Austin Ex-Apprentices > News > In Memoriam ( DNN 2.0.4 )

In Memoriam

Posted 4th June 2010

Mr M A Knight (1967 - 1972)

Posted 14th April 2010

Mr K H Tomlinson (1939 - 1943)

Mr R J Cowie (1943 - 1948)

Mr E Hunter O.B.E. (1935 - 1939)

Mr G W Nicholls (1936 - 1939)

Mr S P Coyne (1969 - 1974)

Mr N J Hardy (1956 - 1961)

Mr R Harrison (1936 - 1945)

Mr G W Hawkins (1944 - 1951)

Mr M Hobbis (1974 - 1978)

Mr D C Hollingworth (1952 - 1957)

Mr G F Husband (1940 - 1948)

Posted 5th August 2009

Mike Barnett (1962 - 1967)

Mike was Association Secretary for eight years until this year’s AGM; always supporting the Association that he was so passionate about throughout the years by his attendance at the dinners and the outings he organised to Bruntingthorpe and other venues mostly associated with aircraft.

He will be remembered by his interest in his cars, especially the MGs, his hill climbing and his abiding interest in The Lancaster Bomber and the RAF Veterans. Sadly, he and his wife Tessa had booked a trip to Canada later this year to fly in a Lancaster. Mike commenced his apprenticeship on 11th September 1962 and was employed at Longbridge for exactly 25 years before leaving to take up posts in the engineering contracting sector, serving the British motor industry until the day of his death as a Director of a Mechanical Handling Company in Worcester.

He will be missed especially for his good company, his cheerful manner and dry humour, his reminiscences have been legendary; but first and foremost he was an “Austin Ex-Apprentice” and that meant everything to him. May he rest in peace.

Stewart Holbeche

Posted 6th July 2009

“The Association Committee were saddened to hear that Bill Davis, who was the Association President for over 30 years and is now a Vice President, sadly lost his wife Joan on 12th June. Behind every successful man there is a good woman and for Bill it was Joan. Ex-Apprentices often saw Joan with Bill at Droitwich when he came up the Reunions, taking the opportunity to visit longstanding friends. We are sure that we speak for all Austin Ex-Apprentices across the world in passing on our condolences to Bill and his family.”

Posted 14th May 2009

Ian G Cruickshank (1954 - 1958)

Posted 20th April 2009

Philip Taylor ( )

Since last Autumn we have, sadly, received news of the passing of the following Austin Ex-Apprentices:

Peter J F Blair (1963 – 1967)

R W Ferguson (1943 – 1948)

Bert Hyde (1939 – 1943)

Bill Gibbs (1936 – 2009)

Alan H Johnson (1941 – 1946)

Frederick Lines (1934 – 1938)

K Peter Stokes (1935 – 1939)

P L Teall (1934 – 1938)

John D Young (1944 – 1949)

We send our condolences to their families.

Below read how some of our colleagues are remembered;

H A 'Bert' Hyde

Saturday 13th December 2008:

H A "Bert" Hyde who died last week was a well known and respected figure to generations of Austin Apprentices.

The 1955 Ex-apprentices directory shows that Bert served his apprenticeship at Longbridge from 1939 to 1943 and when the directory was compiled was working in the East Works Paint Department. Shortly after that he moved to the Apprentices Department where he was responsible for planning and supervising the factory moves of the lads (and later lasses) in green overalls. He took these responsibilities very seriously ensuring on the one hand that the moves were relevant to our career plans and gave us the opportunity for experience and on the other hand regularly doing his own walkabout to catch those of us who were doing the same. A sharp word and we rapidly returned to the millwrights shop or toolroom where we were supposed to be. Over the years the social club under No.5 machine shop (the locker room) was a regular "meeting point" for large numbers of apprentices and Bert "on patrol".

Even after the end of our apprenticeship Bert kept contact with us. As an ex-apprentice himself Bert was a regular attendee at the Annual Dinner at all its various locations down the years. Indeed he was sorely missed at the 75th just last week (December 6) and one of our speakers, ex-apprentice Dick Best, made several fond references to Bert, who we all expected to see again next year at the 76th.

Chris Smart (1959-1963)

From the Austin Centennial Gathering in 2005 at Cofton Park. Bert (centre) flanked by Geoff Foster (left) and the late Barry Walker

I remember he referred to himself in his Canadian tones as the "Placement and Liaison Officer" . I thought he also had a special title of "Sorry Mr" because that prefaced almost all the conversations I ever had with him. But, it's amazing what maturity does; he went from being the scourge of my youth (and I was probably the scourge of his middle years!) to, as you know, the man who, I consider in retrospect, put me on the straight and narrow. I must have been stamped on his retina too! At the 1983 Dinner at the Chateau Impney, I went to the gents to find Bert the only other incumbent. We hadn't seen each other for 18 years...my reaction was to run for it, hoping I hadn't been recognised. I had been!!!!!!

