Ancliff Tankers Manchester






Hi John Rudd I was with Ancliff.Tankers for 38yrs retired in 2003 worked ici salt at droitwich till it closed then worked from home U.K.& continental general powder and liquids till I retired left tanker at Hull depot hire car home had no word from past workmates since only Phil Potter at Bromyard who worked for bulwark as did his dad before him like to here from Vic Loughead,Gorge Davis Manchester

My late father Stan Rennison worked for Ancliff for a number of years out of Hull, they were based at Lex Tillotsons on Hedon road (now Imperial Commercials) I remember Big Herbert Hemsworth, Freddie Beach, Ernie Allsop, Jack Dillon,Eddie Gorgon.As far as I know only Fred is still with us.
They used to run the John Smiths bulk beer tanks from Tadcaster and always came away from there with a dozen or so pint bottles ofale, also regularly to Urmston, and beyond, I was driving car transporters for Tolemans out of Hull at the time and often used to pick up my dad or one or two of the others up from Barton truckstop or Birch/Hartshead/Woodside on a fiddle home as I did Hull /Widnes/Halewood almost every day, good times indeed!
Happy new Year to All

Stanfield:
Hi KW
Ken Cleaver,now theirs a name from the past,he came to work for us at Sadlers Oldham depot for a while in the late 80s when Larry Gilsenan was the transport manager.First met Ken down in felixstowe when myself and LG went down there on business and met up with him for a night on the beer(what a night that was) a top bloke Ken R.I.P

Top man Larry Gilsenan routing clerk at Urmston dept when only a young man and did a great job he was certain to get a managers post.John Rudd

moomooland:
Was just wondering if there are any old Ancliff (Manchester) drivers out there?

Urmston was my depot i worked from worcester for 38yrs ran corvic from hill house uk&continent then did general chemicals till retired 2003 J Rudd

Streaming:

Stanfield:
Hi KW
Ken Cleaver,now theirs a name from the past,he came to work for us at Sadlers Oldham depot for a while in the late 80s when Larry Gilsenan was the transport manager.First met Ken down in felixstowe when myself and LG went down there on business and met up with him for a night on the beer(what a night that was) a top bloke Ken R.I.P

Top man Larry Gilsenan routing clerk at Urmston dept when only a young man and did a great job he was certain to get a managers post.John Rudd

Hi John,Larry came to Sadler Tankers has transport manager at the Oldham depot and during his time there he was one of five who took part in a management buyout of the company and became commercial director until they sold out to CPL in 98.He then went on to open a driver agency in the oldham area which he kept going well into the 0000ties.Still see him now and again down the local tesco.I also seem to recall your name,did you ever go to the football with Larry now and again during the 80s by any chance?

Stanfield:

Streaming:

Stanfield:
Hi KW
Ken Cleaver,now theirs a name from the past,he came to work for us at Sadlers Oldham depot for a while in the late 80s when Larry Gilsenan was the transport manager.First met Ken down in felixstowe when myself and LG went down there on business and met up with him for a night on the beer(what a night that was) a top bloke Ken R.I.P

Top man Larry Gilsenan routing clerk at Urmston dept when only a young man and did a great job he was certain to get a managers post.John Rudd

Hi John,Larry came to Sadler Tankers has transport manager at the Oldham depot and during his time there he was one of five who took part in a management buyout of the company and became commercial director until they sold out to CPL in 98.He then went on to open a driver agency in the oldham area which he kept going well into the 0000ties.Still see him now and again down the local tesco.I also seem to recall your name,did you ever go to the football with Larry now and again during the 80s by any chance?

yes i did go to football with him,any news about Malcolm Harrison transport manager at Urmston John Rudd

