A few more photos from Baghdad and the Fair. Spent a lot of time there from late 70’s and throughout the 80’s.
Plus click on photos to enlarge.
Forget lorries!!! Its glamour time. A good friend, I knew Hanan for a number of years and would employ her at some of the small Pharmaceutical Exhibitions I used to organise in Baghdad. However, in the mid 80’s she managed to get out of Iraq, first going to Jorden then onto Poland and finally Canada where she still lives.
I first met her when she worked on the H E Daniel stand. See first photo in my last posting. Daniel’s were also in Longfield Road, Tunbridge Wells just a few doors up from our office. They produced smells, odours, scents, call them what you may. Their products went into all kinda things. An example would be rose scented soap and most probably the rose scent never came from a plant but from coal or tree bark or whatever.
Nothing to do with lorries either so a bit off topic… My grandfather and his friends liberated Baghdad in the first war and was one of the first soldiers there with 1/5 The Buffs regiment. Here he is posing at a wedding in Baghdad (extreme left).
Here’s my grandfather arriving in Baghdad - not in a Scania - but on foot with the Buffs on their triumphal march
Love the photos Efes. The first one of the wedding group is so clear. I wonder what camera and lens were used. Certainly wasn’t taken on a smart phone. The second one of the army entering Baghdad puts our little excursions in their true perspective. Our trips in comparison were no more than tourist jaunts.
I’ve added a few interesting pics today gathered from the web and a photo of our very own Simon in the office. Don’t think I’ve posted it before. Of course, as we know, Simon is the son of the late Peter Calderwood, our boss, and who still keeps the Promotor banner flying today.
Light colours are not ideal for a tilt cover. Soon shows the dirt and difficult to remove. The first photo was taken in Tunis when the tailer was on its first trip. One of the later ones was taken outside Dover docks.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s at the Baghdad Fair we had a succession of agents. Omran Al-Omar was one but he didn’t last long. He got involved in something dodgy which took money out of Saddams pocket so he had his neck stretched.
Schenkers was another we used for a couple of years. They had an office in Baghdad and handled a lot of work for eastern european companies at the fair. They, as you would expect, did an excellent job but were just a bit to honest and above board for our liking. However, they had a good gang on site led by Wolfgang Taubart, a German who had a villa on the south side of the city. Wolfgang loved darts and he had a dartboard set up at exactly the correct height and a rubber mat so we stood the correct distance from the board. Well, you know these Germans. Everything had to be just right. I notice from the scoreboard Team GB are just in front, not sure what the outcome was though. We had some good evenings at Wolgangs villa together with his dart playing friends. Unfortunately I only have the one photo taken at the villa but in it is shown Alan from Davies Turner’s Southampton branch. He had been flown in to assist at the fair as DT had a number of their clients exhibiting that year.
I have attached a photo of the on-site Schenker crew. The lady in the front was from their Beirut office whilst Wolfgang is at the back. It shows how desperate Saddam became during the Iraq/Iran war that one of the local guys was drafted into the army and later killed. Don’t think any of them would know a rifle from a toothpick.
Please click on photo to enlarge.
We had organised a ‘Britain in Morocco’ exhibition in the late 80’s which was a great success so much so that four years later the Moroccan’s came to us when they wanted to do a ‘Morocco in Britain’ event of their own.
Dave Stagg of course had pulled the first event together in Casablanca but by 92 he had departed so Peter Calderwood organised the London event for them. It wasn’t going to be a large show but the Morroccan’s wanted a prestigious one to be held in a London hotel that would be open to anyone who cared to visit.
It so turned out this was one of those jobs that showed maximum returns for zilch layout. Peter handled almost the complete job from his office desk. Booking the hotel function room, organising standfitters to sorting out badges, It was all a doddle and to cap it all he sent our office secretary along on the opening day to help conduct the opening ceremony. I tagged along to take a few photos.
However, the best bit came after the event. Peter went to a final meeting in London with our client who was so pleased the way everything had gone that he paid him in cash. luvelly jubbly.
Please click on photos to enlarge.
Shown before but I still find this a laugh.
It was June 1987 and I was aboard a plane bound for Algiers. I had worked there a number of times through the 80’s but little did I know this was to be my last visit. The Algiers International Trade Fair wasn’t, and never had been, on the ‘must go’ list for the vast majority of British industry but there had luckily been enough interest to warrant Promotor being involved for the previous ten years.
