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. (Bewick). Dennis. Do you no if this Athersmith eight wheeler and Trailer when new was driven and mated by Milenthorpe lads.By the looks of it in this photo it’s nearly at the end of it working life like your history of JB HUDSONS remember them loading out of Barrow Steelworks. OK mate. Frank
Leyland 680:
Hiya Frank,I would think the driver from Milnthorpe may have been Norman Hutton,don’t know who the mate would have been though.Athersmiths sold the J.B.Hudson operation in June '66 to Davy & Co (Grange) Ltd.as they had tried and failed for about 5 or 6 years to have the “A” Licence transferred to Barrow ( I believe that The Big’un and Jakie had summat to do with blocking them !!!).Anyhow it was just about 10 years to the day in '76 that I bought the Davy business,Fells,JBH and J L Ion,5 tractors,7 trailers and 4 ridgids were all that was left of what had been a 30 plus motors operation.When I was at Brady’s that Octopus was driven by Eddie Mansell and his mate was his brother-in-law.Possy always reckoned that it had never seen the “topside” of 40mph in it’s entire life !! Cheers Dennis.
georgeking:
Posted on facebook, I hope they do not mind me posting it on here.
I don’t mind in the least “george” seeing as I took them ! Cheers Dennis.
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georgeking:
Here are some more Athersmith Bros from facebook I hope that one minds me posting them here. Apparently Athersmith Bros were originally from Ulverston and were called Athersmith & Son.1
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Those two photos of the Athersmith 8 wheeler were taken by Peter Davies at the Three Sisters cafe on the old A5 at Markyate in 1969.The three Athersmith Bros. were Billy ( the G’uvnor),Harold (who had been the BRS manager for Morecambe Bay Group during nationalisation days) and Alf(not too sure what his role was in the firm ?) But Billy and Harold were the main two brothers.Cheers Dennis.
I thought it might have the makings of an interesting thread that instead of amalgamating these old haulage companies with the final owners ,Bewick Group, a seperate archive could be delveloped and who knows who else out there might post some info & old photos !! As well as Hudson’s ,Davy’s in 63/64 bought out the buisness of another Minthorpe Haulier J.L.ION Ltd. which was made up of "A"licence vehicles and also two seperate “Contract” licences one with Libby’s and the other with Hargreaves Fertilizer of Bridlington.Davy’s also bought out at the same time the two "A"licenced vehicles of Wearing Bros. of Flookburgh.From that time on the Davy buisness was operated as follows.Davy’s traded as K.Fell & Co.and they had “A” licence vehicles,a "B"licence (tippers) Contract licences with Libby’s and contract/B licence for Milk collection for MMB ( this connection with Milk collection was the origional buisness of K.Fell &co when Davy’s bought them out in the late 40s)J.B.Hudson Ltd. traded seperatley(although the shares were owned by Davy& co ) with a 5 vehicle “A” licence.The J.B.Hudson side of the story is the most interesting in my opinion and I can ,I believe, relate the history from 1st hand testimony of the late John Davy and former (long retired) drivers. The old firm of J.B. Hudson was based at Sandside Westmorland and was a renouned heavy vehicle repair and recovery specialist.In 1960 with the death of “Maggie” Bowman ( The very formidable daughter of the firms founder J.B. Hudson )it was decided to dispose of the “A” licened haulage part of the firm which at that time consisted of 4 Leyland Octopus 8 leggers and 1 ERF 4 wheeler.The motors were primarily on nationwide tramping but they did have substantial local traffic from Barrow Steel ,Croppers,Libby’s,Gilkes , Breweries in Kendal,K Shoes and various other bits of traffic ( They sub-contracted to local hauliers as well ) they were also well connected in Scotland and South Wales. So in 1960 a buyer was sought and so ,I’m told, there was no-way the vehicles had to fall into the hands of Brady’s !!( why ,I could never find out) but I suspect it was Jack & Bob Snr. were the new up-starts on the block and had to be kept in check !!! Anyway the eventual purchaser was Athersmith Bros. of Barrow but they hit a problem immeadiately as the L.A. would not allow the “A” licence to be transferred into Barrow and be absorbed into the Athersmith fleet ( I wonder if the Brady lads stuck the oar in !! ) Athersmiths continued for 6 years to operate the Hudson buisness from Sandside which proved unsatisfactory so in June 1966 Davy & Co bought the J.B. Hudson Ltd. buisness from Athersmiths.The base of the firm was then moved into the Davy & co depot on the other side of Milnthorpe . Then in June 1976 (almost to the day )Bewick Group bought out what was left of J.B.Hudson Ltd.(along with K. Fell & Co ) in the form of two vehicles an ERF 6wheeler flat and a Seddon 34/4 tractor unit and 40ft T/A Crane Fruehauf platform.The garage buisness of J.B.Hudson had changed its title to Hudson Engineers Ltd. and also diversified into crane hire and continued as Leyland agents and in later years as ERF sales and service.I hope there is someone else with knowledge of Hudsons and would maybe put it on the thread ! I hope my long winded tale is of interest and I will put some photos of the Fell vehicles on this site rather than the Bewick ( superior ) site!!!
