THE MECCANO MONOLOGUE OR THE DINKY DITTY

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Sat, 08/23/2014 - 18:44

Dinkinius

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THE MECCANO MONOLOGUE OR THE DINKY DITTY

Thought I would share the following with the troops, written for the 1975 Annual Sales Conference by Steven Harmer (Area 25)
I think it is a nice piece of personal Meccano history. Kind regards,

Bruce

Sat, 08/23/2014 - 19:49

buzzer999

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It is an astonishing piece of history and hugely amusing, thanks for sharing this Bruce.

Dave

Sat, 08/23/2014 - 19:55

starni999

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Funny and quite moving too!
Cheers Bruce!
CW

Sat, 08/23/2014 - 21:11

dinkyfan

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Wow, had no idea anything like that existed or survived! Very interesting, and somewhat poignant, forecasting dark days ahead..... great history and wonderful that it survived.
Terry

Sun, 08/24/2014 - 01:27

Dinkinius

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I have been advised that the Monologue in its current jpeg state is hard to read. I will try and see if I can upload it as a document, so bear with me please!
Nope - file is too large.
Those who would like to read a copy can email me and I can forward it to them. Or perhaps I can send it to Jacques to go into the Document Archives section. The Monologue formed part of an auction lot, so I guess I can forsake some of its cost!!
However, many thanks gentlemen, Terry, Dave and Chris for your very kind comments. The thought does come to mind, especially reading threads in other messages throughout this forum, it is quite apparent that there is a very small group who keep this forum alive. I know I have been a backside sitter, but am endeavouring to correct this with stuff that is (hopefully) of interest to those who subscribe to the Association, but there have been issues raised that has not achieved very much response from the wider membership. Are we doing things right?
I will now step down from my soapbox!
Kind regards
Bruce

Sun, 08/24/2014 - 06:10

dinkyfan

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Bruce--
I found I could enlarge and read the text quite easily when I used my IPad. On my computer, I could click on the text and then enlarge it, but could only enlarge it one time, so I can see where some folks would have difficulty reading it.
As to your thoughts about the lack of participation on this forum, many of us have openly discussed this before, and frankly, we are puzzled why more of our members don't visit the site, or at least participate. We have speculated that some members are getting older, and maybe just not too computer literate. But that surely does not explain the many others that are clearly missing in action.
Terry

Mon, 08/25/2014 - 02:18

Dinkinius

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Thanks for that Terry. Hopefully others who have the same trouble can do likewise.
I think it is a nice piece of contemporary history that brings out the human side of not only Dinky Toys, but all the other products of Binns Road. I am sure Frank would have been proud of this tribute.

Mon, 08/25/2014 - 07:55

janwerner

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Hi Bruce and Terry, regarding participation we can only persevere, like Dave and I have done for five years already. Both of us have propagandized the site everywhere we can, but progress is slowly. At the last AGM I took my laptop with me and I was asked and announced to demonstrate the site and the forum in the meeting room, not in the plenary meeting, but to individual members present, afterwards. But attention for the tables with Dinky Toys was much bigger than for my computer screen. In fact the attention for the site demonstration was virtually nihil.
I do not understand either, because we all know that there are many people around who are greatly advanced in years nowadays, who are as clever in handling computers, Ipads, using internet etc, as youngsters are. It would be interesting to know from Dave Kaun, our webmaster, to see some statistics of visiting the site - as opposed to just participating in the discussions.
Finally, the accumulation of data, ideas, points of view, and knowledge to be found on the forum must inevitably attract more attention and participation in the longer run (wishful thinking?).
Finally, finally, I believe many comparable discussion fora have the same problem!

Kind regards, Jan

Mon, 08/25/2014 - 11:13

dinkycollect

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Can any one tell me who the R.S.M. pair is and also the D.S.R ?

Tanks.

Jacques.

Mon, 08/25/2014 - 11:26

#10

buzzer999

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Sadly, as I have said before, the lethargy starts right at the top. None of the DTCA committee members ever log on to the website.

This does not encourage others to participate, I hope that getting some Forum stuff in the Journal will start to change attitudes and get a wider membership enjoying the interaction.

Dave

Mon, 03/09/2015 - 03:19

#11

Dinkinius

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Dinkinius wrote:
"Thought I would share the following with the troops, written for the 1975 Annual Sales Conference by Steven Harmer (Area 25)
I think it is a nice piece of personal Meccano history. Kind regards,

Bruce"

Greetings all!

I have received a number of comments that the original scan was difficult to read. After considerable procrastination, I have finally re-scanned this fabulous piece of English Literature that now makes it easier to read.

Kind regards

Bruce

Mon, 03/09/2015 - 08:07

#12

dinkycollect

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Bruce, this is rearly nice but what does R.S.M. pair and D.S.R stand for ?

Jacques.

Mon, 03/09/2015 - 09:18

#13

RSSierra

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RSM stands for Regimental Sergeant Major. The highest rank non commissioned officer in a regiment or in this context organisation. DSR is a mystery but I will keep searching.

Mon, 03/09/2015 - 13:39

#14

starni999

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Hi Dave / All,
I think RSM in this context is "Regional Sales Manager".I initially thought "Dinky Sales Representative" for DSR, but it doesn't work in the song, so I'm guessing it's refering to an activity like "admin" or a "fouler deed", so might be D??? / Sale / Return?
Chris Warr.

Mon, 03/09/2015 - 15:24

#15

buzzer999

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Surely RSM here refers to "Regional Sales Managers"

Dave

Mon, 03/09/2015 - 15:38

#16

Dinkinius

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Jacques

RSM does stand for as suggested by Dave, Chris and others, Regional Sales Manager, there being two within the organisation, North and South. The DSR, could mean District Sales Representatives. However, I would dearly like to know the full names of those mentioned throughout the Monologue. Bert for instance must have cut a fine figure in his younger days with his short pants that were "office-girl arousers"!!

One thing stands out, is the every-day office banter that we as collectors were unaware. We only see the products, but not some of the people who were instrumental in getting these out to the many shops and into the hearts and souls of little boys everywhere.

Bruce

Mon, 03/09/2015 - 19:19

#17

RSSierra

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Yes, of course. I stand corrected......

Mon, 03/09/2015 - 23:07

#18

dinkycollect

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Thank you everybody for your interpretation of RSM and DSR.

Little is known about the life in the factories except what is in "Factory of dreams" and a letter from Patrick F. Atkinson

http://dtcawebsite.org/dinky-documents/63-miscellaneous/214-about-the-ca...

I have also found a picture of a picket after the Binns road factory closed and a poem writen at the same time.

Tue, 05/05/2015 - 13:21

#19

Dinkinius

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Many thanks Jacques for adding the above to this Thread. I meant to wrote a reply ages ago, but now I am in Manila with precious little to do except try and keep cool, I have a chance to go back through old Threads! :laugh:

The poem echoes the thoughts of all those who grew up in this era and what had been lost.

Kind regards

Bruce still in Manila (150)

#539