The spring weather means that the grass cutting season is almost upon us. Wrestling with a recalcitrant petrol 'mower inevitably leads some of the Moseley Railway Trust's older members to reminisce about the halcyon days at the Cheadle school. At the School, grass cutting was done not by unreliable and noisy petrol power, but by clean, silent and efficient electricity. As you can see in the photo, the School ground staff used a GreenBat to cut the grass. Made in a manufactory in Leeds, the GreenBat range of mowers got its name as a portmanteau of Green Grass and Battering Ram. This reflected the remarkable power of the GreenBat to penetrate even the heaviest and longest grass with ease. Eventually, as with so much of British industry, the GreenBat company came to a sad end; a large order was placed by a West Yorkshire treacle mining company which then folded, leaving GreenBat with a large quantity of machines and a sticky hole in its cashflow. The Cheadle GreenBat was a unique survivor. After the school railway closed, the GreenBat moved to Cornwall, where it is now preserved next to the Wheal Jane Patent Underground Sundial (for measuring the passage of time after a roof cave-in in Tin mines).
