You are so right mushroomman. Yes it was Raijka. Even though I was asking the question of where it was, I should have attempted to put my “little grey cells” in some sort of order, definitely before applying myself to the task of identifying places and events that happened thirty five years ago.
However, I am applying, on compassionate grounds, to be shown leniency due to being attacked by a rabid dog whilst working on an exhibition in Benghazi, Libya back in Nov/Dec 1983. The attached photo shows the actual moment the dog attacked me and horror and fear on my face can still be seen today if I go without my red (white also helps) medicine on a daily basis. Quinine diluted with the help of Doctor Gordon also helps me allay those horrors but normally only at sunset.
After taking liberal amounts of medicine I find that my posts have even more mistakes in them so best I just go to bed then. Those of you who are keen eyed will perhaps have noted that most of my anecdotes are posted early morning. Now you know why!!!
Of course it wasn’t only rabid dogs we had to worry about in Libya. In the attached photo accusing fingers are being pointed at the most likely candidate to have contracted Herpes. Now I wonder who that could be? It wasn’t me as I flew out there but the three drivers shipped over from Marseille and I know they had a night on the town before embarking on the ferry!!! I think the the sign at the back should read “Wherever Herpes Strikes” as there was only one it could have been.
As I have said before, Promotor was not a general freight company. Yes, we did a lot of Yugo work under the “Anglo Yugo Express” banner for a good number of years and only gave it up when the Yugo currency, in which we were paid for work out of that country, lost its value. We reloaded, often out of Germany, with general freight and did a small amount to Iraq but that was it. However, Peter Calderwood was always looking for work that was a bit different from the norm. We were always involved in promotional work for Fords and hauled freight for a number of “Exhibition Freight Forwarders” but Peter could see that there was an opportunity for us to do more than just running a fleet of lorries for others to benefit. We got involved in Road Shows and providing exhibition services which also provided interesting work for the drivers and gave them the opportunity to crow to their mates about where or what they had done. Street cred. was definitely important.
When Suzie Patterson, a travel agent, and Peter got together, Promotor Travel was born and in the early 80’s Suzie was doing a lot of work for various Trade Associations. Peter and Suzie had a town house in Bromley and later bought an apartment in a nice old house in Tunbridge Wells. I often stayed with them, mainly when I returned from a trip somewhere and was involved in many discussions concerning Promotor becoming a service company in its own right as well as an exhibition organiser. One route in was through the trade associations that Suzie worked for and in the latter part of 83 we got our big break.
Both the Pharmaceutical Association and The Medical Equipment Association wanted to do an all British Exhibition and Seminar in Libya. It was to be a two venue affair. The first event lasting three days was to be held in an hotel in Tripoli and five days later another event was to be held at a Medical University in Benghazi. This was ideal for us as it relied on lorries, under our own control, to keep to a tight schedule and look after the valuable equipment. After much canvassing from both Peter and Suzie we were asked to provide virtually all the services the associations wanted. Susie handled the flights, visas, bus transfers and accommodation. Promotor International handled all the freight, which included custom clearance and on site handling. We also brought in Stan Mountain (ex Coles Cranes Exhibition Manager) to build the stands.
We had a team of ten people in Libya which consisted of Peter and Suzie and her assistant Angela Buss, Alan, Graham and Richard, the three lorry drivers, Stan Mountain and two stand erectors and myself. The three trucks shipped over from Marseille (where Graham met the uncle of his future wife in a bar) to Tripoli and after clearing customs drove less than a mile down the beach road to the hotel. The attached photos show them parked up on the car park just after they arrived. I’d like to add that Graham’s future wife turned out to be a lovely Philipino lady.
The Libya job was a great experience enjoyed by all. I have already posted a couple of photos of us ar-sing around and will be posting more later.
If I remember correctly six of our team flew out to Tripoli on a Boeing 707 of British Caledonian Airways. Angela Buss flew out with the exhibitors later. Also on our flight were the two chaps from the trade associations and a young lady who was their events manageress. The three drivers of course were on their way and arrived the day after us. Some of us had rooms in the hotel where the event was taking place whilst the others were put up in a more modest hotel a couple of kilometres away. I can’t remember the name of our hotel but I am sure it was a government owned one that was kept for special guests and events and this is where, in the conference room, we erected the stands.
Once the lorries were in place we unloaded the stand material first. The stands were of a very simple design and were very light and easy to erect. Stan Mountain and his two men had the bulk of the work done in two days. The exhibits, display boards and literature were brought in as each stand was completed and the whole job was completed in under four days. When a job like this goes smoothly and according to plan everyone can relax and thats when I managed to get some pics of us all relaxing and ar-sing around. Will post more pics soon.
bullitt:
Interesting photos Sandway. In the top one, is that a temporary licence plate on the back of the trailer on the left?
