Mr Crabtree

[MrCrabtree]

Hello
just joined, love the morris minor van.
Me, 57 early retirement, married and a son 28.
Loved motorbikes but my biggest passion is fishing

I am sure I have lots to ask very soon

Mr C

[KeithL]

Welcome to the Forum. Lots of helpful, friendly advice to be had here.

[MrCrabtree]

Thank you

[jagnut66]

Hello and welcome,
For a minute there I thought I would be looking at a discussion around Bakelite light switches etc. (Crabtree)
Look forward to seeing an image of your moggy instead.....
Best wishes,
Mike.

[MrCrabtree]

its a fishing thing....

[simmitc]

Is that lake/inland fishing or estuary/sea fishing? Minor vans would have been used by fishmongers in the day, so maybe you can link your two interests...

[les]

[quote=
its a fishing thing....
[/quote]
Is your son called Peter?

[stuffedpike20]

Is your 'dad' called Bernard Venables?

[stuffedpike20]

Do you know Mr Cherry, and Jim, and Tim?

[myoldjalopy]

For a minute there I thought I would be looking at a discussion around Bakelite light switches etc. (Crabtree)

Can be if you like, Mike!

Here's one of my spares, I have these switches in every room (except the bathroom), fixed to old wooden patresses . Interestingly, on one of the flaps to the carton it says "Do not burn this carton. Save it for your local salvage collector." Before the throwaway society!

They go nicely with the porcelain ceiling pendant

2020-08-25 13.41.20.jpg (1.25 MiB) Viewed 3617 times

[MrCrabtree]

Yes its my dad Bernard and son Peter

[jagnut66]

They go nicely with the porcelain ceiling pendant

Very nice indeed, I too have brown bakelite Crabtree light switches, a slightly later version than yours:

Vintage Crabtree Flat panel brown bakelite light switches.jpg (2.31 KiB) Viewed 3576 times

They go with my Tiffany style lights, I have these throughout (different styles), took a while to source ones that looked period though.
to finish them off they all hang with brown braided flex (still available), some even with original roses and patresses

Front bedroom 26.JPG (687.36 KiB) Viewed 3576 times

Best wishes,
Mike.

[myoldjalopy]

Yes, the braided flex is a nice finishing touch. I see you have a fine old clock as well. Maybe we should start a seperate thread for old light fittings, clocks, gramophones, wirelesses etc.

[philthehill]

And a dado or crown rail.
You do not see many of those around these days

[geoberni]

And a dado or crown rail.
You do not see many of those around these days

Dado rail is the one that is about waist high on the wall as typically intended to protect the wall from chair backs in dining rooms etc. Often just a design feature though, with different decor above and below the rail.

I've never heard it called a Crown Rail , I've always just known it as 'Picture Rail'.

I think builders stopped installing it in the 1950s, it's decline possibly even something that occurred with the need to build faster in the post WWII housing programme.
Standard in houses pre-WWII, I've certainly never seen it in anything built since the early 1960s, unless added afterwards.
My parents brought a new house in about '66 and it didn't have any.

Starting from joining the RAF in the mid 70s, I don't recall ever seeing it in any RAF Married Quarters the majority of which were built in the 50s.
Unlikely to have been specially removed, since that would cost money, and they would love the idea of leaving an extra dust trap to catch people out on the March Out (handover inspections).

[jagnut66]

Hi,
Links to braided flex below for anyone interested, 2 core for lighting, 3 core for rewiring old lamps etc.
You just need to let them know how many metres you want. And the colour, I went for a period brown but you can get other colours.
My home was built in 1950 and I've slowly returning the decor to an earlier look, more in keeping with my tastes, the bedroom fireplace is an original dating to 1901.
When I was installing it I found a shard of the original, buried under the plaster, which must have broke off the bottom corner when they ripped it out (probably in the 1970s).

Remains of original front bedroom fireplace.JPG (1.34 MiB) Viewed 3463 times

The style in 1950's Mansfield seems to have been influenced by pre-war design, in some places anyway.
Best wishes,
Mike.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Colo ... %3A2334524

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Twist-Silk-B ... Swl2haS0Kb

[les]

Looks like Mr Crabtree is now selling his van, don’t know if anyone has taken the bait https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/classic-Morr ... Sw7yxfvnUZ

[Shropshiremoggie]

Quick pic. of a light in one of our bedrooms ! Modern ‘ but vintage looking ‘ flex.

FBEC8378-819A-499B-8D10-8B28A70CD55C.jpeg (1009.84 KiB) Viewed 3171 times

[jagnut66]

Braided flex is always a nice finishing touch.
Shame we're loosing the original poster, his advert states loss of storage space.
Sign of the times I suppose, plus many seen reluctant to store their vehicles outside these days.......
Best wishes,
Mike.

NB: Anyone with their own driveway can always put up a Clarke 'garage', they come in various sizes and require no planning permission. I can recommend them, they are quite tough, Sally is being restored in one at present - including welding work - and the fabric is unaffected by it.
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/c/sheds/

[les]

Another relic——

15085C0D-08C4-4A8B-9E7D-381BAD1BE2A2.jpeg (2.14 MiB) Viewed 2962 times

Wonder if we’ll hear from Mr Crabtree again, looks like he still has his van.