west midlands news - ims · the korean war in the early 1950s, cuban missile crisis in the early...
TRANSCRIPT
The Institute’s National
AGM will be held 10.30
am on 19th October
2012 at The George Ho-
tel, Lichfield, WS13 6PR
Please see the National
IMS magazine for further
information
The West Midlands
Region have planned a
series of interesting
events for the Autumn.
During October a visit
and conducted factory
tour of the Denby Pot-
tery, just outside
Derby. The Denby
visitors centre not only
includes the factory
tour but Denby pottery
shops and Dartington
Glass and other gift
shops, as well as a cafe/
restaurant. So this could
also be an opportunity
to buy some early
Christmas presents.
The tour is open to
members family and
guests. There is an ad-
mission charge and a
contribution of £5.00
per head (£3.00 for sen-
iors). Members please
register your interest
using your copy of the
Newsletter
During November the
Region Informal Din-
ner will be held at the
Badger’s Sett (A456),
Hagley, Worcester-
shire. The Dinner is
open to Members and
their partners. The Re-
gion will provide wine
with the meal but mem-
bers are expected to
meet the cost of the meal
for themselves and their
guest. This is an oppor-
tunity to catch up with
the news and gossip (or
‘network’ to use the cur-
rent management
‘speak’). We hope you
will be able to attend.
Once more members
please register your in-
terest using the form
with your Newsletter.
In early January 2013 the
West Midlands Region
AGM will be held at the
Badger’s Sett (A456),
Hagley, Worcestershire.
All members are invited
and will be made very wel-
come and this is an oppor-
tunity to find out future
plans for the Region.
Autumn Programme 2012
IMPORTANT MESSAGE - Help to ease Regional financial pressures
The Post Office has recently increased stamp prices, with the result that postage costs for
mailing the WM Newsletter given the present level of Region funding is unsustainable,
unless either we receive increased funding from the Institute’s national council and/or
substantially more members are prepared to receive their Newsletter electronically. If you
haven’t already done so please register your e-mail address with the Regional Events
Secretary and we will forward your newsletter in full colour electronically
West Midlands News
Special points of inter-
est:
An appeal for
members to regis-
ter to receive their
WM newsletter
electronically
Factory tour Denby
Pottery
Region Informal
Dinner
Region AGM
Report of Visit to
J.W. Evans silver-
smith factory
Report of Visit to
RAF Museum,
Cosford
Institute of Management Services — West Midlands Region Autumn 2012 Volume 12/2
Inside this issue:
Editorial 2
Tour of RAF Museum 2
Visit to J.W. Evans 3
Board Directory 3
Networking 4
Winner of Prize Drawer 4
Reply slip 4
As I write this editorial, the
nation is basking in the
summer triumph of the
London Olympic games –
both in terms of the organi-
sation of the event and the
sporting achievements.
There can be no doubt that
the event lifted the national
spirit. The nation congratu-
lated itself on being third in
the Olympic Medal table
after the United States and
China, an outstanding
achievement with the great-
est number of gold medals
in over 100 years.
When London won the bid
to host the 2012 games
there were serious doubts
by many people that we
could put on such a com-
plex event, particularly
after the problems with
building the new Wem-
bley Stadium and the
initial problems with the
Millennium Dome still
fresh in their minds –
both these venues are
now spectacular suc-
cesses and played a sig-
nificant role in the Olym-
pic Games themselves.
All these doubts were
overcome and swept
aside by the Games them-
selves. So let us hope this
new found euphoria will
help to lift us out of the on-
going economic gloom.
The economic news seems
as depressing as ever and at
times it seems as if we al-
most talk ourselves into eco-
nomic depression. Perhaps
we should be looking at
things not as ‘half empty but
half full’. Let us hope the
successes of the summer
Olympics will give us the
lift we need to break out of
the self perpetuating eco-
nomic gloom and despon-
dency.
Editorial…… The Chair’s message
RAF Museum, Cosford, Shropshire
our history from the end of
WW2 to the 1990s when the
Soviet regime collapsed.
During some 35 years, nu-
clear war between the Soviet
Union and its allies and the
Western powers was an ever
present threat particularly
during the various crises and
flash points.
An early crisis was the Soviet
blockade of Berlin in the late
1940s and the Western Allies
response of the Berlin Airlift.
After the defeat of Germany,
the country and the capital
Berlin was divided into 4 oc-
cupation zones each con-
trolled by one of the victori-
ous powers. The Western
powers –the United States,
United Kingdom and France
proposed that to help Ger-
many recover from ravages of
war, their zones should be
unified into a single political
and economic union and a
new currency the Deutche
Mark should be introduced.
The Soviet Union was not
prepared to allow its zone of
East Germany to be part of
this initiative and in retalia-
tion the Soviet Union closed
all land routes to West Berlin
which was an ‘island ‘ sur-
rounded by Soviet controlled
East Germany.
The Western Allies decided
rather than attempt to use force
to take land convoys to Berlin
and risk a shooting war, to sup-
ply West Berlin with popula-
tion of over one million by air,
and for over a year all supplies
were flown in – everything
from coal to bread was brought
into the three West Berlin air-
ports. A tremendous logistical
operation which went on in all
weather conditions 24/7 and a
plane was landing and taking
off every 90 seconds. Of
course there was a human cost
to such an operation with air-
crews killed in aircraft crashes.
