I served my apprenticeship at Ward & Davidson , 61 Bonnersfield, sunderland.
They originally made cylinder head gaskets for the motor trade and had dozens of people using fly presses to do this, I saw an old photo of the line of presses.
As a brass founder they originally made portholes and sidelights for the shipbuilding industry.
In the 60s when I worked there we made a lot of the valve work used in shipbuilding, high pressure steam valves, wash deck valves used for the fire systems etc. etc. Anything in brass, bronze or cast iron was undertaken, the ship's bell was another job we used to machine.
The brewery work was mainly refurbishing the beer cocks that the pubs used for hammering into the barrels, this was normally given to the youngest apprentice to do as it was quite boring. We also made the bronze rope guides used in the mining industry.
When the nightclubs started to take off we made most of the parts for the roulette wheels.
The coppersmiths used to make a lot of the pipe work for the ships, the younger apprentices again machining the brass flanges for these.
In the late 60s the sheet metal side started to take off and the trunking for industrial central heating and air con systems.