Dave Stagg, Promotor’s transport manager and later exhibition manager handled most of the organising himself as he spoke French. In the mid to late 70’s we handled just freight, customs clearance and on-site handling but later into the mid eighties we organised the British Group of participating companies as the British Overseas Trade Board no longer supported them. It was then that I got involved handling the on-site work with Dave flying out to head up the show a couple of days before the opening ceremony took place.
It was never a huge event like the Baghdad and Tehran fairs and I must admit I never got a lot of pleasure out of working there. The hotel scene was dire and the Hotel Albert, just a stroll up from the port, was nowhere near as good as most I stayed in in Turkey, Iraq and Iran. However, things did change for me this trip. Although I started out in the Albert with two colleagues, who came out just after me, once we had constructed the stands they flew home and I moved into the hotel Dave Stagg was in. Can’t remember the name of the hotel but it was like three star to the Alberts one.
By 87 we had picked up the standfitting contract for Pye Unicam and this year they wanted to exhibit in Algiers. Dave pulled in more companies resulting in a half decent British Group. We had taken on a few extra lads when the Pye contract came our way. Bryan Stevenson was one and a kiwi lad another and together with myself we built all the stands. The Kiwi lad had made his way to the UK via the Falklands. After the hostilities had ended it was discovered most of the islands sheep had been killed and eaten by the Argies. New Zealand got the job of replacing the sheep and they were shipped over on a freighter looked after by shepherds and our Kiwi lad was one of them. Once on the island our lad decided he would make his way to the UK and managed to get on an RAF plane returning to these shores.
It wasn’t always easy to find a taxi to get out to the exhibition ground and even more difficult to get back but after a few days we struck lucky. We found a reliable youngish guy who agreed to taxi us both ways for a set fee. Took a while to set up this working arrangement due to none of us speaking French but unbelievably it turned out both our Kiwi lad and the Algerian taxi driver spoke some Russian. After that it was all systems go to the point where we employed him full time. He helped us source material and painted the stands as well as bringing lunch in for us. A very helpful and useful guy. However, we saw another side of him as he drove us back to the hotel late one afternoon. We passed a couple of tasty young ladies, very nicely dressed but not showy. One of us made a comment about how nice they looked but the taxi driver turned really nasty, calling them whores and prostitutes. Even though I didn’t speak the lingo I got the drift of his meaning.
As usual for the Algiers Fair we shipped a trailer over un-accompanied with the exhibits. I think Nottsnortherner was one of the last drivers to actually deliver there back in about 78. The stands, apart from the Pye stand, were built from wooden panels left there from the last BOTB organised show. They were still in reasonable condition and once we had erected them we had our tame taxi driver paint them. Carpet was laid and the finished product looked good. Dave Stagg was so pleased he treated us to a meal in his hotel the night before the show started and Bryan and the Kiwi lad flew home. As must be obvious to you by now I have forgotten the Kiwi’s name. He was a great lad but try as I may my ‘little grey cells’ have let me down again.
Please click on a photo to enlarge.
Todays photos show the completion of the stand building phase at the Algiers International Trade Fair for the British Group. Once again it showed the opportunities afforded to those who worked for Promotor to do something a bit different to the norm. Most of us were taken on as lorry drivers but we soon found that other avenues would open up to add even more interest to what was already an exiting company to work for. However, Bryan Stevenson and the Kiwi lad were different as they were taken on as stand fitters which entailed them travelling all over eastern europe as well as Algiers. A few years later I bumped into Bryan at a company I was visiting in High Wycombe who were exhibiting at Iran Med in Tehran that year. It was a medical equipment company and there was Bryan in suit and tie working as an export salesman. Obviously he still had the urge to travel.
You didn’t need a degree in further education to do our job just a bit of savvy and determination to do a ‘proper job’. Just like when driving the lorry, you took your instructions before you left the office but from then on you were on your own.
Please click on photos to enlarge.
The New Zealander whose name you were groping for is, I believe, Andy Lambie. The others I don’t remember. Very good bunch of fellows.
I worked with them in Plovdiv and the first evening in the restaurant our meal was delivered to us stone cold (as was always the way)… The complaints from the guys were many and vociferous… It was the same every evening. Bulgarian beer was unspeakably bad so it was red wine instead (quite good).