Have just been reading these Ancliff posts with nostalgic interest as many remembered names leap out from 30, 40, even 50 years ago! Very spooky!
I worked for Ancliff at Bulwark Road from 1964 as one of Malcolm Harrisons go-fors, moving on in 1967 to their depot in Ellesmere Port and then back to Bulwark Road in perhaps 1978 until 1980 when I left the company to work in Saudi Arabia.
I remember well, Ken Cleaver as well as his close friend and partner in crime, Jock Mac Masters ( whose claim to fame was to have the thickest, scariest, most interesting personal file in the cabinet!)
Other names attached to colourful memories are Albert Sudet ( Have you got ten shillings in your pocket lad? ), Alfie Davies ( “Blimey! Mi tart’s up the tub and she’s 42!!”), Jimmy Goodwin the foreman with the most perfumed Morris Minor 1000 in the world, Alex Reid who introduced me to beer and Bacardi chasers on my 21st birthday in Southampton and of course who could forget the bosses Ken Farron ( married his secretary), Peter Thornton,( " How many “heads” have we got standing in the yard?"), Peter Bottomley ( “Somebody knew I was on holiday and broke into my house!!”)… it goes on and on and on.
I have rooted out the few pictures I have of this era and attach them for your interest. They include me as a nipper, poncing about outside the traffic office with another traffic clerk whose name escapes me for the moment, a couple of pictures of Sunter Brothers of Northallerton heavy haulage trucks in Ancliffs yard with the then Ellesmere Port depot manager, Godfrey Hayden, posing in his bri nylon shirt, as well as two Bulk Liquid Transport pictures, a John Ancliff Atkinson and, for some unknown reason, a picture of a fleet of Gulf Oil Scammels which were parked in our yard waiting, I think, to be scrapped or sold. Finally, my only picture of the depot at Ellesmere Port which is now under B and Q !!( All dated between 1964 and 1967).

img002.jpg

Streaming:
211112Hi John Rudd I was with Ancliff.Tankers for 38yrs retired in 2003 worked ici salt at droitwich till it closed then worked from home U.K.& continental general powder and liquids till I retired left tanker at Hull depot hire car home had no word from past workmates since only Phil Potter at Bromyard who worked for bulwark as did his dad before him like to here from Vic Loughead,Gorge Davis Manchester32

Hi Streaming, just seen This You must av Known Jack Hurst, he Still Living In Urmstom. I New im at PTH / TF Urmston Cheers Chris.

Wirlinmerlin:
Have just been reading these Ancliff posts with nostalgic interest as many remembered names leap out from 30, 40, even 50 years ago! Very spooky!
I 1964 and 1967).

I have just had a shock :open_mouth: looking at the pictues and reading your post, I was working in the Garage as apprentice on the spanners
and know most if not all the names and the trucks as well . If you look at the picture with the MG sport in it you can just make out the ford prefect that belonged to Stan Bains
the workshop chief Enginer that was fitted with a six cyclinder 3.ltr and a MG sports gearbox .The little red job in the midle was the formans (Harry Talior)
a Riley or Wolsey I think. I think Sunnters and Wynns worked together on the lowloader stuff , and you got it Wynns was part of the United transport group

Wirlinmerlin:
Have just been reading these Ancliff posts with nostalgic interest as many remembered names leap out from 30, 40, even 50 years ago! Very spooky!
I worked for Ancliff at Bulwark Road from 1964 as one of Malcolm Harrisons go-fors, moving on in 1967 to their depot in Ellesmere Port and then back to Bulwark Road in perhaps 1978 until 1980 when I left the company to work in Saudi Arabia.
I remember well, Ken Cleaver as well as his close friend and partner in crime, Jock Mac Masters ( whose claim to fame was to have the thickest, scariest, most interesting personal file in the cabinet!)
Other names attached to colourful memories are Albert Sudet ( Have you got ten shillings in your pocket lad? ), Alfie Davies ( “Blimey! Mi tart’s up the tub and she’s 42!!”), Jimmy Goodwin the foreman with the most perfumed Morris Minor 1000 in the world, Alex Reid who introduced me to beer and Bacardi chasers on my 21st birthday in Southampton and of course who could forget the bosses Ken Farron ( married his secretary), Peter Thornton,( " How many “heads” have we got standing in the yard?"), Peter Bottomley ( “Somebody knew I was on holiday and broke into my house!!”)… it goes on and on and on.
I have rooted out the few pictures I have of this era and attach them for your interest. They include me as a nipper, poncing about outside the traffic office with another traffic clerk whose name escapes me for the moment, a couple of pictures of Sunter Brothers of Northallerton heavy haulage trucks in Ancliffs yard with the then Ellesmere Port depot manager, Godfrey Hayden, posing in his bri nylon shirt, as well as two Bulk Liquid Transport pictures, a John Ancliff Atkinson and, for some unknown reason, a picture of a fleet of Gulf Oil Scammels which were parked in our yard waiting, I think, to be scrapped or sold. Finally, my only picture of the depot at Ellesmere Port which is now under B and Q !!( All dated between 1964 and 1967).

Was that the same Peter Bottomley who finished up as MD of Stamp (IFT) at Cardiff after we all became United?

