Oh go on then!
I left Tewkesbury Grammar School in July 1963 with my only academic achievements being two GCE “O” levels - French and English Language and the only reason I got those was because they required no Studying or revising , I just learnt them parrot fashion. The following morning I started work for a local agricultural contractor-Ball Brothers as a tractor driver and was given a brand new Fordson Super Major supplied by Coulters of Evesham. Harvest was fine also ploughing and cultivating and planting but as the winter took hold it was time for hedge cutting ,not much fun that especially if you had to walk behind the cutter and push the cuttings off the plate behind the blade but at least it kept me warm. We all know how cold it was in 1963, well this one day it was unbearably cold and as we were having bait at 10am gaffer says to me “you can drive the cutter after break if you like” I thought for a minute and said " I haven’t been able to drive it for the last three weeks so I doubt that I can drive it now bye" and with that set off trudging across the field towads home. That was the end of my first job.
My next job was working for a Civil Engineering firm called Howard Farrow from Golders Green ,London they had won the contract to put a roof on a reservoir on Harp Hill, Cheltenham .My duties were office boy, chain boy, tea boy and general dogsbody. After about a year the job was completed and I was sent to work on two jobs running concurrently. They were constructing a new reservoir in Hungerford and a water tower at Burghfield Common near Reading just the same old monotony every day but I made up for it at night acquainting myself with the local girls! At the end of these two jobs in 1965 I was offered a job on their next contract which was building an Electricity Sub Station in Cornwall.
I duly arrived in Indian Queens and found digs with Ron and Beryl Brewer and on my first night there discovered that he had been a driver for R G Morcom from Fraddon . I told him that one morning our school bus couldn’t get down the drive because a Morcom wagon had hit one of Paynes of Pershore it turned out Ron had been the driver so at least we had common ground. I started work there with a few added responsibilities so I plodded on from day to day wishing that I was old enough to drive a wagon. One day I noticed an old boy chugging gently round the site with a tractor and trailer shifting stuff for the chippies so I asked the site agent if I could buy a tractor and trailer and put it on hire and the chippies could drive it themselves. He agreed but it had to be hired in by a third party.
I set off to Mid Cornwall Contractors at Victoria, Roche to meet the boss Mr Hamilton Crotty and he obviously loved to witness a bit of enterprise in a young man and agreed to hire the tractor and trailer to Howard Farrow for £12-10s-0d ( £12.50p in new money) per week and he would take 10%.Neext stop was half a mile away to see Dave Auld a tractor dealer where I bought a David Brown Cropmaster 55D and a tipping trailer for £110. When I went to collect it he wanted payment and I told him I had no money to which he replied " If I rest I rust, if I trust I bust no rest no rust no trust no bust" Despite his budding poetic talents he agreed to accept £10 deposit and £5 per week until it was paid for. It wasn’t long before it was paid for and as I was only on about 12 Quid a week I soon had enough money to put the deposit on a digger! I bought a Massey Ferguson 710 with 3 cyl perkins ex Sportworks Glasgow reg no 865 HGG. I bought it from Roche Industrial Plant Sales another Crotty subsidiary. I paid the deposit and signed the HP agreement and off I went to jack my job in. The following Monday I started on hire to MCC and they in turn hired me to Western Excavating - the plant division of English China Clays ( now Imrys I believe). Next came a JCB 3 ex Richards and Wallington in Brum reg AOG 103B .Then I swapped the Massey for a newer one 357 WCV then bought a JCB 3c HBW 269D ex H M Stewart and Son of Sibford Ferris near B.anbury. The line up was completed by the purchase of a Thames Trader Tipper ex J Murphy - 8005 MV and two International Drott B100 skid shovels unregistered but about 5 years old we were bloody flying. I had been signing HP agreements since I was 19 and never once was I asked my age only have you got the deposit? Of course I had been foolishly overtrading but would not realise it until it was too late.
The credit squeeze started for me in early 69, work was drying up.Western Ex started to lay off MCC machines so MCC were laying off the subbies and pretty soon I had several machines stood and had to lay off drivers. I knew that MCC had machines working in South Wales on an opencast site being operated by Sir Lindsay Parkinson from Leeds, a large player at that time. Gerald Mitchell was the MCC man in charge on the site so I asked Gerald to get me in. He arranged a meet with Harry Bryan who was Parkinsons main man. A very eccentric carachter but he took to me and we were in. The hourly rate for a Drott was 37/6 a JCB was 27/6 and a Massey 25/- in new money £1.87p, £1.37p, & £1.25p respectively. I went back down to Cornwall and did two trips to Glyneath with the Trader taking the two Drotts. Things were going well we were working 24/7 and the money owed to me was really building up.
I was sending invoices regularly but no monies were forthcoming, but the bank was ok in view of who I was working for.I have worked in Denmark, Sweden and Norway but I have never felt so cold as I did that winter at Dunraven. I went home one weekend still no money had arrived. Had the money that I was owed materialised all my debts would have been paid and I would still have had money left. As it was the overdraft was growing at an alarming rate but as an optimist I “kept blowin er on” Later in life i realised that pessimism is the finest insurance policy against disappointment. I now knew that things were spiralling out of control rapidly. I lost count of the phone calls I made to Templenewsham, Leeds and sure enough within a week we received the devastating news that they were in liquidation and administrators were in!
