen Elizabeth the First she was hesitant as she feared the machine would create an uprising by out of work Stockingers ( she was not far wrong -, remember the Luddites.) She insisted that to grant a patent on the invention The machine must first be capable of working with the finest of delicate silks (very difficult at that period in time). Eventually the Rev Lee did create a machine to work with silk, but he still had difficulties in obtaining a patent. It is worth adding here that the ALVEY Framework Knitters in Burton Joyce were working in silk - hosiery, gloves and undergarments

……COINCIDENCE 6 In the late 1800’s there were 3 or 4 individuals in Burton Joyce who were active “Bagmen” one of them was a JOHN ALVEY of “The Spring” on Main Street, known as “Nonkling John” because of the way he moved his head


The LIFE of BRIAN Part 9 - (Conclusion only to the PRELUDE of the ALVEY’S of BURTON JOYCE )

……COINCIDENCE 7 To conclude this extended Prelude I should provide put into print the explanation and reason for Blogging
My particular family line together with that of Sandra my beloved wife ends with us. Both of our parents departed this life many years ago, we have no immediate heirs, brothers or sisters, so after long consideration and chats with Sandra I decided to record for posterity some of our life and research into the “Alvey‘s of Burton Joyce“, listing the important contribution made by my bloodline, to the village activities and development of our Burton Joyce roots throughout the 1600’s, 1700’s and 1800’s.
For the ALVEY bloodline provided, several Sheriffs of Nottingham and a continual presence/contribution to BURTON JOYCE for 350 YEARS plus….
………… 350 years, of agricultural workers tending the farm land around the village, two generations of village blacksmiths, shopkeepers, a verger, many fwk workers, farmers and landowners, a journalist, wives of eminent villagers, several employers of Fwk and weavers, “bagmen“, mechanics, councillors, and fathers of at least two illegitimate children ! ! ! !
Also as there were/are numerous namesakes and “relatives” in the adjoining areas of Gedling, Carlton, Nottingham, Arnold, Lambley, Lowdham, Gunthorpe, Bleasby, Stoke, Bulcote, Epperstone, Hoveringham, Caythorpe etc.. the notes may just fill a few gaps

PART 9 is the conclusion to the LIFE of BRIAN .

Howeve if you are interested in Social History, Burton Joyce or the Alvey family name you should not miss my ALVEY'S of BURTON JOYCE Timeline 1600 to 1950 this will follow in this website in comfortable "bites" within this website.. .. dont miss it !!

The "LIFE of BRIAN" - Part 7

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The LIFE of BRIAN Part 7

……….COINCIDENCE 1 Numerous males within the ALVEY lineage were Blacksmiths - the earliest engineers . Certainly NOT professional pianists
……… COINCIDENCE 2 My Grandmother ALVEY was born and lived within 100M of my office in Nottingham ( Note! I am now naturally and automatically into “New World” speak - It shows you what 30 years of use can do) - I found out 30 years later

I met my wife Sandra, - Nottingham born and bred, and we married. However as I was not familiar with the area, ( in fact I had to look at an atlas to precisely locate where Nottingham was in the UK, before relocating here) it was Sandra who decided that Burton Joyce would be a pleasant area to live, she selected a house that had come up for sale and made arrangements with the Estate Agent to view. We met with the Agent to look over the property and area, we both instantly loved what we saw and agreed to buy the very next morning………………………….

Our home of 30+ years in Hillcrest Gardens - BJ. and view from our second home in BJ,

Sandra and I purchased the land - within 100M of first home - designed by ourselves in 1974