And does anyone from Ancliffs Urmston remember Ned Maguire who transferred over to us at Stamps on the sugar contract, as he lived in Long Eaton? Last I heard of him he was driving a fuel bowser on East Midlands Airport.

Steve

Rider200:

Wirlinmerlin:
Have just been reading these Ancliff posts with nostalgic interest as many remembered names leap out from 30, 40, even 50 years ago! Very spooky!
I 1964 and 1967).

I have just had a shock :open_mouth: looking at the pictues and reading your post, I was working in the Garage as apprentice on the spanners
and know most if not all the names and the trucks as well . If you look at the picture with the MG sport in it you can just make out the ford prefect that belonged to Stan Bains
the workshop chiefe Enginer that was fitted with a six cyclinder 3.ltr and a MG sports gearbox .The little red job in the midle was the formans (Harry Talior)
a Riley or Wolsey I think. I think Sunnters and Wynns worked together on the lowloader stuff , and you got it Wynns was part of the United transport group

Yes I remember Stan Bains and his “wolf in sheeps’” clothing Ford. He also had one, maybe two 3.8s Jags which he used to go to his holiday caravan in Anglesey. One day I was chewing my finger nails over some late or missing truck when he walked round the outside of the traffic office, noted my agitation and said-" Stop worrying lad. Whatever happens, tonight the sun will set in the west and will rise again tomorrow in the east!" I think that attitude had him looking jolly and kept him sane. Strange the things you remember. His boss was F Hooton. Something of a poisonous little fellow, always in a three piece suit. He had some strange ideas. He once came down to Ellesmere Port on a depot check. " Lad, " he said,“You aren’t doing your job properly!”. When I enquired why he thought that, he told me he had been into the mess room urinal and my name wasn’t on the toilet walls!! Harry Taylor was a lovely bloke who took his job too much to heart and ended up with a heart attack. The management kept asking him when he was coming back. He did come back but probably too soon and a little while later had another attack which did him in.

Ste46:

Wirlinmerlin:
Have just been reading these Ancliff posts with nostalgic interest as many remembered names leap out from 30, 40, even 50 years ago! Very spooky!
I worked for Ancliff at Bulwark Road from 1964 as one of Malcolm Harrisons go-fors, moving on in 1967 to their depot in Ellesmere Port and then back to Bulwark Road in perhaps 1978 until 1980 when I left the company to work in Saudi Arabia.
I remember well, Ken Cleaver as well as his close friend and partner in crime, Jock Mac Masters ( whose claim to fame was to have the thickest, scariest, most interesting personal file in the cabinet!)
Other names attached to colourful memories are Albert Sudet ( Have you got ten shillings in your pocket lad? ), Alfie Davies ( “Blimey! Mi tart’s up the tub and she’s 42!!”), Jimmy Goodwin the foreman with the most perfumed Morris Minor 1000 in the world, Alex Reid who introduced me to beer and Bacardi chasers on my 21st birthday in Southampton and of course who could forget the bosses Ken Farron ( married his secretary), Peter Thornton,( " How many “heads” have we got standing in the yard?"), Peter Bottomley ( “Somebody knew I was on holiday and broke into my house!!”)… it goes on and on and on.
I have rooted out the few pictures I have of this era and attach them for your interest. They include me as a nipper, poncing about outside the traffic office with another traffic clerk whose name escapes me for the moment, a couple of pictures of Sunter Brothers of Northallerton heavy haulage trucks in Ancliffs yard with the then Ellesmere Port depot manager, Godfrey Hayden, posing in his bri nylon shirt, as well as two Bulk Liquid Transport pictures, a John Ancliff Atkinson and, for some unknown reason, a picture of a fleet of Gulf Oil Scammels which were parked in our yard waiting, I think, to be scrapped or sold. Finally, my only picture of the depot at Ellesmere Port which is now under B and Q !!( All dated between 1964 and 1967).

Was that the same Peter Bottomley who finished up as MD of Stamp (IFT) at Cardiff after we all became United?

And does anyone from Ancliffs Urmston remember Ned Maguire who transferred over to us at Stamps on the sugar contract, as he lived in Long Eaton? Last I heard of him he was driving a fuel bowser on East Midlands Airport.

Steve

Yes I believe it was. I wonder where he is now. He had a lovely wife and two pretty daughters. When he was broken in to at Urmston whilst he was on his annual holiday, he was convinced it was an " inside job." And probably was!!