On the following Monday I went to Truro Court and filed my petition for bankruptcy. Devastating, in those days the bankruptcy acts of 1911 and 1926 had not been replaced by the insolvency acts which meant you could not obtain credit of more than £10 and you were bankrupt for a minimum of ten years.At 5am the next morning I was on my way to Middlesbrough with a load of tinned food for Warners. Onward and upward.
Well I’m not sorry that bit is over. If it hadn’t been for appeasing the ex pat in Cheshire I doubt it would have appeared at all. So if there are any complaints can you please address them to the aforementioned ROF in Macclesfield. I am still having difficulty uploading some pics. on my laptop I can upload JPEG but not Bitmap what the hell is that all about-- HELP. I am going back to the proper theme in the next episode but not today. Regards
Hi Laurie
I found that to be entertaining, thank you.
Thank you very much- told you we’d be interested!
Retired Old ■■■■:
Thank you very much- told you we’d be interested!
Thanks mate any way you should be grateful cos I had to do it twice having lost it first time my fault pulled it back to edit then forgot to submit again - stupid boy!!!
noel just been talking to our great friend JONNY FOWLER been to hell and back 9 weeks ago open heart surgery and he turns up today in garage talking about trucks and you he told me both of you good mates from the 70s so im getting him on year to read your memories and cheer him up keep em coming noel boy regards rowly loving it
Hi Rowly Please, please give that man my fondest regards he is the salt of the earth and I love him to bits and please let me know what he thinks of it oh and thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings Regards Noel.PS Just popped a couple of pictures of me I think in Merzarrio Verona just to evoke some memories for the inimitable John Fowler
hi laurie glad you didn’t miss about the plant hire just got home from work enjoyed reading keep up the good work all the best NEIL B
Cracking read Noel about your plant hire enterprise. You left school a few months after me. I can identify with those times and some of the machines and tractors you mention.
Cheers Dave.
Thank you all for your kind words hope you continue to enjoy it!
really enjoying reading about your livestock days, I used to go to walls hyde but mainly 8 wheel 3 deckers went there .found my pig prodder in shed , when I was younger sent under decks to open gates and the other lads would reachin the side of container and give me a shock , all good fun. used to go corsham every Monday in thames trader through Gloucester all ways used to see warners and gouldings, cheers Charlie
HI,
Have you any photo’s of Ralph’s or Sun Valley?
Owen
Laurie Dryver:
Well I’m not sorry that bit is over. If it hadn’t been for appeasing the ex pat in Cheshire I doubt it would have appeared at all. So if there are any complaints can you please address them to the aforementioned ROF in Macclesfield. I am still having difficulty uploading some pics. on my laptop I can upload JPEG but not Bitmap what the hell is that all about-- HELP. I am going back to the proper theme in the next episode but not today. Regards
Noel, if you have "PAINT " on your computer you are able to change the pictures from Bitmap to JPEG
1, in your pictures select the photo you want to change
2. right click on it and a window opens with options look down the list for ( OPEN WITH ) and hover your curser over it and another window opens with several programs select paint and left click
3. Paint will open with your chosen picture in a panel and in the top left hand corner there should be a small blue box left click on it and another window opens
4. look down the list for ( SAVE AS ) and hover your curser over it and another window opens
5.look down the list and you will see jpeg just left click on it and it will open another window and just click save ( it may ask you if you want to replace it) click yes and you have changed it to a jpeg picture
this may sound a big job but it is quite easy after you have done a few and takes only a few seconds to accomplish
cheers Johnnie
Hi Johnnie thanks for that mate I would have been shafted without it cos I want to get on with the rest of my ramblings next week, once again thanks and regards Noel
]
OwenMoney:
HI,
Have you any photo’s of Ralph’s or Sun Valley?
Owen
Hi Owen there will be a few of K500 RDF which I took on a trip to Kodak-Lisbon Xmas 1993 and just a few of Sun Valley mainly M914 RVJ but that’s about it mate. Regards Noel
Laurie Dryver:
Hi Johnnie thanks for that mate I would have been shafted without it cos I want to get on with the rest of my ramblings next week, once again thanks and regards Noel
Weren’t things a lot easier when we had carbon paper & postage stamps?
Thank you.It’s one to show the kids.Smart equipment even if not top spec.I only have a few PJK photo’s but nothing from Davies days or Sun Valley.
Owen
Laurie Dryver:
1Hi Rowly Please, please give that man my fondest regards he is the salt of the earth and I love him to bits and please let me know what he thinks of it oh and thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings Regards Noel.PS Just popped a couple of pictures of me I think in Merzarrio Verona just to evoke some memories for the inimitable John Fowler
That Renault looks like one of J P R from Rhayader ? Back in the day a mate of mine from Oswestry had a turboliner that was registered D500MNK ,I drove it a few times tipping & loading trailers & went to Italy with him in it about 1990 or 1991 . Happy days