It certainly looks like it bullitt. There’s arabic writing on top with 037 below. I must admit I have forgotten a lot more than I remember of that Libya job even though it was, for us, one of the most prestigious we were involved in.
Cheers Sandway. There have been some photos posted in the past of UK trucks in Egypt where they said that they are issued with a temporary registration plate for the vehicle and or trailer so im guessing the same could have applied to Libya. Good pics!
bullitt:
Cheers Sandway. There have been some photos posted in the past of UK trucks in Egypt where they said that they are issued with a temporary registration plate for the vehicle and or trailer so im guessing the same could have applied to Libya. Good pics!
Although Promotor lorries went to Egypt at least a couple of times in the early 80’s I have no information on what the requirements were for their temporary importation. Ramsey Patterson did one load to the British Embassy in Cairo while I understand David Lloyd did a load much further south. Promotor also handled most of the freight for the Cairo International Trade Fair in the late 70’s and early 80’s and I was in Cairo to handle that but we sent our trailers over unaccompanied from Italy.
sandway:
When Suzie Patterson, a travel agent, and Peter got together, Promotor Travel was born and in the early 80’s Suzie was doing a lot of work for various Trade Associations. Peter and Suzie had a town house in Bromley and later bought an apartment in a nice old house in Tunbridge Wells. I often stayed with them, mainly when I returned from a trip somewhere and was involved in many discussions concerning Promotor becoming a service company in its own right as well as an exhibition organiser. One route in was through the trade associations that Suzie worked for and in the latter part of 83 we got our big break.
Ah, the town house in Bromley… I remember when Peter bought the place because I’d been away for weeks on end without a day off to be told I was working with Johnny Ward as Peter’s personal removal man the day after returning to the UK. Peter, of course, was too busy to attend. I was NOT a happy man and explained in a forthright manner to Herr Stagg what I thought about being used a personal removal van man after so long away. However, I managed to negotiate a sweetener…
But we also had fun that day. Wardy and I were trying to get a sofa up a very narrow stair case and we couldn’t get it round a post at the point where the stair case turned back on itself. Wardy, using his natural intelligence and common sense, knew just what to do… "Let’s saw down the stairpost! I couldn’t disagree as merely the junior partner in the enterprise. It was going to make our lives much easier… Somewhere or other we found a saw and Wardy went to work on the stairpost… I don’t think he’d have made a good carpenter, it wasn’t a very clean cut…
sandway:
When Suzie Patterson, a travel agent, and Peter got together, Promotor Travel was born and in the early 80’s Suzie was doing a lot of work for various Trade Associations. Peter and Suzie had a town house in Bromley and later bought an apartment in a nice old house in Tunbridge Wells. I often stayed with them, mainly when I returned from a trip somewhere and was involved in many discussions concerning Promotor becoming a service company in its own right as well as an exhibition organiser. One route in was through the trade associations that Suzie worked for and in the latter part of 83 we got our big break.
Ah, the town house in Bromley… I remember when Peter bought the place because I’d been away for weeks on end without a day off to be told I was working with Johnny Ward as Peter’s personal removal man the day after returning to the UK. Peter, of course, was too busy to attend. I was NOT a happy man and explained in a forthright manner to Herr Stagg what I thought about being used a personal removal van man after so long away. However, I managed to negotiate a sweetener…
But we also had fun that day. Wardy and I were trying to get a sofa up a very narrow stair case and we couldn’t get it round a post at the point where the stair case turned back on itself. Wardy, using his natural intelligence and common sense, knew just what to do… "Let’s saw down the stairpost! I couldn’t disagree as merely the junior partner in the enterprise. It was going to make our lives much easier… Somewhere or other we found a saw and Wardy went to work on the stairpost… I don’t think he’d have made a good carpenter, it wasn’t a very clean cut…
So if he weren’t no good as a carpenter or driver and was very short sighted-- what was he good at!!
It was all systems go. Eight o’clock in the morning and we started to unload the first trailer at the venue in Tripoli. The very first job was to erect the stands. Stan Mountain and his carpenters had prefabricated them in his small workshop in Chardstock in Somerset. As they were built of a simple design it was an easy job to assemble them onsite. Alan, Graham and Richard our three drivers were available to help if required but apart from giving advise, which of course none of them knew what they were talking about but drivers are good at, there was very little for them to do at this stage. However, once the three stand fitters had finished in an area we could then start to bring in the exhibits.
