lemonmouth:
When I started on the bricks in the late 70’s handball loads were few and far between - Thank the lord all brick loading at that time was done with fork trucks, but you did have the occasional handball offload and they were mainly to building sites, although quite a few merchants still had them loose, Dawsons in Clapham junction were one particular merchant, if you had their yard with an artic load - 11,400 and got in there just before dinner they would put about 10 blokes on you and you would be tipped and away in about 45 minutes.
How many blokes would want to do it nowadays…Eh
Marston Valley. My Father worked there late 1950s all loads handball!!!
Drove an Atkinson 8 wheeler
The Boys Own:
Marston Valley. My Father worked there late 1950s all loads handball!!!
Drove an Atkinson 8 wheeler
Nice one Boys own, Marston Valley only had 2 or 3 Atkinson 8 wheelers, I’m sure I’ve got a picture of one somewhere I’ll try and find it, My Father drove for Eastwoods and then Redlands out of Kempston Hardwick in the late 50’s early 60’s, as you say everything was Handball back then, Throw a load on in the morning, get tipped and then think nothing of loading a back load of Tiles and probably tip them aswell I would’nt mind giving it a try again,but I dont think I’d last long
hi john , i worked for joe swinglehurst in edenhall in the 80s . anyone working out of there was either ex works or the odd load that joe couldn’t cover . a kings lynn & 2 doncasters was an average day , & load yourself at night if the grab drivers had gone home . sam salt was on for forticrete until summers took the transport over & knackered the job . i believe he is doing the same at cemex [ formerly peakstone ] now that forticrete has shut . eric perkins is a top bloke , i 've never known a more laid back man . i worked with him at somersets for 6 years & nothing ever wound him up . i suppose graham will be in sudbury warming his toes & watching telly . all the best to you and your family john , eat too much , drink too much & sod the consequences , cheers , dave
rigsby:
only worked 6 while 2 chris , had a part time job sheep rustling on nights . all the best to you & yours , dave
Go on then,I’ll let you off.I went in my local yesterday and told the Landlord I was 62 so he bought me a drink. Tried it today and he said I was 62 yesterday - “aye” I said “but I’m 2 to ten termorrer”.Our gaffer wanted us to do two Sheffield-Birminghams on the steel job in a shift in the 60s,“Birmingham’s only two fields away - Chesterfield and Lichfield” he said.
are you going to edinburgh for xmas , or for hogmanay as well chris ? if you stay for hogmanay you won’tneed the laptop anyway because you won’t be able to see the keyboard until about 5th january . have a good holiday , all the best , dave
rigsby:
are you going to edinburgh for xmas , or for hogmanay as well chris ? if you stay for hogmanay you won’tneed the laptop anyway because you won’t be able to see the keyboard until about 5th january . have a good holiday , all the best , dave
Only for Xmas Dave,getting out before every bugger goes daft in Mahogany - or is it Hogmany? Daft enough in the IOM at New Year
hiya,
Never did many loads of bricks in my time as a driver i hated the things and never phoned anybody for a backload who did that work unless i was desperate and it was Friday, if you was’nt a regular on the brick job it was torture another horrible handball job was land tiles you know those short three inch diameter pipes used for draining farmland, the only plus with that job was it was normally a contractor doing the work for the farmer and he usually gave you a bung for helping to unload.
thanks harry long retired.
We used to see a lot of London Brick drivers on our sites but one chap sticks in my memory & I wondered if anyone remembers him. He must have had some sort of throat problem because he could only speak to us by covering a hole in his throat with his finger. We could never understand why he didn’t try to find work in a less dusty environment but he was a lovely old boy.
The Boys Own.
There used to be a subbie pulling trailers for TNT with “it’s the Boys Own” across his visor, wasn’t you was it? If it was, I used to change over with you now & then down in Worcester.
Basilbrush:
We used to see a lot of London Brick drivers on our sites but one chap sticks in my memory & I wondered if anyone remembers him. He must have had some sort of throat problem because he could only speak to us by covering a hole in his throat with his finger. We could never understand why he didn’t try to find work in a less dusty environment but he was a lovely old boy.
The Boys Own.
There used to be a subbie pulling trailers for TNT with “it’s the Boys Own” across his visor, wasn’t you was it? If it was, I used to change over with you now & then down in Worcester.
Hiya …i remember the chap with the throat problem. he was a real nice chap. when he was in the brick works
he would put a gorse type square bandage over the hole to stop the dust.
John
harry_gill:
hiya,
Never did many loads of bricks in my time as a driver i hated the things and never phoned anybody for a backload who did that work unless i was desperate and it was Friday, if you was’nt a regular on the brick job it was torture another horrible handball job was land tiles you know those short three inch diameter pipes used for draining farmland, the only plus with that job was it was normally a contractor doing the work for the farmer and he usually gave you a bung for helping to unload.
thanks harry long retired.
Are these what you mean Harry?