Interesting stuff Dennis,I take it Bradys ran Barrow then.I know they bought Athersmiths and when I used that road to Glaxo Ulverston or Cellophane at Barrow they were the two I remember most.“K” Shoes,Croppers and Kendal mints are also in my memory 
I wondered if you had seen this Peter Davies photo,a Milnthorpe AEC Marshall belonging to Hodgsons,thought you might know them.One of my favourite AEC pics. 
Bewick:
I thought it might have the makings of an interesting thread that instead of amalgamating these old haulage companies with the final owners ,Bewick Group, a seperate archive could be delveloped and who knows who else out there might post some info & old photos !! As well as Hudson’s ,Davy’s in 63/64 bought out the buisness of another Minthorpe Haulier J.L.ION Ltd. which was made up of "A"licence vehicles and also two seperate “Contract” licences one with Libby’s and the other with Hargreaves Fertilizer of Bridlington.Davy’s also bought out at the same time the two "A"licenced vehicles of Wearing Bros. of Flookburgh.From that time on the Davy buisness was operated as follows.Davy’s traded as K.Fell & Co.and they had “A” licence vehicles,a "B"licence (tippers) Contract licences with Libby’s and contract/B licence for Milk collection for MMB ( this connection with Milk collection was the origional buisness of K.Fell &co when Davy’s bought them out in the late 40s)J.B.Hudson Ltd. traded seperatley(although the shares were owned by Davy& co ) with a 5 vehicle “A” licence.The J.B.Hudson side of the story is the most interesting in my opinion and I can ,I believe, relate the history from 1st hand testimony of the late John Davy and former (long retired) drivers. The old firm of J.B. Hudson was based at Sandside Westmorland and was a renouned heavy vehicle repair and recovery specialist.In 1960 with the death of “Maggie” Bowman ( The very formidable daughter of the firms founder J.B. Hudson )it was decided to dispose of the “A” licened haulage part of the firm which at that time consisted of 4 Leyland Octopus 8 leggers and 1 ERF 4 wheeler.The motors were primarily on nationwide tramping but they did have substantial local traffic from Barrow Steel ,Croppers,Libby’s,Gilkes , Breweries in Kendal,K Shoes and various other bits of traffic ( They sub-contracted to local hauliers as well ) they were also well connected in Scotland and South Wales. So in 1960 a buyer was sought and so ,I’m told, there was no-way the vehicles had to fall into the hands of Brady’s !!( why ,I could never find out) but I suspect it was Jack & Bob Snr. were the new up-starts on the block and had to be kept in check !!! Anyway the eventual purchaser was Athersmith Bros. of Barrow but they hit a problem immeadiately as the L.A. would not allow the “A” licence to be transferred into Barrow and be absorbed into the Athersmith fleet ( I wonder if the Brady lads stuck the oar in !! ) Athersmiths continued for 6 years to operate the Hudson buisness from Sandside which proved unsatisfactory so in June 1966 Davy & Co bought the J.B. Hudson Ltd. buisness from Athersmiths.The base of the firm was then moved into the Davy & co depot on the other side of Milnthorpe . Then in June 1976 (almost to the day )Bewick Group bought out what was left of J.B.Hudson Ltd.(along with K. Fell & Co ) in the form of two vehicles an ERF 6wheeler flat and a Seddon 34/4 tractor unit and 40ft T/A Crane Fruehauf platform.The garage buisness of J.B.Hudson had changed its title to Hudson Engineers Ltd. and also diversified into crane hire and continued as Leyland agents and in later years as ERF sales and service.I hope there is someone else with knowledge of Hudsons and would maybe put it on the thread ! I hope my long winded tale is of interest and I will put some photos of the Fell vehicles on this site rather than the Bewick ( superior ) site!!!