Shame… I really enjoyed working in Plovdiv
Thanks for jogging my memory there Efes. Definitely a sheep related name. I know what you mean about Plovdiv. Never my favourite place. I was there on one occasion with Chic Steadman and he, having been there many times, arranged private digs for the two of us. However, he had some other business to attend to now and again and he would disappear. It wasn’t until later that he told me he had a lady friend and I believe it was she who arranged our accommodation. It turns out she was a solicitor, must admit old Chic knew how to pull em.
Most of the Trade Fairs we attended, especially in eastern europe weren’t a lot of fun. Once we had set them up, if we were staying over for the pullout, we would avoid visiting them like the plague. Nothing more boring than staring at a big lump of machinery that makes washers or whatever. Thankfully that all changed at the 87 Algiers International Trade Fair as the attached photos show. So it was a big thank you to the Aussies for the sheep and perhaps Russia or Kazakstan for the dancers.
Please click on a photo to enlarge.
Sandway -
I saw this photo on another site and thought that, maybe, the mechanic on the left in a white shirt displaying such sartorial elegance might be you ?
OzzyHugh:
Sandway -I saw this photo on another site and thought that, maybe, the mechanic on the left in a white shirt displaying such sartorial elegance might be you ?
Morning OzzyHugh. Sartorial elegance you say!! Well, not one to put myself down I have to admit its not me. At that time you would have found me at my scruffiest best as shown in the attached photo. I am on the left of course.
The picture you posted however is interesting. I always thought it was one of mine and so yesterday I went through my collection and although I have it on a stick I couldn’t find a hard copy. I was certainly there and I remember the lorry vividly. It had been brought to Baghdad by, I believe, Andy Maclean of Orient as Leyland were after a large contract which they won. The lorry was parked there temporarily whilst it was checked over before being moved as that space was part of the British Pavilion outside area as seen in the second photo.
Please click on a photo to enlarge.
Algiers Fair 87. I mentioned the Hotel Albert (pronounced Al bear) in my previous posts. As I said it didn’t have a lot going for it. Get back from a hard day at the fair to find very little water coming out of the taps and what little there was would be cold. The only things we didn’t have, unlike the old hotels in Baghdad, were cockroaches. The view from your room was of the buildings across the street unless you were on the north western side then you could see down to the port.
As for entertainment in the evening, that was almost non existent nearby and would mean eating in the hotel restaurant, not something to write home about. I remember when Bryan and Andy were there we had a taxi to take us to a restaurant that someone at the fair said was good. Andy the Kiwi ordered lamb chops and asked to look at them before ordering. Bryan and I were wondering what the idea was but as soon as Andy saw the size of them he ordered a dozen. Thats when the penny dropped and we also ordered extra. Must admit it was a good meal.
However, when Bryan and Andy returned home I switched hotels and ended up in the one Dave Stagg was staying in. Although he used to stay in the Albert in the early days he had managed to upgrade his accommodation in later years. You only have to look at the last couple of photos to understand why I was so miffed at being put up in the Albert whilst Staggie bagged this super hotel for himself.
OzzyHugh:
Sandway -I saw this photo on another site and thought that, maybe, the mechanic on the left in a white shirt displaying such sartorial elegance might be you ?
That’s one of mine! We actually brought that out via Mersin and then overland. There was also a Leyland rigid. They were stranded at the border and I had to speed north in a taxi driven by what turned out to be a secret policeman!!! Once he arrived, everyone quaked with terror and we travelled back down to the fairground with them. Offloading them down those rickety ramps at the fairground was fund. Guess who was chosen to risk his life and limb? Leyland picked up an order for about 350 trucks from the Baghdad municipality.
Jazzandy. - Maybe that’s you on the right of the photo then ? Equally well dressed guy in a pristine white shirt !
OzzyHugh:
Jazzandy. - Maybe that’s you on the right of the photo then ? Equally well dressed guy in a pristine white shirt !
OzzyHugh. Whilst we’re waiting for Andy to reply you can do a bit of detective work yourself by perusing the shapely ‘derriere’ in the attached photo of Jazzandy. Does Andy’s ‘derriere’ match the one in the photo of the guy looking into the engine bay of the Leyland lorry. If yes then its a good chance its him but I think its doubtful.
