A few weeks ago I promised a treat for those who were interested in the history of the BRD company in Aldridge – many readers will have worked or had relatives that did in the huge, sprawling engineering company the closed some years ago now.
Last year I acquired a book via a good pal called ‘Early Days at BRD’ by Jim Edwards, former Company Secretary and Chief Accountant, which is a nearly 150 page work on the history of this remarkably innovative company up until the work’s publication in 1995, but concentrating mainly on the period from the 1950s to 1970s.
This remarkable book is packed with details about BRD products, the various factories in the group (although focused on Aldridge), the company’s links with others (including GKN, who eventually took them over) and most interestingly, the social club and life of the business as a community.
It even documents The Omtitis, the BRD Social Club magazine, a copy of which I scanned and shared here previously.
The book is packed with photos and archive material, and is a real trip down memory lane. And I’ve scanned the whole thing for you to read.
The book was printed by Baker Bond in Brownhills (Who produced the beloved ‘Brownhills Gazette’) in 1995 and is long out of print, and I’ve never seen another copy – indeed I was shocked to see this one! I think it’s a shame it’s not more widely available, so I’ve worked hard to share it here.
You can peruse the first 20 pages in the gallery at the foot of the post. Clcik on any one to read it full size.
David Hughes has previously written about the BRD company for the blog, Linda Mason has recorded with great love and fondness her memories of the great Aldridge factories. Many local people worked there and travelled daily on the works busses from local towns like Brownhills.
Please, if you have any memories, or spot anything you’d like to talk about or share, please do – you can comment on this post directly, mail me on BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com of say hello on social media.
My thanks to Jim Edwards whose hard work in creating this book is clear to see. It’s beautifully written and fascinating.
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Thanks for this..I have downloaded it to laptop but can’t see a search facility as you suggested?
What browser are you using?
On a Mac it’s command-f
Cheers
Bob
My grandpa worked at the BRD late 1950s -1970s onwards.
Bernard Barratt.
He loved it apparently!
Hi, my Father worked at the BRD late 1950’s. He was the person who designed the BRD badge that is still used today, Sadly my Father passed away recently and we have found the original badge with a note from my Father explaining how it came about. If you are interested in the story please contact me.
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