I can recall that prior to the “three day” week being introduced in '73,we had finished work on Christmas eve,had a pint or two (if you were lucky and finished at lunchtime!) Off Christmas day and Boxing day,then back to work the day after,and New Years day was only a public holiday in Scotland so it was work as usual down in England and Wales unless New Year fell on a weekend !! Am I dreaming or was it as I’ve described ? Cheers Bewick.
It sure was Dennis, I remember unloading fruit in The Newcastle Fruit Market on New Years Day, Also loading Pedigree Chum at Melton Mowbray on a New Years Day, Ran up MT from the smoke to get the load, All the best for the New Year Dennis, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
It sure was Dennis, I remember unloading fruit in The Newcastle Fruit Market on New Years Day, Also loading Pedigree Chum at Melton Mowbray on a New Years Day, Ran up MT from the smoke to get the load, All the best for the New Year Dennis, Regards Larry.
Aye Larry,those were the far off days when the Country was really functioning,there was plenty of traffic and plenty of demand for transport of all kinds,the bloody whole country shuts down for nearly 3 weeks nowadays,all those motors parked up,taxed and insured eating bank accounts !! Used to drive me to destraction at times especially if the holiday days fell in the middle of the working week,it was a bloody dead loss for two whole weeks !! Cheers Dennis.
I often use to leave for Germany on New Years Day, get to the border and park up.
Two of us loaded Sheffield and ran to BSC Workington New Years Eve 1968 and tipped electrodes New Years Day 1969. Cabbed it in the works where it was nice and warm after going with some contractors for fish and chips and a few pints in town. 
Chris Webb:
Two of us loaded Sheffield and ran to BSC Workington New Years Eve 1968 and tipped electrodes New Years Day 1969. Cabbed it in the works where it was nice and warm after going with some contractors for fish and chips and a few pints in town.
Well who’s beer was it Chris ? Jennings maybe ? It sure would’nt be Stones’es !! Cheers Dennis.
69/70 on Forth the scotch lads used to fetch loads for the south to Darlington the day before new years eve,us lads at Darlington had to take them the rest of the way,i spent 2 new years eves in the Tower’s at Biggleswade 
We used to knock off on Christmas Eve, or earlier depending on work or how Christmas fell in the week, and usually restart work on January the 2nd ,if there was any work. Nothing much happened until mid January when the road gangs etc got back into the swing of things following the Christmas shutdown anyway.
Pete.
We had a mix of vehicles and Christmas / New Year was always a bit of a mish mash.
The tippers would be parked up for a fortnight until about the 3rd or 4th of Jan.
For the domestic coal business this was the busiest time of year and we had to operate on Boxing Day if we wanted New Years day off.
As far as the livestock goes unless the holiday fell on a weekend there was always on of the local marts open which we had to attend. In fact an auctioneer once told me that he would open the mart on Christmas Day if he thought he could get away with it !!!
tyneside:
We had a mix of vehicles and Christmas / New Year was always a bit of a mish mash.
The tippers would be parked up for a fortnight until about the 3rd or 4th of Jan.
For the domestic coal business this was the busiest time of year and we had to operate on Boxing Day if we wanted New Years day off.
As far as the livestock goes unless the holiday fell on a weekend there was always on of the local marts open which we had to attend. In fact an auctioneer once told me that he would open the mart on Christmas Day if he thought he could get away with it !!!
Very true about the Auction Marts, Tyneside.
Only Christmas Day stopped the Auctions from operating.
In the 1960s and 1970s , Boxing Day was always a very busy days because the Abattoirs needed the livestock.
Quite a lot of this was collected direct from farms early in the morning , then leading from the Auctions in the afternoon.
New Years Eve and New Years Day were no different. As we have a large contingent of Methodists who are farmers in the north of England ( 
) , they did not need to sober up ( 
) , so their presence at New Years Day auctions outnumbered those who had celebrated` the night before !!
Cheers , (hic !!) cattle wagon man.
Hi CWM
Even worse than that. One of the prominent north east auctioneers was a Methodist Preacher. Not a drop passed his lips for the forty odd years I knew him !!!
tyneside:
Hi CWMEven worse than that. One of the prominent north east auctioneers was a Methodist Preacher. Not a drop passed his lips for the forty odd years I knew him !!!