Bewick:
Bewick:
I thought it might have the makings of an interesting thread that instead of amalgamating these old haulage companies with the final owners ,Bewick Group, a seperate archive could be delveloped and who knows who else out there might post some info & old photos !! As well as Hudson’s ,Davy’s in 63/64 bought out the buisness of another Minthorpe Haulier J.L.ION Ltd. which was made up of "A"licence vehicles and also two seperate “Contract” licences one with Libby’s and the other with Hargreaves Fertilizer of Bridlington.Davy’s also bought out at the same time the two "A"licenced vehicles of Wearing Bros. of Flookburgh.From that time on the Davy buisness was operated as follows.Davy’s traded as K.Fell & Co.and they had “A” licence vehicles,a "B"licence (tippers) Contract licences with Libby’s and contract/B licence for Milk collection for MMB ( this connection with Milk collection was the origional buisness of K.Fell &co when Davy’s bought them out in the late 40s)J.B.Hudson Ltd. traded seperatley(although the shares were owned by Davy& co ) with a 5 vehicle “A” licence.The J.B.Hudson side of the story is the most interesting in my opinion and I can ,I believe, relate the history from 1st hand testimony of the late John Davy and former (long retired) drivers. The old firm of J.B. Hudson was based at Sandside Westmorland and was a renouned heavy vehicle repair and recovery specialist.In 1960 with the death of “Maggie” Bowman ( The very formidable daughter of the firms founder J.B. Hudson )it was decided to dispose of the “A” licened haulage part of the firm which at that time consisted of 4 Leyland Octopus 8 leggers and 1 ERF 4 wheeler.The motors were primarily on nationwide tramping but they did have substantial local traffic from Barrow Steel ,Croppers,Libby’s,Gilkes , Breweries in Kendal,K Shoes and various other bits of traffic ( They sub-contracted to local hauliers as well ) they were also well connected in Scotland and South Wales. So in 1960 a buyer was sought and so ,I’m told, there was no-way the vehicles had to fall into the hands of Brady’s !!( why ,I could never find out) but I suspect it was Jack & Bob Snr. were the new up-starts on the block and had to be kept in check !!! Anyway the eventual purchaser was Athersmith Bros. of Barrow but they hit a problem immeadiately as the L.A. would not allow the “A” licence to be transferred into Barrow and be absorbed into the Athersmith fleet ( I wonder if the Brady lads stuck the oar in !! ) Athersmiths continued for 6 years to operate the Hudson buisness from Sandside which proved unsatisfactory so in June 1966 Davy & Co bought the J.B. Hudson Ltd. buisness from Athersmiths.The base of the firm was then moved into the Davy & co depot on the other side of Milnthorpe . Then in June 1976 (almost to the day )Bewick Group bought out what was left of J.B.Hudson Ltd.(along with K. Fell & Co ) in the form of two vehicles an ERF 6wheeler flat and a Seddon 34/4 tractor unit and 40ft T/A Crane Fruehauf platform.The garage buisness of J.B.Hudson had changed its title to Hudson Engineers Ltd. and also diversified into crane hire and continued as Leyland agents and in later years as ERF sales and service.I hope there is someone else with knowledge of Hudsons and would maybe put it on the thread ! I hope my long winded tale is of interest and I will put some photos of the Fell vehicles on this site rather than the Bewick ( superior ) site!!!
Thursday 26th June 1976 my first day in the Davy office I know it appears an odd date but it was on that day the Davy fleet insurances expired ! I transferred the 7 vehicles onto the Bewick Group insurance policy and reduced the anual premium by 50% !! Thats my car outside the office and was the first of many Mercs I ran over the years . Bewick.