Wirlinmerlin:

Rider200:

Wirlinmerlin:
Have just been reading these Ancliff posts with nostalgic interest as many remembered names leap out from 30, 40, even 50 years ago! Very spooky!
I 1964 and 1967).

I ]

! Harry Taylor was a lovely bloke who took his job too much to heart and ended up with a heart attack. The management kept asking him when he was coming back. He did come back but probably too soon and a little while later had another attack which did him in.

Harry Taylor told me to get an AEC Unit on the pit in front of his office , Off i go happy as Larry two laps of the yard and then right up the pit as instructed hard on the brake pedal and that was when I heard the AIR leak down at my feet and the flag with the word STOP stamped on it popped up from its housing .
The only thing I hit before Harry’s office was the horn button he looked up at me and he new what was going to happen and sure as eggs it did. The left side of the wall fell off in front of the stores door Harry made a dive for the office door :open_mouth: and got away free :laughing: .Store man Sammy Downs was heard to use some strong words :astonished: which was unusual for Sam he was another one of the nice guys :wink: . Happy Days RIP guy’s.

Remembering the old guys anyone remember William Partridge Tank cleaner (AKA Billy Poridge) passed away due to the product in tank he was cleaning out by hand.
I new him from His days working for Peter Slater at the Lower Broughton yard of B L T he was the night tank man then, I was just a kid going to work with my Dad for the school holidays
Billy Poridge one I will never Forget.
It was putting cold paraffin on to the hot tank/product that gave of the gas . Nobody new about that it was not tested for the Hot/Cold paraffin.

Rider200:
Remembering the old guys anyone remember William Partridge Tank cleaner (AKA Billy Poridge) passed away due to the product in tank he was cleaning out by hand.
I new him from His days working for Peter Slater at the Lower Broughton yard of B L T he was the night tank man then, I was just a kid going to work with my Dad for the school holidays
Billy Poridge one I will never Forget.
It was putting cold paraffin on to the hot tank/product that gave of the gas . Nobody new about that it was not tested for the Hot/Cold paraffin.

I remember Billy well. He was just too keen and hard working for his own good and was quite gung ho and foolishly brave when it came to climbing in and out of tanks which had contained dodgy stuff. At night, no harnesses and scrapping out tanks sometimes on his own. It was an accident waiting to happen! Following his death, I believe his widow did get some compensation but it wasn’t much and came after a struggle.
After this incident the company made people wear harnesses and always have somebody else in attendance. I remember Ronnie Maison,( absolute gent!) a tall strapping bloke who did pipe work repairs. Once he was doing a repair inside a tank and was overcome by fumes. ( I think it was a naptha or powder tank but I might be mistaken.) Luck for him there were people there to haul him out via the harness. If my memory serves me rightly, he died relatively young and many thought that this was down to the various obnoxious products he was in regular contact with.
Regarding Sammy Downs, I can see him now. Little man with thick glasses, blue jeans and a brown smock. He often seemed to be stressed out. Especially when somebody had been sneaking in overnight and nicking brass couplings and diff innards for the bronze. He was always good to me and when I wanted a bit of rubber tubing, a jubilee clip or nut and bolt to repair my MG TC, he always tried to help me out. With his bits and pieces, Ronnie Maisons borrowed ring spanners and sockets and advice from Ludvig Zilor the polish driver, I somehow always seemed to manage.
Talking of nicking stuff, do you remember Peter Thornton, the general manager. He thought he was being clever when he heard that the price of diesel was going up. He had some spare powder tanks in the yard so, after some minor mods. he had them filled with diesel and parked up at the back. When they eventually came to transfer it to the bunker tanks…guess what? You are not wrong. Anybody could have seen that coming!

Wirlinmerlin:

Rider200:
Remembering the old guys anyone remember William Partridge Tank cleaner (AKA Billy Poridge) passed away due to the product in tank he was cleaning out by hand.
I new him from His days working for Peter Slater at the Lower Broughton yard of B L T he was the night tank man then, I was just a kid going to work with my Dad for the school holidays
Billy Poridge one I will never Forget.
It was putting cold paraffin on to the hot tank/product that gave of the gas . Nobody new about that it was not tested for the Hot/Cold paraffin.

