Thanks Peter for another informative article on the history of CVA. The photos brought back memories of 1971 when I attended the technical college in School Road Hove. On Thursdays my fellow apprentices and I used to walk to the Portland Road offices to collect our wages from Mr Geoff Paine, who was the Training Officer for Kearney & Trecker. The pay for a 16 year old first year apprentice in 1971 was £8.20p a week. After giving my mum £2.00 keep; I still had over £6.00 to spend on myself; life was so simple when you were young and naïve.

Very interesting article. My father John Wood, worked for CVA initially and I think mostly at Portland Road, but also at Coombe Road, where he met my mother Maureen Weeden and latterly at Hollingbury from 1946- 1972. In fact he received his 25 year watch in 1971 and was made redundant the following year, when I assume they did away with pattern shop. He served his apprenticeship at Portland Road in the patternshop, which was close to his home on the Knoll estate. From what he has told me and continues to tell me it seemed an enjoyable place to work. He mentioned lots of names, some of whom may not be with us any longer including Mike Dean, Micky Horrobin, Cecil(Sissle?) the patternshop foreman, "Bumble" who was badly wounded during the war and others whose names I can't recall. If any of them or perhaps their more IT aware children or Grandchildren have their own memories, they could share them on this site. Similarly anyone who was brought up on the Knoll Estate in the 30s, 40s and 50s Hope to hear Philip Wood

I came across this site today by pure chance. I served my time as a toolmaker at c.v.a in the mid 50s,first in St.James St. and then moved to Hollingbury. After moving through the m/c shop and D.O. I ended up on the bench in the Presstool dept. under Jack Cook. Soon after completing my "Time" I emigrated to South Africa. In 63' I moved to California and ended up designing and building precision tooling in Silicon Valley. I know now my apprenticeship at c.v.a. was first class and that there were some very highly talented people employed there. I am now long retired and live in S.Ireland. My father George Solly was in management at No2 and No6 for many years. His brother Frank Solly was a highly skilled miller when I was there. The finest engineers I worked with in my travels were mostly Germans, but very close behind were some of the people that worked at c.v.a. Jigs Moulds & Tools.

Hi Peter, I expect you have a photo of your father when he received his MBE at Buckingham Palace? If not let me know your email address and I will send you one!

My dad and uncle worked at the C.V.A in Portland Road, before the name changed. They both worked in the part which was called the ‘harding shop’. Dad worked nights and my uncle worked the day shift. I wonder if any one remembers them? Charlie Newman who was my dad, Ernie standing who was my uncle. Not sure how long they worked there for, but I remember going to Christmas parties as a kid at the factory in Hollingbury. My dad also worked at the Hollingbury factory.

That's the "hardening" shop Kathleen. Probably even then there were only a few places in Sussex with the capability to carry out hardening of steel, now there are probably none. Steel that had the correct amount of carbon, about 0.3% to 1.5% when heated to a "cherry red" and dipped (quenched) in water or oil, became hard. Of course it's a lot more complicated than I have described, to get the desired hardness, which varied according to the amount of carbon, and the speed at which it was quenched. CVA also had the capability to carburize steel which had very low carbon content; that is to induce carbon into the skin of the steel, then heat and quench, giving a hard skin, but soft inside.

My father worked at CVA and KTM from 1953 to 1981 as a time clerk. He started out in Upper St James's Street. Does anyone know where the CVA premises were in Upper St James's Street?

Hi Philip, you can find info about the CVA premises in Upper St James's Street here http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__9559.aspx

Hi Philip, I lived in the area in the early 60s; I do remember the disused factory in the area of what’s now Hampshire Court. There used to be an archway roughly in line with Charlotte St on Upper St James St which I believe used to be the entrance to the factory. I seem to remember being told by an ex employee that one of the corner buildings of Charlotte St was used as an administrative office for CVA. Peter Groves has a wealth of knowledge on CVA / K&T / KTM / FMT factories, he may well comment with more information or try the search facility at the top of the page for more topics on CVA / Kearney & Trecker.

Thanks for that Mick, and you are correct about the office on the adjacent corner. I have a plan of the factory c.1946 hand drawn by Keith Merrington, I'll try and put it on the site soon. Its a shame that they aren't any/many photos of the factory, unless someone knows differently?