`,I was on leave from the Merchant Navy, after an enjoyable working trip around the globe totalling one year. I ended up paying off with £100 cash plus money sent home every month to my mother via the company.it was called a allotment.
Most voyages were around 3 months + £13 per month in 1960.all found not bad ehh I can elaborate on what our duties were in another post.
We all used to draw money in every port we visited, I was young and enjoyed myself in every port and you needed money. In addition, you had to pay for your beer and tobacco, plus sundries .on the ship. However, all food and accommodation is free.
After having a months earned leave, after a trip of 1 year and 1 day travelling around the globe.
I decided I would try to stay at home and work around my local area and put some roots down ,i did not have any contract stating that I had to stay in the Merchant Navy after one trip with a company you could stay on the ship for the next voyage if asked ,or you left and took your chances at the” Shipping Federation”
tThe employment office for seamen a agency that all shipping companies used at major ports within the uk and Northen Irland for their crews,you could be obligated to them for two years if you signed a contract and they would gurantee you work on a ship, however you had two choices of what ship to crew if you wanted to ,if you refused two shipping lines to work for you had to take the third job on a ship they offered
A example would be, the first two choices could be ships on long voyages ,maybe you would want a short trip or the countries they were going to .or if they were passenger ships or just cargo ships.lots of factors ,however if you were not contracted to them ,you could go to any shipping company on your own and ask for work.they all had a personal department just for employing crews
I arrive home very late from Paying off the ship in HULL, catching a train from Hull to London London,then a train from LONDON to Banbury , then a train fron BANBURY to my villageWoodford Halse a bit of a worse for wear in a state of drunkeness , it upset my mum and dad understandable, they had not seen me for a year, we were brought up with no hugs and kisses,and the drunken state I was in at the time I did not deserve any,and I did not get any…
Next day my dad said to me if you come home again like that again I would not bother going away to sea another mistake I took that to heart after a couple of weeks enjoying my self I took driving lessons and passed after 19 lessons within less than two weeks with the british school of motoring,I was able to take any lessons that they had cancelled ,I would go and wait in the local pubTHE HORSE AND JOCKEY”in BANBURY,no drink and driving in 1964/5.and passed first time in a Austin A40…
I managed to find a job, van delivrey with a fruit and vegetables wholesale merchant, early morning starts and late finishes, I should have realized then, that what transport was about.
However, it was new to me I went along with it. I did have thoughts that I should have gone straight back to sea ,however i did not go back,my life with Lorries started. I stayed for about 3 months getting used to driving around the local area ,but I wanted to just keep going longer distances,they also had a small comer flat bed four wheeler, I could not wait for them to ask me just to move it around their yard.but they never did.
After a short time working there i would go out with the driver of the comer to collect produce from farms local and he would let me drive it off road down lanes but not using many gears,but the keenness was already there for me to drive,I was not getting enough out of the van job and I knew within my self that I would be able to manage a larger lorry ,well I thought I could
Work of any kind was very easy to find on the manual labour market, and not having any trade you took what you could in total I had about 10 different types of work all manual some dirty, eventually my type of training from sea time came to my rescue, my job at sea from working on deck ,we were classed as riggers ashore.AS I WAS NOT 21no driving job I expect you could drive like 3 tonnners then but not around where I lived.
I started as a “trainee linesman” for B.I.C.C.company building the large electrical pylons and masts that you see all around the country side ,after 6 weeks training I was passed as able to work in a erecting gang.the training took place just behind where the now rugby truck stop is.at a village called Clay-Cotton.
We were housed in the local Y.M.C.A. at Rugby there were about 12 of us young men from all over the country ,as I had my Morris van I could have travelled from home every day but idecided to stop with the others at least you were there on time every morning although the food was not that good, a lot of fish and chips were eaten after beer at night ,however we drank very little at night as the longer we were there learning and the more dangerious the work was and you had to have a clear head at all times .we all passed out FIT FOR WORKING HEIGHTS
For erecting pylons or masts ,no one left the job after the course, we all went our different ways and I never set eyes on any of them again.we were sent where they needed us
The work was in different areas where new electricity power lines were needed. you lived in bed and breakfast houses where you as near to the site you were erecting pylons at the time, mostly the bed and breakfast places where lorry drivers used to stay for the one night, where as we would be in the same place for 2 or 3 nights although I did not know much about drivers I knew they had a little suit case for overnight gear, where as we had all our clothes in cases and I was reluctant to leave clothes in a room with strangers every day but we had to.
