THE IDENTITY of a mystery machine in an old photograph has been solved after three Bromsgrove Standard readers who kindly responded to an appeal by the picture’s owner, writes Neil Gordon.
Janet Morgan made the appeal last month for information about three photographs which had once belonged to her late father.
Janet has since discovered the machine in one of the pictures is a Turret Lathe made by the now closed Selly Oak-based company HW Wards, after being contacted by ex-Wards apprentice and Standard reader Alan Willis.
A thrilled Janet said: “It’s all fallen into place.
“I remember my father was employed at Wards until 1949, until my mother discovered she was expecting me, and he then left to work at the family shop – Halfpenny’s greengrocers in Bromsgrove.
“This may have been the machine he actually worked on.
“Once he knew he was changing career, and as a keen photographer, he would have wanted to keep the memory of this part of his life alive by taking this picture.”
And readers Colin Wood also undertook online genealogy research assisting Janet’s appeal, while retired engineer Gordon Clarke was able to provide information too.
