It was a good day at Coventry’s Memorial Park last Sunday – lots of people and plenty of cars to be admired. The biggest worry as always was our unpredictable weather – the forecast was good but as luck would have it the heavens opened up just as the cars set of on their runs. It didn’t last all day though fortunately and it turned out nice in the end.
As well as showcasing some of the vehicles in our collection, we also had a tent promoting our archive service – what we do as archivists/curators and what we have to offer as a service. It created quite a bit of interest and we met and spoke to a number of people who had various stories to tell about either themselves or members of their families who had once worked in Coventry’s cycle and motor industries.
One man told of his grandfather who was a Turner at the Singer Company at Canterbury Street, before transferring to the Triumph Cycle Co. in 1898 at Priory Street.
Another recalled his days working at the Humber Company in the 1950s whilst they had departments still at Humber Road – now all gone sadly.
But the best for me was being introduced to a 92-years old gentleman who was formerly Chief Designer at Francis-Barnett at Ford Street in the 1950s. He had prior to that worked as a Designer at Coventry Victor at Cox Street and he had so many interesting things to say. So much so that we decided that it was too good an opportunity to pass up, and have arranged to interview him fully next week as these firsthand accounts are fast disappearing.
We’ll let you know how it went.
Damien
Curator Research and Information
I have loads of pictures from the festival on my blog. It was a lovely day!
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