It was after a short period of working in Nottingham , that my employer - Tube Investments - Churchill Automatic Assembly, decided to relocate the company back to the Midlands to Redditch - Worcestershire. As the General Manager of the operation they wanted me to re-establish the business with as many of the existing workforce as could be persuaded to relocate. Those who would not be persuaded could opt for a redundancy settlement. After taking a “straw poll” of the employees ( all of whom possessed specialist skills and individual experiences) it was my opinion that the relocation would be a complete failure. For out of a workforce of approx 80 only 4 were willing to move with their families away from Nottingham - Quite frankly there was no way was I going to leave Nottingham and Burton Joyce either, now that I was newly married and buying a dream home (although I did agree that I would supervise the to re establishment of the project as a working proposition at the new site ( which was within an existing manufacturing facility controlled by the Group. What happened in reality was unbelievably fortunate and opportune. The T.I. company had an existing order book to fulfil, without the capacity or staff to expedite. It was therefore agreed , with T.I.‘s blessing, together with a colleague who was my number two, to form a company based here in Nottingham to take on the worked under T.I.’s wing, using several of the Nottingham workforce who had decided not to relocate and had not already found new employment. This worked very satisfactorily for all parties
…….COINCIDENCE 3 Neither Sandra my wife or I knew until 30 years later that Burton Joyce where we were to spend the rest of our lives together within the surrounding locations which was the “Hot Bed” of the ALVEY namesake and that Burton Joyce, Woodboro and Lowdham in particular had registered the vast majority of the earliest ALVEY families - this area was obviously my ROOTS and unbeknown, I was back in.. .. .. .. .. .. .. -

"THE BOX"

Comments from other Alveys families and old buddies will be appreciated

Contact by e mail wetwo@brianalvey.co.uk

The LIFE of BRIAN - Part 6

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The LIFE of BRIAN - Part 6

A significant contribution from my father....

When my time came to leave Mexborough Schofield Technical School complete with GCE’s in Engineering, I had the opportunity of an apprenticeship with the National Coal Board. Now this was widely recognised and accepted as a superb career vehicle (they even financed an education at University, providing you qualified of course) but my father said an emphatic “ NO! No son of mine is going down the Pit” - “ There is enough with one of the family having to earn a slice of bread at the Jam Factory” - translation - It was normally accepted that the Coal Mine was the only opportunity for the vast majority of men with low skills to earn sufficient money - for a living on bread and jam. As an alternative, I applied for, and was offered an Indentured Apprenticeship as a Student Engineer at Robert Jenkins and Co Ltd - Rotherham - (32 Bus Stops away and 3 Bus Changes). After a few weeks learning the ropes and travelling to work and back via public transport, I began to cycle to and from work each day (even weekends when I worked in the Maintenance Dept for a period. When I began shift working during my works experience training and needed to combine this with Day Release and “Night School” - which was 1 day and 2 evening each week- my father found “the deposit” on a new “Lambretta Scooter” - white /175 cc for me- What fantastic luxury, this really did help me tremendously.
After serving a 5 year Indentured Apprenticeship as a Student Engineer/Production Development Draughtsman it was obvious that I had a natural talent for the subject. However, after being bred ad brought up in an environment of Coal Mines and HELLS BOILERHOUSE, I yearned for a greater quality and broader lifestyle, which professional engineering could give. I therefore sought to relocate to the sophistication of Coventry - the centre for modern professional engineering, high precision machine tools, with the latest in production techniques and adopt the profession for a lifetime as a Production/Product/Design Engineer.. .. and still -“OUT SIDE the BOX”-
After several elevations in position and working/travelling throughout the UK, Europe, and the USA, I eventually settled down in Nottingham, employed by the then owners of Raleigh Industries………….

This is where the "7 coincidences" came to the light of day ... influencing totally my subsequent lifestyle

See also http://www.weddinglace.co.uk/ and http://www.english-lace.co.uk/

I will be pleased to receive any comments or observations and certainly any information relative past buddies at Mexbro Tech and Robert Jenkins - contact me on e mail ..mailto:..wetwo@brianalvey.co.uk

The "LIFE of BRIAN" - Part 5

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The LIFE of BRIAN Part 5

So now to I will set the scene for the 7 Coincidences, but first……

A significant contribution from my Mother……..