Bewick:
Bewick:
Bewick:
I thought it might have the makings of an interesting thread that instead of amalgamating these old haulage companies with the final owners ,Bewick Group, a seperate archive could be delveloped and who knows who else out there might post some info & old photos !! As well as Hudson’s ,Davy’s in 63/64 bought out the buisness of another Minthorpe Haulier J.L.ION Ltd. which was made up of "A"licence vehicles and also two seperate “Contract” licences one with Libby’s and the other with Hargreaves Fertilizer of Bridlington.Davy’s also bought out at the same time the two "A"licenced vehicles of Wearing Bros. of Flookburgh.From that time on the Davy buisness was operated as follows.Davy’s traded as K.Fell & Co.and they had “A” licence vehicles,a "B"licence (tippers) Contract licences with Libby’s and contract/B licence for Milk collection for MMB ( this connection with Milk collection was the origional buisness of K.Fell &co when Davy’s bought them out in the late 40s)J.B.Hudson Ltd. traded seperatley(although the shares were owned by Davy& co ) with a 5 vehicle “A” licence.The J.B.Hudson side of the story is the most interesting in my opinion and I can ,I believe, relate the history from 1st hand testimony of the late John Davy and former (long retired) drivers. The old firm of J.B. Hudson was based at Sandside Westmorland and was a renouned heavy vehicle repair and recovery specialist.In 1960 with the death of “Maggie” Bowman ( The very formidable daughter of the firms founder J.B. Hudson )it was decided to dispose of the “A” licened haulage part of the firm which at that time consisted of 4 Leyland Octopus 8 leggers and 1 ERF 4 wheeler.The motors were primarily on nationwide tramping but they did have substantial local traffic from Barrow Steel ,Croppers,Libby’s,Gilkes , Breweries in Kendal,K Shoes and various other bits of traffic ( They sub-contracted to local hauliers as well ) they were also well connected in Scotland and South Wales. So in 1960 a buyer was sought and so ,I’m told, there was no-way the vehicles had to fall into the hands of Brady’s !!( why ,I could never find out) but I suspect it was Jack & Bob Snr. were the new up-starts on the block and had to be kept in check !!! Anyway the eventual purchaser was Athersmith Bros. of Barrow but they hit a problem immeadiately as the L.A. would not allow the “A” licence to be transferred into Barrow and be absorbed into the Athersmith fleet ( I wonder if the Brady lads stuck the oar in !! ) Athersmiths continued for 6 years to operate the Hudson buisness from Sandside which proved unsatisfactory so in June 1966 Davy & Co bought the J.B. Hudson Ltd. buisness from Athersmiths.The base of the firm was then moved into the Davy & co depot on the other side of Milnthorpe . Then in June 1976 (almost to the day )Bewick Group bought out what was left of J.B.Hudson Ltd.(along with K. Fell & Co ) in the form of two vehicles an ERF 6wheeler flat and a Seddon 34/4 tractor unit and 40ft T/A Crane Fruehauf platform.The garage buisness of J.B.Hudson had changed its title to Hudson Engineers Ltd. and also diversified into crane hire and continued as Leyland agents and in later years as ERF sales and service.I hope there is someone else with knowledge of Hudsons and would maybe put it on the thread ! I hope my long winded tale is of interest and I will put some photos of the Fell vehicles on this site rather than the Bewick ( superior ) site!!!
Thursday 26th June 1976 my first day in the Davy office I know it appears an odd date but it was on that day the Davy fleet insurances expired ! I transferred the 7 vehicles onto the Bewick Group insurance policy and reduced the anual premium by 50% !! Thats my car outside the office and was the first of many Mercs I ran over the years . Bewick.
Didn’t like to say Dennis,but thought it looked a bosses moter,you came a long way in eight years from that Ford V8.
Cheers Dave.
Chris Webb:
Interesting stuff Dennis,I take it Bradys ran Barrow then.I know they bought Athersmiths and when I used that road to Glaxo Ulverston or Cellophane at Barrow they were the two I remember most.“K” Shoes,Croppers and Kendal mints are also in my memory
I wondered if you had seen this Peter Davies photo,a Milnthorpe AEC Marshall belonging to Hodgsons,thought you might know them.One of my favourite AEC pics.
Hiya Chris yea I have seen that shot ! The AEC is loaded with Paper from Henry Cookes the local Mill .It was taken before I started and is shot outside their garage in Milnthorpe in the mid 60s .When R O Hodgsons moved to Carnforth ( they were then owned by Boddy Industries of Sheffield ) I eventually aquired this Garage and offices in 1972 from a third party ! Hodgsons were kicked out of the Mill in 1970 and we started growing relentless like from then on ! even though Hodgsons packed in their haulage division to concentrate on their warehousing we continued to "hate each other " with a vengeance . But they really were a rate cutting shower and I wouldn’t have given any of their drivers a start ( thats the reason they packed in with haulage ) Neither Boddy’s or ROH have existed for many years now . I’ll tell you a trick that ROHs manager was caught doing one Sunday morning in Fell’s yard ----- looking under the sheets to see where they were all loaded for !! It was obviously a few years before I took over and although I’m not a violent man I could and would have made an exception for that A******e of a a manager !!!
