Fond memories of the old sport centre
RE: Coventry Sports and Leisure Centre (Remember When, May 11).
I have had a long association with the building from the very start. I was one of the first tradesmen on site when the work started.
I was employed by Lee Beesley who had won the contract to carry out the electrical contract. I happened to be in the office when the main contractor rang requesting someone to carry out the wiring of the tower crane and I was despatched with an apprentice to do it. I worked on the contract on and off over the course of the installation until its opening.
I then worked for the city council engineers department as an electrical clerk of works and was given the new sports centre (the Elephant) to supervise and was present until the opening.
Soon after I heard of a circuit training course being held in the new centre run by a Mr Scott (Scotty) and attended that for many years. At the same time I also used the gym in the ground floor of the swimming baths and still do today.
I shall be sorry to see the old place close but it has become tired and needs a lot of attention.
I look forward to a new modern facility in the new building in New Union Street. I doubt I will be able to attend there as long as I have the old place.
David Bullman Mount Nod
Loss of pub is sad reflection of city
ONCE a great majestic building, The Queen Inn, Hillfields, is now in the crosshairs of the developers (May 8). This grand old building has stood empty and neglected for many years and, surprise surprise, it’s now in line to be converted into more student flats. And it seems it’s a done deal, with the council approving of the plans. Which is rather ironic really, as back in July 2017, the empty care centre Aylesford House was refused planning permission for flats due to the high crime rate in the area.
Even Councillor David Welsh agreed that the area was too dangerous for student flats.
I’m assuming that, as The Queen’s is a mere five-minute walk from the city centre as opposed to the 15 minutes ‘running the gauntlet’ to Aylesford House, the threat to life and limb in minimised. Either way this situation is a sad reflection of this so-called City of Culture.
Brian Nathan-Partridge Stivichall
It was a dangerous but enjoyable job
WITH reference to your recent photos of Jaguar Cars (Apr 20). I worked at Browns Lane, but not for Jaguar. I worked for an electrical contracts firm called GR Marson, this was in the mid 1960s.
I recall working as a brand new apprentice alongside a young electricians called Chris Peters. We installed the fire alarm system in the Trim Shop.
This entailed working 30-40ft above the machinists who were sewing the interiors for the cars. We were working in the roof girders, standing on two-inch girders, while drilling the fixing holes and installing the conduit and the alarm sounders. The only personal protection equipment was a pair of brown cotton overalls. No harness, safety boots or hard hats.
It was so scary up there that I actually wrote my last will and testament on a pipe for the sprinkler system.
I also worked in the plating shop, where all the chrome plating was done, and remember washing the oil and grease from dirty equipment, using a stiff brush and trichloroethylene. No gloves or face mask. I don’t think that health and safety had been invented then.
Looking back it was a dangerous but enjoying time. I can remember some of the lads that I worked with. Some of the apprentices were Ken Morgan, Ian Nutting and Rae Henderson. While some of the sparkies were Tom Brown(?), Brian Lee, Dave Brown and Bob Forrest on the contracts side, with Roger Nichols, Eric Waite, Bernie Mohan and Stan Taylor on the maintenance team. With all the daft things and dangerous places that I worked, I am surprised that I have reached the grand old age of 69 years.
George Consadine Henley Green
How come MPs’ pay wasn’t capped?
HOW sad to see the comparison of figures in ‘The politics of pay’ data graphic (May 4).
Public sector pay increases were capped at one per cent between 2013 and 2017, below the rate of inflation. How come this did not apply to the salary of backbench MPs? We are told that the pay cap helped to protect public sector jobs as the government tried to reduce the UK’s deficit.
A cap on the MPs’ salary over the same period would have saved some £10,000 for each MP salary – a total of some £650,000.
Fred Foster Radford