The Soviet Union however
realised that the airlift could be
sustained indefinitely and the
land blockade was finally
lifted.
Other crises followed such as
the Korean War in the early
1950s, Cuban Missile Crisis in
the early 1960s, the building of
the Berlin Wall in the early
1960s to stop East Germans
fleeing to West Berlin. For 35
years we lived with a real threat
of nuclear war and the risk of
mutual annihilation.
On Saturday morning 12th
May a small party of Region
members and their partners
joined others for a guided
tour of the RAF Museum at
Cosford, Shropshire. The
museum is one of two na-
tional RAF Museums, the
other is at Hendon, North
London. A great deal of in-
vestment has been made at
Cosford to bring it up to the
status of national museum.
The Cosford Museum in-
cludes many exhibits which
are unique; including the
collection of World War 2
German missiles including
examples of the V1
‘Doodlebug’ a primitive
cruise missile, and the V2
rocket which was the precur-
sor to the Intercontinental
Ballistic Missiles of today.
The V1 and V2 brought
death and destruction to Lon-
don during the closing stages
of the WW2. There is also a
fine collection of WW2 air-
craft including some unique
examples of captured Ger-
man and Japanese aircraft.
The purpose built Cold War
Exhibition Hall, which cov-
ers a dangerous period of
Page 2 West Midlands News
Cosford
museum
includes many
exhibits which
are unique...
John Hopkinson
Chair West Mid-
lands Region Board
Please send any
comments on the
West Midlands
News to the Editor
John Hopkinson
English Electric
Lightening ‘cold
war’ interceptor
On Wednesday 18th April, a
party of members and guests
toured the J.W. Evans silver
smith factory in the jewel-
lery quarter of Birmingham.
The factory which had been
founded in the 1880s, ceased
production in the 1980s; and
the factory is very much as
the staff left it when they
walked out for the last time –
work items are still on the
benches, and you half expect
the staff to walk back in and
finish off their tasks.
The factory consists of adja-
cent terraced houses on Al-
bion Street and factory
workshops which were built
in a piecemeal fashion in the
yards and gardens of the
houses. The Evans family
originally lived ‘over’ the
factory but as the business
prospered they moved to a
substantial detached house in
the then suburbs of Birming-
ham.
Following the closure of the busi-
ness in the 1980s, the abandoned
factory was eventually taken over
by English Heritage who have
restored it to a condition where
the public can view the factory,
but without disturbing the work
place as it was left by the work-
ers.
J.W. Evans factory was a manu-
facturing jewellery operation,
producing and supplying basic
pieces for the jewellery trade
which were then finished and
polished by other companies in
the trade and supplied to retailers
or direct to the public. The Ev-
ans factory premises were very
cramped and over 50 staff were
employed, and there was little
regard for health and safety with
overhead belts driving machin-
ery, heavy stamp presses, and hot
molten metals and other noxious
materials being handled in a lim-
ited space – by modern standards
it must have been hot, noisy and
dangerous.
The company kept all the dies it
produced and these are stored
through out the factory, and the
factory was producing a new die
every working day.
There is a showroom with a fine
collection of examples of some
of the finished pieces produced
by J.W. Evans, and some of
these items have been loaned to
provide props and background
for TV series such as ‘Upstairs,
Downstairs’ . But tastes and
fashions have changed over the
years and the factory found that
it was no longer able to produce
the goods that the market wanted
and modern working practices
could not be used in the limited
cramped space of the old fac-
tory, so after 100 years the busi-
ness closed.
Secretary and Member-
ship Development Offi-
cer— Ailsa Bell MMS
Executive Member and
Events Co-ordinator Glyn Williams FMS
Region Chair –
John Hopkinson FMS
Region Events Secretary— Julian Cutler FMS
Region Treasurer – Brian
Coley FMS
Visit to J.W. Evans, manufacturing silver smiths, Birmingham
West Midlands Region Board Members Directory
-
Volume 12/2
….the public
can view .the
workplace as
it was left…...
Page 3
Julian Cutler
Regional Events
Secretary
The workshop is very
much as the workers
walked out on their
last day
The Victorian work force at
J.W. Evans about 1890, standing out-
side the factory premises
The labour force included women and
boys.
Brooke House,
24 Dam Street,
Lichfield,
Staffs WS13 6AA
Institute of Management
Services
Achieving excellence through
people and productivity
www.ims-productivity.com
Please send any e-mails to [email protected] and in the heading mark for the attention of the ‘West
Midlands Region, IMS’
Phone: 01543 266909
Fax: 01543 257848
E-mail: [email protected]
Nine rules for successful networking
Update your address book regularly
Be professional and make a good impression
Stay on good terms with the people you work with
Attend conferences and seminars, but make sure they are relevant to your career path
Be generous with your advice and time
Remember that people at all levels have networks, use their contacts as well as your own
Build internal networks across your company, not just in your own department
Be patient, networking is an investment that takes time to yield results
Don't ask for a job, ask for information and advice.
Roy Clark -Winner of Prize Drawer
Congratulations to Roy Clark who was lucky enough to win £20 prize drawer for those members who are registered to receive
their WM Newsletter electronically. A cheque has been sent to Roy.