I remember Billy well. He was just too keen and hard working for his own good and was quite gung ho and foolishly brave when it came to climbing in and out of tanks which had contained dodgy stuff. At night, no harnesses and scrapping out tanks sometimes on his own. It was an accident waiting to happen! Following his death, I believe his widow did get some compensation but it wasn’t much and came after a struggle.
After this incident the company made people wear harnesses and always have somebody else in attendance. I remember Ronnie Maison,( absolute gent!) a tall strapping bloke who did pipe work repairs. Once he was doing a repair inside a tank and was overcome by fumes. ( I think it was a naptha or powder tank but I might be mistaken.) Luck for him there were people there to haul him out via the harness. If my memory serves me rightly, he died relatively young and many thought that this was down to the various obnoxious products he was in regular contact with.
Regarding Sammy Downs, I can see him now. Little man with thick glasses, blue jeans and a brown smock. He often seemed to be stressed out. Especially when somebody had been sneaking in overnight and nicking brass couplings and diff innards for the bronze. He was always good to me and when I wanted a bit of rubber tubing, a jubilee clip or nut and bolt to repair my MG TC, he always tried to help me out. With his bits and pieces, Ronnie Maisons borrowed ring spanners and sockets and advice from Ludvig Zilor the polish driver, I somehow always seemed to manage.
Talking of nicking stuff, do you remember Peter Thornton, the general manager. He thought he was being clever when he heard that the price of diesel was going up. He had some spare powder tanks in the yard so, after some minor mods. he had them filled with diesel and parked up at the back. When they eventually came to transfer it to the bunker tanks…guess what? You are not wrong. Anybody could have seen that coming!

Ronnie Maison!! Gone :open_mouth: another of the nice guy’s
Sammy Downs thought the world of his doughter ,and would spend many an hour telling of being on the steam trucks with his dad
Ludvig Zilor Is that the guy that went home with his truck and painted the cab with a brush over the weekend .

A bronze wheel went missing three times from near H Tailors office door and three times I with Stan Bains wheeled it back all in one morning ! on the fourth trip towards the door
the bronze wheel made good its Escape and was neaver seen again :laughing: :laughing:

Ludvic Zilor was a polish driver. he could hardly speak a word of English…or so he said! Whenever he would be brought into the office for a dressing down, which was quite often, he would always burst into tears. He wriggled out of loads of stuff by claiming not to understand. Yes, I do think he was the lad who painted his unit at home. I also heard that he virtually lived in his cab and that it was full of rubbish, bottles of wee and left over crusts and Polish meat sandwiches. So much so, or so the story goes, that when his truck came into Urmston for some job to be done and a fitter started chucking out his stuff so he could lift up the engine covers, a mouse dived out through the door!!
Do you remember Sammy Allport and Ted Sharples? They once had a set to in the mess room. Ted Sharples was a big, fat bloke with glasses but as hard as nails. There was a older black bloke who worked as a fitter and he rented out some houses as a side line. He used Ted Sharples as his enforcer when tenants wouldn’t pay or wouldn’t get out.

Wirlinmerlin:
Ludvic Zilor was a polish driver. he could hardly speak a word of English…or so he said! Whenever he would be brought into the office for a dressing down, which was quite often, he would always burst into tears. He wriggled out of loads of stuff by claiming not to understand. Yes, I do think he was the lad who painted his unit at home. I also heard that he virtually lived in his cab and that it was full of rubbish, bottles of wee and left over crusts and Polish meat sandwiches. So much so, or so the story goes, that when his truck came into Urmston for some job to be done and a fitter started chucking out his stuff so he could lift up the engine covers, a mouse dived out through the door!!
Do you remember Sammy Allport and Ted Sharples? They once had a set to in the mess room. Ted Sharples was a big, fat bloke with glasses but as hard as nails. There was a older black bloke who worked as a fitter and he rented out some houses as a side line. He used Ted Sharples as his enforcer when tenants wouldn’t pay or wouldn’t get out.

Sammy Allport (yard Forman/Driver)He was married to a German girl she could not speak English and Sammy could not speak a lot of German He allways had a paper in the rule pocket of his pants open at the Horse raceing but no scalp under his hat just a skin Graft due to war wounds . Ted Sharples allways had half a jar of hair cream on his head . The Only old Black guy I remember was Harold foster Brown he got to be service inspecter .
There was a younger black guy started after Foster Brown he had a sports car Triumph TR3A. The story about the mouse was true it was in a eight wheel ATKINSON I think the fleet No was 517 , he was on the Napther run for monsanto chiem to/from Ruaban (I think)Then they changed to a bender .