Regarding Wardy,s usefullness according to a well heard cassette tape from the Shawfield Park days he was quite useful in the bedding of certain office ladies…but I couldn,t possibly comment further! Suffice to say I was one of those who did actually hear it!
Nottsnortherner:
Regarding Wardy,s usefullness according to a well heard cassette tape from the Shawfield Park days he was quite useful in the bedding of certain office ladies…but I couldn,t possibly comment further! Suffice to say I was one of those who did actually hear it!
First I’ve heard of this tape Nottsnorthener but I can well believe it. I have a couple of anecdotes concerning Welly Ward. I was in Maribor one evening, It must have been around 78 or 79 parked up for the night when I was approached by Angela, one of the girls who used to ply their trade in the lorry park. As soon as she saw it was a Promotor lorry she ran across and banged on the door. When I opened the window and looked down she was most disappointed. Oh, she said I thought it was Johny. So you know him well then. Oh yes she said I know him very well. She then went on to tell me that size does matter and Wardy didn’t let her down. Thank you I said as I closed the window. Don’t call me, I’ll call you.
Another time Wardy was in Poland with Trevor Thayre who told me this story. They were parked up somewhere and this absolutely stunning Polish girl got into Wardy lorry for a bit of business. An hour later she got down from Wardys lorry and went over to Trevors and attempted to climb in. Trevor stopped her and she said, “but Johny sent me over”. Trevor didn’t want to know and sent her on her way. A few minutes later Wardy came storming over and said “what are you doing. I’ve paid her for both of us”. Well thats your hard luck was the reply. Wardy went ballistic and told Trevor he wanted to be reimbursed for what he had paid out. Trevor told him to get stuffed and they didn’t speak to each other for the rest of the trip.
sandway:
To concluded this Coles Cranes to Baghdad post. Of the six drivers involved three had gone back to the Uk the fourth, Ramsey Patterson had returned to Turkey to collect his lorry before reloading out of Yugo and Chic and I had gone to Lake Habbaniyah for a spot of R and R. As I have already intimated it was quiet at the lake and after taking in the sites offered by the lake and hotel for the twentieth time we decided on the third day we had had enough of R and R and would go back to Baghdad. To the dizzy crazy heights of nighttime living in downtown Baghdad where it was wine women and song from dusk to dawn!!! Well, er no, thats just about the last thing that was on offer but certainly more lively than out at the lake.
Talking about things to do, apart from going to the Brit Club. There was the British Embassy bar in the grounds of the Embassy open every Thursday afternoon, or you could hire a taxi and go down to Sammara and look at the ruins or you could stare at Saddams pictures dotted all over town and read about his exploits and what a great guy he was. Or you could sleep, which I suppose was just as exciting.
Baghdad, first trip Spring '75.
Same mosque as on your pic sandway?
Morning bestbooties. The 17 Ramadan Mosque off Firdos Square in Sadoun Street, Baghdad is a famous landmark. As you may know you were standing on or very close to the spot where on the 9th April 2003 American troops pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein. I was going to post a picture of that well documented event taken off the internet but unfortunately my limited computer skills are, yes, limited.
However, I have a photo taken maybe ten years after yours, when the Meridian and Sheraton Hotels had been newly built. They were built the other side of Firdos Square from the Mosque in an area between there and Abu Nuwas the road running alongside the river. At that time, about 84 or 85 Promotor were heavily into providing all kinds of services to the Baghdad International Fair. The attached photo shows the Promotor bus that transferred exhibitors to and from the fair.
The photo was taken outside the Meridian Hotel with the 17 Ramadan Mosque behind the bus. Peter Calderwood (Mr Promotor) can be seen second from the left facing the camera.
A few more photos of the Libya job showing unloading of the exhibits outside the hotel venue. Once the boxes were unloaded from the trailer we would then unpack them and place the exhibits on the stands ready for the exhibitors to arrange them as they wished. Once the exhibition was over of course it all had to be done again in reverse.
A photograph of Bugsy at work. A rare and treasured photograph for sure.
I have, however, happy memories of him singing “Feelings” or “The Windmills of Your Mind” into beer bottles all over eastern Europe. In Czechoslovakia he was something of a celebrity at “The Barrells” (I can’t remember the real name of this place - anyone?). I think Mick Twemlow has a story about Bugsy’s later avoiding “The Barrells”.
sandway:
So if he weren’t no good as a carpenter or driver and was very short sighted-- what was he good at!!
Like NottsNotherner I understand he had some talents that were appreciated - certainly not by the drivers who hated having him attached to the backs of their trailers - but the female office staff. There was a caravan parked for some time in the Dunton Green yard that was put into emergency use from time to time.