Dick Best

I would add that over the last 10/15 years everyone remarked how well Bert Carried his age, looking much younger than his chronological years. Hence the general shock of his passing. He was considered indestructible, part of us, part of our own personal history!

Another unique and readily identifiable feature of Bert was his Canadian accent gained from his military service whilst undertaking (RAF??) training in Canada during WWII.

I think Richard in his speech likened Bert to Longbridge's own SAS force to seek and extract apprentices from hiding or similar.

Ivor Vaughan

Bert with Karen Lacey at an Annual Dinner a few years back

When we lose touch with someone we realise just how much we benefited from his or her presence. Such is the case with the loss of Bert Hyde. It is quite remarkable how many people have been in touch with me asking for some information about him.

Bert’s father, Joseph Albert, must have left England soon after the First World War and emigrated to Canada. Bert was born of English parentage at Ashawa in the province of Ontario on 3rd December 1922. He worked at various jobs including farming and in the lumberjack business. The

Worldwide recession of the late 1920s and early 1930s must have given Joe the urge to return to England in 1936 when Bert went to Bordesley Green School in Birmingham. He became School Captain.

In the summer of 1939 Joe brought Bert over to me at the Austin Tool Room, where I was a prefect over the Apprentices, and told me that he had started Bert off as an Apprentice and asked if I would look after him. I enrolled him in a Ju Jitsu club where I was an instructor. I took him to various Youth Hostels.

On one Saturday afternoon (we worked on Saturday mornings at that time) we walked from Rubery to Holt Fleet over public footpaths all the way. When we arrived at the river, about a mile north of the bridge, we decided to strip off our clothes, put them in our rucksacks and swam across the river when we were able to take a short walk to the Youth Hostel. Similar trips made us quite fit.

In 1943 the Canadian Army units arrived in England ready for the ‘D Day’ landings. Bert then decided to join that Army and it is believed that he was sent back to Canada to be trained. There were lumberjacks in the unit who thought that a recruit from the UK was easy meat but Bert soon disillusioned them when he defended himself with a few Ju Jitsu tricks! His unit landed at Caen on ‘D Day’ where they met with fierce resistance from a Hitler Youth division who were there on leave after being on the Soviet Front. Nine out of every ten men in the Canadian Unit were either killed on injured. Bert was then transferred to the Survey Department of their Engineers Corps.

Bert, during early 1945, called in to Brussels to meet Paula’s dad, who was in the RAF, to ask him for his approval to marry Paula. Whilst there Bert walked into my Unit looking for another pal, and found me instead! We were unable to go to the same Army Establishments together as he was a private and I was an officer. We were in shirtsleeve order so that it was quite easy for me to slip the pips off my epaulette and we went into the 21 Club. We had a drink together and then visited Waterloo before we were moved elsewhere by our Army bosses.

After the War Bert went back to Canada in June 1946 and was demobbed there. He took a job there but returned to England late in 1946, rejoining the Austin as a Charge Hand at the model production trim shop. He then moved to the Donald Healey Motor Company where he became Works Manager.

Later he returned to the Austin at Longbridge. In 1955 (according to the Ex-apprentices directory) he was working in the East Works paint department. In 1959 he joined the Apprentices department in North Works where he became responsible for planning and arranging the moves around the factory for all the technical Apprentices and graduate trainees. He was known as a tough boss, but a fair one. After taking other roles in the Training Department he accepted early retirement in 1989.

Bert became an associate member of the Birmingham Branch of the REME Association around 1944 and was a good consistent supporter.

We were very sorry to hear of his death from a heart disease, which was not diagnosed until a post mortem after an operation on his heart.

I have lost my best friend and we have all lost a special friend who has always done his bets from us all.

Chris Phillips (1937-1942)

Bill Gibbs

William Murray Gibbs first saw the light of day from a nursing home at Isleworth in Middlesex on the 2nd September 1936. He attended Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith where he gained his GCE in six subjects and became Head Boy.

However, Bill’s interests were always with motor vehicles. Even at the age of 12 he built a motorised go-cart, in which he and his younger brother Richard used to tear around the garden, much to his parents concern.

Bill’s Great Great Grandfather, John Gibbs, who was a wheelwright and Blacksmith started the family business in Bedfont in 1844.

Gibbs of Bedfont started by making specialised tools for the agricultural trade, and meeting the needs of local market gardeners. They progressively kept pace with the rapid development of farm machinery, earning a Royal Warrant in the process.

It was hardly surprising, therefore, that the young William, as the 5th generation of such an illustrious and respected family business should develop a passion for all things mechanical.

At the age of 17 Bill started his apprenticeship with the Austin Motor Company at Longbridge in Birmingham, which was to prove to be one of the most formative parts of his life.

His weekly net pay was the princely sum of one pound eleven shillings and seven pence which enabled him to lead a life that he had only dreamed of previously.

However, if the truth be known, Bill did have some doubts about returning from Longbridge and joining the family firm. With four apprentice chums he formed a skiffle group, which they called the THE FIVE SHMOES and a career in the music industry clearly beckoned.

