1970s High Wycombe | Furniture production | Ercol | how to make a chair | A Town Called..|1975

Thames TV Presenter Monty Modlyn pays a visit to the Buckinghamshire town of High Wycombe to speak to the some of those working in its thriving furniture business.
First shown: 09/07/1975
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Quote: VT11247

[@regplasma7906]

My old dad was a furniture stainer.Now he's retired and incontinent , he remains a furniture stainer.

[@tonymonaghan5993]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@ullscarf]

That's good to hear the old Wycombe accent again - just the way I remembers it.

[@bwabymafia]

Love watching these old insightful videos

[@nickjames4497]

Love a bit of Ercol …. I traveled up and down the country to bring it back to my house in Wycombe …

[@blakaeg]

I don’t get it? Supposed to be a joke?

[@CA999]

Nice choice. It was very interesting to watch even in a contemporary context in that he challenges and technological pace is about the same. I would love to see a follow up report given the change of trade agreements, styles, technology, freight costs and skill sets.

[@mr.y.mysterious.video1]

Bought an Ercol nest of tables a couple of years back. Somehow the shop was clearing them for sixty quid. Still on sale elsewhere no for hundreds, crazy price but hey it’s made in the uk

[@BokorRider]

brilliant

[@garryleeks4848]

Love watching these, true craftsmanship that’s if you understand what there saying

[@anthonymaughan6103]

Them poor Trees 😢

[@jasonayres]

(3:05) "Bodger".
In our Australian English language, to "bodgie something up", or "a bit of a bodge job", implies a practical, if not pretty, piece of work.
Fixing up your old car so that it can be registered again.
Fixing a piece of old furniture (-not a fine antique, just something to eat your dinner off)
I wonder if this is where the term comes from.

[@GiggleBytes2011]

Nahh i think Bodge in your example is from the word Botch, as the Bodgers in the video didn't do messed up jobs, they were very good at what they did.

[@jasonayres]

@@GiggleBytes2011 🤔But to botch something, from my understanding, was to completely ruin something.
Like a "botched plan" or "botched attempts".
Bodged up.. is like a basic patch up, or renovation.
Regardless, interesting video 👍

[@TrueBrit1]

@@GiggleBytes2011 Thanks for using the correct terminology. For those that don't know, when you make a temporary or poor repair, just good enough to get by, it means you've 'botched it'. So the term is botch, not bodge, but sadly the vast majority of people use the latter.

[@chrisnmayor]

Bodger is a derogatory term that was l used by craftsmen employed in factories against the turners who worked in the beech woods rough shaping chair components. Beech wood can be used when fresh cut and was easier to transport as turned billets, but was seen as a lesser skill, quite wrongly.

[@jasonayres]

@@chrisnmayor Thanks 👍

[@ts6070]

Wow shame I am sure they don’t make chairs 🪑 in wycombe anymore..

[@russellhunter8378]

ercol have a factory in Princes Risborough, still going

[@ts6070]

@@russellhunter8378 yes they moved from wycombe in 2002 as their 1920 old site just off London Road (A40) was redeveloped. So, no chairs made in wycombe currently sadly. Also Ercol furniture is massively expensive currently with around £350 for a single Ercol chair 🪑

[@Eatcrow]

Is that Monty Modlyn?

[@1975ukandbored]

Trees all being chipped now for biomass boilers