10’000 land drains loaded out of LBC Arlesey works, I’d have rather unloaded bricks anyday than these things, they were usually to farms where the farmer would greet you with a smile and say you get started and I’ll send some men over
very rarely did that happen, usually one or maybe two if you were lucky
harry_gill:
hiya,
Never did many loads of bricks in my time as a driver i hated the things and never phoned anybody for a backload who did that work unless i was desperate and it was Friday, if you was’nt a regular on the brick job it was torture another horrible handball job was land tiles you know those short three inch diameter pipes used for draining farmland, the only plus with that job was it was normally a contractor doing the work for the farmer and he usually gave you a bung for helping to unload.
thanks harry long retired.
Are these what you mean Harry?
10’000 land drains loaded out of LBC Arlesey works, I’d have rather unloaded bricks anyday than these things, they were usually to farms where the farmer would greet you with a smile and say you get started and I’ll send some men over
very rarely did that happen, usually one or maybe two if you were lucky
hiya,
That’s them mate, can’t lay claim to doing many loads but any more than one was enough in fact one load i did got me a b"“”“”"ing for the time it took and the rate it payed but i was only young and although i’d done quite a bit of distance work it was not a lot of tramping, but i quickly learned.
thanks harry long retired.
Basilbrush:
We used to see a lot of London Brick drivers on our sites but one chap sticks in my memory & I wondered if anyone remembers him. He must have had some sort of throat problem because he could only speak to us by covering a hole in his throat with his finger. We could never understand why he didn’t try to find work in a less dusty environment but he was a lovely old boy.
The Boys Own.
There used to be a subbie pulling trailers for TNT with “it’s the Boys Own” across his visor, wasn’t you was it? If it was, I used to change over with you now & then down in Worcester.
Not only used to go to Marston Valley regular with the ol’ man when I was a kid, but ended up there when I drove as well. Me dad’s lorry was an old Leyland 6 wheeler, he was on for yiddle davis, I think it had a morris minor engine the way it pulled. We had 6,000 on that from the ridgemont works. I went with an artic and had 8 or 9,000, 2/12 ton a thousand if I remember rightly. Sometimes sand faced (pain in the arse). A bloke would come round with two buckets, one with lemon barley water, and one for the slops. Tipping was usually pretty good, loads of paddys to help. Had the odd one that had an awkward git for a foreman, but you could always get 'em back by turning it round a little bit too quick and rough. I usually took 4 bricks at a time, 6 if I felt particularly energetic, or I wanted to be away. I never did bricks for a backload though.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Never did many loads of bricks in my time as a driver i hated the things and never phoned anybody for a backload who did that work unless i was desperate and it was Friday, if you was’nt a regular on the brick job it was torture another horrible handball job was land tiles you know those short three inch diameter pipes used for draining farmland, the only plus with that job was it was normally a contractor doing the work for the farmer and he usually gave you a bung for helping to unload.
thanks harry long retired.
Are these what you mean Harry?
10’000 land drains loaded out of LBC Arlesey works, I’d have rather unloaded bricks anyday than these things, they were usually to farms where the farmer would greet you with a smile and say you get started and I’ll send some men over
very rarely did that happen, usually one or maybe two if you were lucky
hiya,
That’s them mate, can’t lay claim to doing many loads but any more than one was enough in fact one load i did got me a b"“”“”"ing for the time it took and the rate it payed but i was only young and although i’d done quite a bit of distance work it was not a lot of tramping, but i quickly learned.
thanks harry long retired.
Interested to see the volvo loaded with Arlesey pipes.I grew up locally to the works.One of my mates got a job as a loader there.He told me that drivers would come in who had never been in before and ask where the forklift was,to which he would reply “you’re looking at him”.Once he said this driver came in from yorkshire and asked if it was ok to turn the lorry round on where they used to dump the cracked and broken pipes.My mates says it’s fine and as he drives on he punctures his front tyres.So he jumps out and chases my mate over the railway line and into the village.
The works stopped making pipes in the early 80’s then Butterly brick bought the works to carry on making the Arlesey white bricks for a while,but it didn’t last long.Incidentally Kings Cross station and a large amount of buildings in north London are built from Arlesey whites.
Basilbrush:
We used to see a lot of London Brick drivers on our sites but one chap sticks in my memory & I wondered if anyone remembers him. He must have had some sort of throat problem because he could only speak to us by covering a hole in his throat with his finger. We could never understand why he didn’t try to find work in a less dusty environment but he was a lovely old boy.
The Boys Own.
There used to be a subbie pulling trailers for TNT with “it’s the Boys Own” across his visor, wasn’t you was it? If it was, I used to change over with you now & then down in Worcester.
Hiya …i remember the chap with the throat problem. he was a real nice chap. when he was in the brick works
he would put a gorse type square bandage over the hole to stop the dust.
John
It’s nice to know someone else remembers him John, it’s a small world considering how many years ago it was. They were good days though.
all brick loading at that time was done with fork trucks, but you did have the occasional handball offload and they were mainly to building sites, although quite a few merchants still had them loose, Dawsons in Clapham junction were one particular merchant, if you had their yard with an artic load - 11,400 and got in there just before dinner they would put about 10 blokes on you and you would be tipped and away in about 45 minutes.
I would’nt mind giving it a try again,but I dont think I’d last long 