Travelling at work was in a Bedford /type ton lorry with a crew cabin on the back with all our equipment needed, also towing a “donkey engine winch” that was the most important piece of equipment we used every day it travelled every day attached to the back of the lorry until we reached the erecting site then it was unhitched and used by us after finishing work it was reattached to the lorry for safety…from being stolen out from the fields where we worked erecting the pylons.
Sometimes the designated driver would let me drive as I had my car licence if there were only 3 of us going somewhere we would sit in the cab ,a lot of the driving was off road, getting to where we were erecting the pylons
The driver would let me drive up and down the hills in the fields and i used to enjoy that when the fields were very wet the deliver lorries could sometimes only get to the field gate at the roadside and the steel would be pulled of the lorry bed by us by hand and left for us to take on to our site.
I used to envy the delivery driver because I knew he would be long gone before we had to reload the steel by hand and transport it up to the pylon building site it would take 2 or 3 trips of very heavy work in rain and snow or sun.to get the days delivery from the farmers gate way
I realised that the erecting job had its attractions, work abroad was one possibility and I did enjoy the work and the climbing ,also very hard work , outside all weathers.
One particular job within the bulding of the pylon was putting 4 stable outrigger bases in the surrounding ground that involed useing a sledge hammer knocking altogether 12 steel pegs ,like you use for a tent however about 5 foot long ,they had to go in the ground at lest 1 foot,mighty hard work…
With no stable place to live, changing digs,[bed and breakfast] at least twice a week , you would be moving further away from where you started erecting the first pylon.
After not a lot of thought I took the quick decision to leave,”another of my life’s big mistakes “the lorry driving was siting in my head, I had made my mind up that was what I wanted to do, so I had to go back home and try to follow what I wanted to do, once home my parents were not that pleased they thought I was setteled ,because my father and brother were well setteled working on the railway my mother could not understand why I was not the same I new I was not yet I should have just gone right back to sea.however shipping was in a decline .
Once home finding a “driving job” was not easy so I went and worked with some of the local lads on a building site [HOD carrying] that was loading cement or bricks ready for the bricklayers to use in a” HOD” they were made of metal when I used them
Once you had done that for a few weeks I got to think this is not for me, the work was endless.BRICK LAYERS SHOUTING “MUCK UP”all the time meaning they wanted more cement and quick…
Once working there you got to know other trades I got on well with one of the scaffolders they worked for S.G.B.based in Birmingham main office but these men came from Northampton once they found out my background[ I told one of them]that iwas trained at working at heights while on the ships also on the pylons I was the ideal scaffoders labourer and I was asked by their boss if I wanted to join them ,working where we were ,so that is what I did ,and ifound out that I was good at it doing the job, being not frightened of heights at all helped.
Also the money was better I did that for nearly 8 months ,the boss said I was capable to go on my own and do any job also I was strong enough to lift up the 20 foot poles on my own.
When the job came to a end they asked me to travel with them as a gang member and work away all over the country unfortunally for them I had found a girl friend for the first time andi had no intenion of leaving the village.
I followed 3 of my friends and went to work on the British RAILWAY AS A PLATE-LAYER, The office was in Banbury by the railway station ,the gang I worked with worked from Cropredy-to claydon crossing. just up the track from FENNY COMPTON on the main line Birmingham to LONDON.
A Platelayer the job = railway track mantainace ,keeping all the rail banks tidy and the grass a d bushes cut backThe main job OF THE PLATE LAYER GANG OF MEN was to keep both main line rail tracks ,safe,and level.you were using a shovel all day
After time we had to work 3 Sundays out of 4 I found it was not what I wanted so I gave my notice and left…