Manky's Pop.

[stinkey]

The trouble with not having a workshop is having to waste money cos you ain't got tins full of " that'll come in handy one day ?" ..I must say Andy the pops looking good and you should sell some of those monkeys from the bonnet ?..lubly jubly..

[Manky Monkey]

Yeah, got rid of my crates of "That'll come in handy" stuff when I split up with Tazet, my last girlfriend, a couple of years ago. Travellin' light now & trying not to collect too much clutter.
The bonnet badge was originally drawn by me, then the sketch photographed & emailed, (I don't have a scanner), to ...think it was Steve Brock, in Ireland. He put it through a CAD design programme & split it into 3 pieces, then had the laser cutting company his business used, cut the pieces from steel. They were posted to me, TIG welded together by my brother, (each piece had holes in the back to weld to the next so the joins don't show from the front). Then Dslam nickel plated it. It's since been cleaned up & re-plated.
Steve asked if he could make a few & sell them, but the whole point was to make something unique that only I would have. I didn't want to park up at a show & see another one on another car. He'd already made another for himself though for his trike. I know Doc, (Twisted Patience), has got one on his daughter's pedal car, but not sure if it's the same one or another. If they suddenly appeared on Ebay, I'd scrap mine & make something else.

[poprodder]

them seats/storage box look the b*llocks andy.

[morrag]

Andy, with your upholsterers retirement there will be a further "nail in the coffin" of disappearing skills! This week for instance sees the end of flying the sole remaining airworthy Vulcan bomber,in the World! which is in private hands and has been for the past 8 years, only saved by public subscription. Why does it come to an end now you may ask, not through lack of funds, the £1.5m a year required to keep it in the air is available, but from lack of the technically skilled people to service it! for a country with our heritage in engineering, what on earth does that say about us? and to the World at large. Central government are fond of telling everyone of the plethora of apprenticeship schemes supposedly out there....yeah right, in what? stacking shelves in Tesco?.... sad or what Morrag

[Manky Monkey]

Sad, but true mate. I did an apprenticeship in printing when I left school.
On the other hand though, there was a report on Radio 4 recently, (yeah, I know, I'm getting old), saying that kids are leaving school now with unrealistic expectations of their future employment. They're never told they're useless, as our age group regularly were, & think they'll walk into a nice posh office job & be driving a Ferrari & buying a big house in the country within a year -well, not quite that far maybe, but they don't want to get their hands dirty & think they're cleverer than they actually are.
I often think now I wish I had a practical skill that would let me be self employed & earn as much as I was willing to work for. Phil's got a dodgy back, which he's convinced comes from a lifetime of lugging seats in & out of cars & thumping upholstered panels into place etc, so it can be a tough job, but you'd think someone somewhere would love to learn those skills.

[stinkey]

Well if you (everybody ) believe in governments and promises I feel sorry for you ? I watched Nick knowles last night helping the ex servicemen..very emotional..that's how we need to make a change..but apathy stays with us ?..Andy the kids today often make one wonder ?  They all think they'll be living like the Kardashians ? My step daughter can't wait to move up to her flat in Chelsea ?

[morrag]

Yeah, but who gave the young people of today such unrealistic expectations, sadly the previous generation....and you know its not just being "handy" that makes a skilled man or indeed woman! its diligence, effort, intelligence and a feeling for what you are about, plus a deal more, but we have undersold these attributes for so long we now run out of the generation of "teachers", at my age I still get requests from engineering agencies for the running of Steel and Petro-Chem  shut downs etc.  now why do you think that is.....simples, the next generation of young engineers are just too thin on the ground. Morrag

[Baychimp]

Its funny (but not really) in a recent survey of young girls at schools,when asked what they wanted to be when they left, 85% said that they wanted to be a WAG. Gordon Brown once said we have no need of Industry or manufacturing,as the City and financial services would carry us through. We all know what happened then. I find it very sad that at least one generation, almost two have never had a job and are unlikely to get a trade as the training isn't there.  

[poprodder]

[morrag]

He may have repeated the statement but the original came from Margaret Thatcher, in the '80's no surprise there then!.....................

[Tony oily bike]

At the risk of continuing the hi-jack of Manky’s Pop thread, here’s a bit of good news. My friend Chris, who is under 30, runs Bespoke Bodywork and has a small team of young guys.

Their business is craftsmen-built bespoke aluminium petrol tanks and bodies for vintage cars etc, and Chris found himself a keen young (teen) apprentice who spends his time at Bespoke as well as college, so there’s at least one young man who should end up with an admirable skill set!

http://www.mankymonkeymotors.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=15105.0

[Manky Monkey]

That is good to know   More power to their collective elbows!

[hunter]

This government would rather import skill than training our own.

[the coppersmith]

Good comment Hunter. I was one of 270 apprentices taken on by the Dockyard in 1966, became 1 of 16000. Now they employ around 3000 and only take 12 apprentices. Until recently I always had a apprentice in tow, they were shocked to find out I worked on average 60 hours a week, one quit there and then, couldn't see the point in working. I recently had a female apprentice, nicknamed her Blossom. She worked and tried her hardest at everything I set her, drank with the lads and had tats everywhere. She has now gone on to take more exams and will end up in an engineering office. A loss to hands on skills I think. most apprentices now are adults and to set in their ways. Just want a quick pound. Look at plumbing and heating. Lots of skills have walked away because they cannot compete with the guys undercutting the profit margin.
Any way on with the pop Andy, sorry to steal (invade) the thread.

[Baychimp]

He may have repeated the statement but the original came from Margaret Thatcher, in the '80's no surprise there then!.....................

Thatcher may have said it. But to hear a so called Labour socialist say it terrible.