Bewick:
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Aye Gerald, there’s only one John Peel ! he was some character, lived in Ruthwaite ( 1 mile frae’ Ireby) boozed in The Sun Inn at Ireby where his Relics are/were displayed and ended up being buried at Caldbeck! I wonder why he wasn’t buried at Uldale ?. These two B & W shots were sent to me by Milkman Tom. One of them shows Billy Bell the Landlord of the, then , Black Lion Inn on the Square serving “stirrup cups” to members of The ■■■■■■■■■■ Foxhounds Hunt on Boxing Day in the 50’s and the other shot is of another year. The house in the background is Mains Hall which was where my Grandad ran the Blacksmith shop. I believe he used to be on hand to re nail the odd horse shoe for the Hunt ! long gone days Gerald so I wonder if our Marra RWB was hinging aboot when those shots were taken eh! All the best Dennis. PS I believe in later years the name of the pub was changed to just “The Lion” IMHO it was PC gone mad !
cant comment on it being changed in the past but it was the BLACK LION when i went past today
There’s a programme on Scottish tv called The Forest tonight’s episode followed 3 of mill’s drivers at work. It’s available on the BBC I player if anyone is interested. You may have to change your location to get it,just go into the menu and change your location to Scotland.
Edited to say that should say Miller not mills
dazcapri:
There’s a programme on Scottish tv called The Forest tonight’s episode followed 3 of mill’s drivers at work. It’s available on the BBC I player if anyone is interested. You may have to change your location to get it,just go into the menu and change your location to Scotland.
Hi dazcapri, yes I do watch the programme, a couple from the same firm courtesy of Ray Forster.
Oily
Leyland600:
Hi Oily, Aye I ken John Peel, the well known song and regimental march of the Border Regiment was composed by John Woodcock Graves in a Wigton pub many years ago. My mate is a not too distant relative of John Peel and Bewick was his “whipper in”, due being JP’s neighbour when living as a boy in Ireby. When that tune is played well as a ■■■■■■■■ it makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck just as Blaydon Races gets our Geordie collegues stirred up. His grave is in Caldbeck churchyard 8 miles from my home.
Cheers, Leyland 600
Hi Leyland. That song was sung many many times round the pubs when followed the hounds, a lot of years ago.
I grew up near hesket, and went to the school there for about 4 or 5 years.
When I was in my late teens I was offered the job of whip to the blencathra.
The photos you have there are great. I’m guessing they are taken more out the uldale area?
Hi Larry, yhere were lots of McKerrals wagons operating in Argyll on timber haulage and also saw one on tanker work, the interesting thing about seeing this one load away out in the wilds was that very possibly it would be passing within a mile my home in ■■■■■■■ en route to Thames Board Mills at Workington within a few hours. Timber wagons from this area are a regular sight on the A595 Carlisle to Workington although a lot of wood is shipped from the Scottish west coast direct to Workington by coaster.
Here are some dash cam images on A83 travelling up Loch Fynside around Inverary.
Cheers Leyland 600
Hi Oily the first load I carried as an owner driver consisting of short pit props which I loaded adjacent to Penrith golf course in December 1964 on behalf of Sheffield & Co. The load was delivered two collieries in the Mansfield area. I was driving a BMC FHK 140 four wheeler new in 1963 and quite a good little wagon. Sheffields are still using the same livery as they had back then.
Cheers, Leyland 600.
Leyland600:
Hi Oily the first load I carried as an owner driver consisting of short pit props which I loaded adjacent to Penrith golf course in December 1964 on behalf of Sheffield & Co. The load was delivered two collieries in the Mansfield area. I was driving a BMC FHK 140 four wheeler new in 1963 and quite a good little wagon. Sheffields are still using the same livery as they had back then.
Cheers, Leyland 600.
What kind of crane did you have on the BMC Gerald ? HIAB or PALFINGER ? I was talking to Colin Bateman at Lockerbie on Sunday, he now uses a little four rung ladder to climb in and out of the Atky ! Cheers Dennis.
Dennis , what kind of a question is that ? you should know very well that lorry loading cranes had not been invented in 1964 but I did have a simple loading device, it was called “HANDBALL”. ! As you probably know I was at Lockerbie on Saturday afternoon.
Cheers, Leyland 600
Leyland600:
Hi Oily the first load I carried as an owner driver consisting of short pit props which I loaded adjacent to Penrith golf course in December 1964 on behalf of Sheffield & Co. The load was delivered two collieries in the Mansfield area. I was driving a BMC FHK 140 four wheeler new in 1963 and quite a good little wagon. Sheffields are still using the same livery as they had back then.
Cheers, Leyland 600.
What kind of crane did you have on the BMC Gerald ? HIAB or PALFINGER ? I was talking to Colin Bateman at Lockerbie on Sunday, he now uses a little four rung ladder to climb in and out of the Atky ! Cheers Dennis.
Oh how we laughed! Mechanical help even in 1969 was in short supply - unless you had just backed a 4 in line under the crane at Barrow steelworks of course, 21 tons on the trailer. Pull the Comet forward, the cab facing skyward as it staggers away with the odd ton or five overloaded. Back round the corner to Brady’s yard, for 'The Big ‘Un’ to sort out with the crane! Don’t want to go out half empty do we! Maybe add a couple of Caird’s mouldings just to balance it out a bit. Followed a few of those four in lines into the bottom of Mill Brow to see the nearside wheel lift and the other wheels tuck under…
Will it…won’t it…
Glad I’m not taking that…
Whether the Chief Constable saw it from his new Triumph 2000 or not I don’t know.
You would know more about that than me Dennis.
Timber haulage for me was loading ‘pulp’ from the borders to Ellesmere Port. All handball. 18 - 20 tons on the Mastiff, yes, I did sometimes have an odd ton or two overload! 3 or 4 of us, me on the platform, so I handled every single stick.
Even long timber wasn’t just a ‘watching’ job. As driver you would put the dogs at the centre of the log - not the actual centre, but near the balance point. You mentally added your own weight because you swung up with the log onto the trailer, then placed the ‘heavy’ end into the groove created by the earlier logs, and guided the ‘light’ end down.
What Health and Safety would make of all this now I have no idea!
Hi John, I also hauled pulpwood out of Kershope Forest to Bowaters at Ellesmere Port all loaded by hand in mid winter and then left to find my own way out of the forest as it was knocking off time for the forester lads. God knows what would have happened if I had slipped off the track in the dark with plenty of ice and snow lying, no mobile phones in those days.
Cheers Leyland 600
I was talking to Colin Bateman at Lockerbie on Sunday, he now uses a little four rung ladder to climb in and out of the Atky ! 
Cheers Dennis.