Dave the Renegade:
Bewick:
Bewick:
Bewick:
I thought it might have the makings of an interesting thread that instead of amalgamating these old haulage companies with the final owners ,Bewick Group, a seperate archive could be delveloped and who knows who else out there might post some info & old photos !! As well as Hudson’s ,Davy’s in 63/64 bought out the buisness of another Minthorpe Haulier J.L.ION Ltd. which was made up of "A"licence vehicles and also two seperate “Contract” licences one with Libby’s and the other with Hargreaves Fertilizer of Bridlington.Davy’s also bought out at the same time the two "A"licenced vehicles of Wearing Bros. of Flookburgh.From that time on the Davy buisness was operated as follows.Davy’s traded as K.Fell & Co.and they had “A” licence vehicles,a "B"licence (tippers) Contract licences with Libby’s and contract/B licence for Milk collection for MMB ( this connection with Milk collection was the origional buisness of K.Fell &co when Davy’s bought them out in the late 40s)J.B.Hudson Ltd. traded seperatley(although the shares were owned by Davy& co ) with a 5 vehicle “A” licence.The J.B.Hudson side of the story is the most interesting in my opinion and I can ,I believe, relate the history from 1st hand testimony of the late John Davy and former (long retired) drivers. The old firm of J.B. Hudson was based at Sandside Westmorland and was a renouned heavy vehicle repair and recovery specialist.In 1960 with the death of “Maggie” Bowman ( The very formidable daughter of the firms founder J.B. Hudson )it was decided to dispose of the “A” licened haulage part of the firm which at that time consisted of 4 Leyland Octopus 8 leggers and 1 ERF 4 wheeler.The motors were primarily on nationwide tramping but they did have substantial local traffic from Barrow Steel ,Croppers,Libby’s,Gilkes , Breweries in Kendal,K Shoes and various other bits of traffic ( They sub-contracted to local hauliers as well ) they were also well connected in Scotland and South Wales. So in 1960 a buyer was sought and so ,I’m told, there was no-way the vehicles had to fall into the hands of Brady’s !!( why ,I could never find out) but I suspect it was Jack & Bob Snr. were the new up-starts on the block and had to be kept in check !!! Anyway the eventual purchaser was Athersmith Bros. of Barrow but they hit a problem immeadiately as the L.A. would not allow the “A” licence to be transferred into Barrow and be absorbed into the Athersmith fleet ( I wonder if the Brady lads stuck the oar in !! ) Athersmiths continued for 6 years to operate the Hudson buisness from Sandside which proved unsatisfactory so in June 1966 Davy & Co bought the J.B. Hudson Ltd. buisness from Athersmiths.The base of the firm was then moved into the Davy & co depot on the other side of Milnthorpe . Then in June 1976 (almost to the day )Bewick Group bought out what was left of J.B.Hudson Ltd.(along with K. Fell & Co ) in the form of two vehicles an ERF 6wheeler flat and a Seddon 34/4 tractor unit and 40ft T/A Crane Fruehauf platform.The garage buisness of J.B.Hudson had changed its title to Hudson Engineers Ltd. and also diversified into crane hire and continued as Leyland agents and in later years as ERF sales and service.I hope there is someone else with knowledge of Hudsons and would maybe put it on the thread ! I hope my long winded tale is of interest and I will put some photos of the Fell vehicles on this site rather than the Bewick ( superior ) site!!!
Thursday 26th June 1976 my first day in the Davy office I know it appears an odd date but it was on that day the Davy fleet insurances expired ! I transferred the 7 vehicles onto the Bewick Group insurance policy and reduced the anual premium by 50% !! Thats my car outside the office and was the first of many Mercs I ran over the years . Bewick.
Didn’t like to say Dennis,but thought it looked a bosses moter,you came a long way in eight years from that Ford V8.
Cheers Dave.
It was a cracking car Dave ! Head and shoulders above other makes Cheers Dennis.