Hi Tyneside,
We had a similar Auctioneer in our area, but the religion didnt stop him from knocking-off other women, - also from the same fold! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:. Talk about after-serviceservice :unamused: :laughing: Ill not name him , but many will know who I am talking about. 
Cheers, cattle wagon man.
Bewick:
Chris Webb:
Two of us loaded Sheffield and ran to BSC Workington New Years Eve 1968 and tipped electrodes New Years Day 1969. Cabbed it in the works where it was nice and warm after going with some contractors for fish and chips and a few pints in town.Well who’s beer was it Chris ? Jennings maybe ? It sure would’nt be Stones’es !! Cheers Dennis.
it would have been john peel in those days l`m almost sure, followed by matty browns (blackburn brewers) .whatever happened to slalom lager?? it was very strong and won many awards. i stuck to mattys light 
When I was at toscos, we’d often trunk up to Scotch twixmas and get a local store or 2 delivery from Dundee or Livingston as a backload (a lot of their local lads would have been away to start their hogmonay celebrations early!) We did ok out of it though, until along came eddie…(Christmas party officially over)
When I was about eight years old I remember my father and his employees worked Christmas morning until 12-30 aprox, had the rest of the day and boxing day, then back to work unti about 7.00Pm New years eve and off Christmas day.
We eventually had to surcum to the local factory holidays basicly finnishing as early as possible Cristmas eve and ten back to work first working day after New years day, appart from any urgent work where we got peope in as necesary, but even our office was closed.
syramax:
Bewick:
Chris Webb:
Two of us loaded Sheffield and ran to BSC Workington New Years Eve 1968 and tipped electrodes New Years Day 1969. Cabbed it in the works where it was nice and warm after going with some contractors for fish and chips and a few pints in town.Well who’s beer was it Chris ? Jennings maybe ? It sure would’nt be Stones’es !! Cheers Dennis.
it would have been john peel in those days l`m almost sure, followed by matty browns (blackburn brewers) .whatever happened to slalom lager?? it was very strong and won many awards. i stuck to mattys light
Well it was a long time ago but it weren’t bad stuff,at least it had a head on it. Jennings more than likely unless it was that state-owned stuff out of Carlisle.Nice fish and chips,probably Donnans from Whitehaven,their fish plastic boxes still get washed up in the north of the Isle of Man.
Didn’t Thwaites have some boozers in ■■■■■■■■■■■
In later years as a full-time shunter I worked every Xmas Day and had Boxing Day off for our Wedding Anniversary. Everything would be loaded on Xmas Eve but the fridge temps had to be checked and also I had to make sure they didn’t run out of diesel,we hadn’t enough elec points to run fridges on. There would be about 35/40 loaded trailers,first one out was at 2200 hrs Xmas night for Asda Grangemouth.
Chris Webb:
Two of us loaded Sheffield and ran to BSC Workington New Years Eve 1968 and tipped electrodes New Years Day 1969. Cabbed it in the works where it was nice and warm after going with some contractors for fish and chips and a few pints in town.
What were the electrodes for Chris,were they srap or summat for the furnaces at W/ton Steel ? Cheers Dennis.
I left school Nov 56 and started working in a garage in Kirkconnel and it would 58 or 59 before Christmas day became a holiday in Scotland I think NewYears day was the only holiday.I can remember working and all afternoon and looking forward to going home for the Christmas dinner. Eddie.
Carl Williams:
When I was about eight years old I remember my father and his employees worked Christmas morning until 12-30 aprox, had the rest of the day and boxing day, then back to work unti about 7.00Pm New years eve and off Christmas day.We eventually had to surcum to the local factory holidays basicly finnishing as early as possible Cristmas eve and ten back to work first working day after New years day, appart from any urgent work where we got peope in as necesary, but even our office was closed.
surelyn thats a good thing who wants to work xmas day , fredm
sure you are right Eddie i can mind my dad tellin g me christmas was not a holiday in Scotland until he was married (late 50s)
didnt make a lot o difference as the livestock needed feeding lol…can remember early 70s xmas day on the back o a farm trailer shoveling silage then home for opening presents.
Then 79-84 working every christmas on highway maintence (A74) as i was single ,so hard luck. new yr off though! 
. all the best for the season Eddie… jimmy.