They based themselves on the King of Skiffle, Lonnie Donnegan - Bill played the Tea Chest Bass, and the SHMOES soon became well known for performing to great acclaim at prestigious venues throughout Birmingham.

They played at the Aston Hipperdrome, the Bristol Road Cinema and other well known pubs, cinemas and rugby clubs, as well as a few less prestigious venues that were frequented by their apprentice colleagues!

There were even reports in the local press of hysteria and young ladies in the audience throwing items of clothing at the SHMOES whilst they performed. Although these were subsequently found to be somewhat exaggerated, but welcomed nevertheless by Bill and the SHMOES!

Such was their success that The SHMOES went on to cut a record at a local recording studio. This recording, which Bill thought had been lost, has recently been discovered, and Bill received a copy of it at the Annual Reunion. The SHMOES soon decided that if they were to break out into the big time they needed to become known further afield. A brilliant idea was conceived to enter a competition to drive from Birmingham to John O’Groats then Lands End and back to Birmingham, all within 48 hours, taking their musical instruments with them and playing on the way.

They set off in an Austin A95 Westminister to much acclaim and drew large crowds wherever they went.

Such was the reception that they received and the demand for autographs so great that rumour still has it to this day that Bill actually signed his autograph on the back of a sheep in Wick.

They completed the event successfully becoming the first and only skiffle group to perform this feat in such style, almost entering the Guinness Book of Records.

However in spite of their success it was still not sufficient to launch The SHMOES into the big time and Bill therefore decided that his future should be with the family business after all.

During his time as an apprentice Bill was very active and highly respected. He held a number of responsible positions becoming ‘Head Prefect’ as well as Secretary of the Apprentices Association, and was awarded the prestigious ‘Merit Award Shield’.

On completing his apprenticeship in 1958 Bill was called up for National Service. He joined the army and attended MONS Officer Cadet Training Unit in Aldershot, before being posted to Singapore where 2nd Lieutenant William Gibbs was given responsibility for a number of landing craft.

Bill loved his time in the army, which gave him the opportunity to experience an entirely different side of life that was to hold him in good stead for the future.

He viewed it very much like a GAP year would be today, and made the most of every single opportunity that came along.

The Five Shmoes on their famous Lands End to John O’Groats adventure.

It was on returning from National Service on a flight back from Singapore that Bill met Anne who was working as an Air Hostess, and shortly afterwards they were married.

On arriving home Bill took over the running of the Motor Division of the family business from his uncle Reg. The business progressively grew with Austin, Morris Land Rover and Leyland truck franchises, and provided a whole new set of challenges for Bill.

At the same time that Bill was grappling with running such a large business he was bringing up and educating his four sons. Not content with the challenges that the business and a young family brought, he decided that he could supplement the family income by renovating and selling the family home on a regular basis.

Over the next thirty years or so the family moved house seven times. Each move involved major renovations, which Bill carried out himself in the evenings when he returned from work as well as at the weekends.

These involved knocking down walls and chimneys and were carried out at such a pace that the boys would often wake up in the morning wondering which wall he had knocked down the previous evening whilst they had been asleep!

His sense of responsibility to the family however was always to the forefront of his mind and he was determined to ensure that the four boys would be educated privately and would acquire the qualities that he considered so important in life.

Bill’s love of music continued, although by this time his dominant icon had moved on from Lonnie Donnigan to Elvis Presley. The boys still have vivid memories of Elvis’ 40 greatest hits pulsating out from the 8-track stereo in Bill’s car every time they drove anywhere!

The motor business, however, was difficult, and being located on the perimeter of Heathrow Airport it soon became apparent that the real value in the business was the property. Bill and his brother Richard decided therefore to devolve the motor business into a property owning company.

In 1992 Bill & Anne moved to Selborne and it did not take Bill long to become immersed in the life of the village. He was always the first to volunteer to lend a hand, and more often than not was entrusted with the finances for events held in the village.

Bill was also proud to be a member of the Austin Healey Club and his own Austin Healey 100-6 was built in the factory at Longbridge whilst he was working on the Healey production line as an apprentice. He always reckoned that if anything went wrong with the car he would only have himself to blame.

What is it that we remember most of all about Bill? – I think that everybody who knows him would agree with me on this. His kindly presence and reassuring voice will always remain forefront in our minds.

Bill’s life centred around the good old-fashioned values of honesty, integrity, loyalty, reliability, and thoughtfulness. His kindly presence and reassuring voice will always remain forefront in our minds.

In trying to sum up my own feelings I was reminded of the words of the Irving Berlin tune “The song is ended but the melody lingers on ------” His influence on all of us will undoubtedly linger on forever, and his principals will continue to guide us throughout our own lives.

Bill’s funeral was well attended by his fellow Austin Ex-Apprentices, who had travelled from all corners of England to pay their respects.

Peter Lewis-Jones (’64-’68)

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