When it was time to change from the local Junior to Senior school - I did not pass the 11 plus entitling me to transfer to the local grammar School, even though my parents expected me to - they were probably blinded by the fact that at the age of 11 my piano playing prowess was at Grade 6 level in both practical and theory (equivalent to GCE levels). However they probably did not appreciate that a musical prowess is not a substitute for developing intelligence. This was a major catastrophe, so my mother, bless her, ( she was a member of the Junior school PTA and she could not accept that her child would go to the “inferior” Park Road Senior School - incidentally neither did I want to go there - (they gave selected new-comers the “bumps”, in an initiation ceremony and frequently flushed a head down the loo, just for good measure). So she got on a Grape Vine, contacted her ex Headmaster and pleaded her case. The ex Headmaster who then the Head of the next village senior school - Brampton Bierlow Ellis. (12 Bus Stops away) This was a School with a progressive attitude, in fact, the School was so progressive it owned its very own Farm, complete with animals - cows and pigs etc. It was on the edge of a farming community and was providing the education of good proportion of the total students had parents who were farmers and spread far and wide. I recall the Head Masters’ name , an elderly gentleman, as Mr Steer. ( very relevant, don’t you think - animals, cows !!!). I have to thank both him and my mother for that major significant redirecting of my education, for I progressed in leaps and bounds within Brampton Bierlow Ellis, “motoring” through 4 year education levels in just 2 years, culminating in winning a scholarship at the age of 13, awarded by the West Riding County Council (Education) which, praise, upon praise redirected my education , this time into the Engineering stream at Mexborough Schofield Technical School. A school located in the opposite direction in the town of Mexborough (you guessed). This school was at least 20 Bus Stops and 2 bus changes away - travelling certainly brought the “isolationist complex” out off me the result was attending a school where a fabulous attitude and school philosophy prevailed, and together with a fantastic and talented set of teachers, fast tracked the education of children like me through to GCE standard within 3 years - biased towards a technical, building, commercial or nursing background - engineering in my case. I thoroughly enjoyed and excelled in this period of my life. I am deeply indebted to everyone who touched my life at that time for I have benefited greatly from those 3 years at Schofield Technical, benefited ever since. This style of education and the resulting/subsequent Indentured Apprenticeship were instrumental in moulding of my Professional Engineering career. (far from that of a Professional Pianist!!!)

By the way I will be pleased to receive any contact from " Old Mexbro Techies" especially any info re....
Geo Barry Lowe - my long lost buddy

The LIFE of BRIAN - Part 4

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The LIFE of BRIAN Part 4

We never had a car, no one around us could drive anyway, nor a telephone - even though everyone could speak, in fact, we did not have electricity for the first 14 years of my life. We had the “historic” Outside Loo, we tore off pieces of newspaper to act as a Toilet Roll, this was for 14 years, until we eventually got to the top of the Housing List and allocated into a “Council House” in the adjoining village of West Melton. I grew up so remotely that as child I thought that “Blackmen” were the fathers coming home from the Coal Mine, complete with a face black with coal dust, a pit helmet , pads fastened around their knees, clogs/boots, an empty “Snap Tin” - which when full invariably contained Bread/Jam, Bread/Dripping, Bread/Salmon Paste or the like and a non metallic container for Drinking Water. These were “Blackmen” as knew them. Not the respected coloured native South African immigrant .

Oh! I forgot to mention I that as a child I was also “nailed” to the piano stool - for at least an hour every day - from the age of 5 to 15. I could only get off that stool to get to sheet music which may have been inside the cavity under the seat (Yes even before I started attending the local Infants school I could not even read/write properly). Yes even at that age, it was envisaged that I would become a Professional Pianist despite my engineering gene which had begun to show itself in the way I excelled with my Double O size “Meccano“ Set - creating and living dreams with model bridges, railways and the like. Somewhere around the age of 8, 9, or10 my fathers brother - Uncle Len, gifted me a “Junero” set which the next step up from using the pre-formed components of a Meccano, in that the Junero was equipped with simple “metal working punches” and “tin snips” etc. to enable the user to actually create simple components necessary to build the dreams of man and boy. This was the lifestyle which moulded me into a “bit of an introvert” with huge feelings of isolation, detachment and then rushes of anxiety - yet it also gifted me in the science of lateral thinking and stimulated an extensive gift of ingenuity and capability for creating, alternative solutions/replacements