Robert Lee - Uxbridge

[Norfolk]

Some years ago (30 ish) I used to patronise the above shop.
Anyway outside the entrance door and to one side they had what would best be described as a porch roof bolted to the wall, under this a natural colony of bees.

Anybody remember this or even have a photograph of it. I used to stand under it for ages staring in wonder at the bee's working away.

Many a sore neck - Happy Days

 

[For want of a better word]

Did Thornes take over Robert Lee?

 

[Norfolk]

Did Thornes take over Robert Lee?

Oh dear, thanks for the hint

Now you say that I'm thinking it was in fact Lee's.
I wonder if I can change the thread title now - Dooh

Did you go there and do you remember the gable-hive thing ?

 

[For want of a better word]

Oh dear, thanks for the hint

Now you say that I'm thinking it was in fact Lee's.
I wonder if I can change the thread title now - Dooh

Did you go there and do you remember the gable-hive thing ?

Me.. I was just a twinkle in my dad's eye then ... or in very short trousers!
But I have been collecting Robert Lee equipment.. hives / nuc boxes and tinware for a few years... and buried in the cave somewhere is a catalogue possibly later 30's with a grainy litho of the front of Lee's factory.
Will try to dig it out!

 

[MuswellMetro]

Does anyone remember E H Taylor of Welwyn,

I remember picking up an EH Taylor package of Bees from the railway station with my Grand father in his split screen morris Van

 

[Pete D]

Does anyone remember

split screen morris Van

Whats one of those..............

You should have gone to Autoglass

 

[pargyle]

Whats one of those..............

You should have gone to Autoglass

Ha Ha .... those were the days when you could only get car window glass in flat sheets ... curved glass was far too expensive in post was Britain !! I sometimes think that those 1950's and late 1940's cars were designed around parts that factories could produce, or were left over war surplus, rather than the design driving the manufacture .... and it shows in some of them !

 

[Norfolk]

Ha Ha .... those were the days when you could only get car window glass in flat sheets ... curved glass was far too expensive in post was Britain !! I sometimes think that those 1950's and late 1940's cars were designed around parts that factories could produce, or were left over war surplus, rather than the design driving the manufacture .... and it shows in some of them !

I was always told that post war bubble cars were made from aircraft parts (cockpits) so maybe some truth in it all.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The first Landrover bodies were made from aluminium alloy meant for aircraft skins and their colours were dictated by whatever (usually green) paint that waw available military surplus. They even used a shade called 'cockpit blue' i believe which was originally used to paint the interiors of spitfires.

 

[drstitson]

shame - i thought this thread was going to reveal hitherto unknown Middlesex connections with the Dukes of Hazzard!!!

oh well - perhaps i'm just "Whistling Dixie"

 

[user 6228]

Ha Ha .... those were the days when you could only get car window glass in flat sheets ... curved glass was far too expensive in post was Britain !! I sometimes think that those 1950's and late 1940's cars were designed around parts that factories could produce, or were left over war surplus, rather than the design driving the manufacture .... and it shows in some of them !

Its a reflection that the country was stony broke as the U.S. resumed its economic warfare against the British Empire immediately post-war. There are no special relationships just U.S. national interest and beyond that there are individual U.S. politicians interests.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

There are no special relationships just U.S. national interest and beyond that there are individual U.S. politicians interests.

Bloody septics!

 

[alanf]

Ha Ha .... those were the days when you could only get car window glass in flat sheets ... curved glass was far too expensive in post was Britain !! I sometimes think that those 1950's and late 1940's cars were designed around parts that factories could produce, or were left over war surplus, rather than the design driving the manufacture .... and it shows in some of them !

Indeed, much of the 1940s production was based on what they could get hold of and much of that was made with pre-war tooling. And the priority was to export, export export. Hence the 1950s interest turned to developing two seaters (MG, Triumph, Sunbeam) to sell as many units as they could stateside.

As late as the first generation Land Rover Discovery, the tail lights were off a Maestro van. The lights still had BL markings even though the company disappeared several years before the Disco was replaced in the late 90s. The modern equivalent is the "base platform". There's a set of wheels, running gear, engines etc. that a manufacturer develops. Then they bolt on as many body variants as they can think of. So the Ka shares a lot with the Fiesta and so on. Current marketing thought is "styling" is important so models tend to have different lights etc and save money using common components under the skin.

 

[drstitson]

The early Ford Kas had engines based on the 1959 Kent model as used in the Ford Anglia.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

The early Ford Kas had engines based on the 1959 Kent model as used in the Ford Anglia.

Who can remember the clip of the space shuttle accompanied by the sound of a Ford Anglia winding and winding but failing to start?

 

[farbee]

Bloody septics!

They need antibiotic pretty quick for that.

 

[hedgehog66]

i recently sold a robert lee extractor
nice bit of kit, very well made

 

[Cul a cnoic]

Does anyone remember E H Taylor of Welwyn,

I remember picking up an EH Taylor package of Bees from the railway station with my Grand father in his split screen morris Van

Oh dear, thanks for the hint

Now you say that I'm thinking it was in fact Lee's.
I wonder if I can change the thread title now - Dooh

Did you go there and do you remember the gable-hive thing ?

Just had a quick look through the 1941 edition of The Practical Bee Guide and seen ads for both companies. excuse the bad pics from the camera phone..

And Taylors were going sixty years per the ad below.

 

[hiveabee]

Its a reflection that the country was stony broke as the U.S. resumed its economic warfare against the British Empire immediately post-war. There are no special relationships just U.S. national interest and beyond that there are individual U.S. politicians interests.

Very True, Then the USA started messing about with bees and cocked things up

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Oh dear, thanks for the hint

Now you say that I'm thinking it was in fact Lee's.
I wonder if I can change the thread title now - Dooh

Did you go there and do you remember the gable-hive thing ?

So the title changed! Thought I was going (more) daft...