Matt worked for Robert Armstrong before the shooting incident where he was asked to leave, embarrassing the company and all that 
Yeh course he did gazzer…silly me.
Hi all happy new year to you all. The fourth guy in the photo the one on the left could be Phil Grant but am not sure as he has got dirty jeans on but that said could be on the boat on the way home and had stooped to help a fellow brit with a breakdown. 
Definitely not Phil Grant Kev.
Should have gone to specsavers mate. 
BondiTram:
BFC was Bowden Freight wasn’t it?
Bought up lots of firms round the country including J & H at Nottingham hauling for Plasterboard out of East Leake & Gotham.Salut, David.
PS Or was that BFI?
Yep - that was BFI “Bowden Freight International” - also had an Iveco dealership in Essex, and Bowden Container Services too. They went bust many years ago
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2003 8:25 pm
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:21 am
Rob K:
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2003 8:25 pm
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:21 am
There’s been a few like that lately, i’m suprised no one else noticed, they all carry on like it was yesterday!!!
zzarbean:
I was a contract subbie to Ferrymasters Southampton around then but I must admit I can’t place those firms. Probably due to spending too many nights in the Juniper Berry or paddling around the swiming pool car park.
dafdave
Ah Zzar you bring back a few memories there,the juniper berry had some good nights there. Came out one night and two lads sadly the worse for drink[[ unusual]]were betting each other over jumping the wall at the side of the door,the one with the 30ft drop on the other side.
Regards Dave
Bowdens used to have a Monsanto contract down to Lisbon. I used to see them there in the old days.
anyone remember British International from Nursling, white Daf units and blue tilts? They used to do Black & Decker part loads out of Spennymoor for us to Estoril as they weren’t much use to us - good set of lads in their office as well as on the road, seemed to vanish early 90s
Drank one night in the Berry with a guy from Bristol (in the days when drivers didnt shut the curtains & stick the telly on) anyway I diverse Supped with the guy all night good crack usual entertainment on stage came to closing time & hes waving to this good looking Italian kid standing by the door , Come on Kenny heres my lift Il drop you off at the wagon [i`m skint so I`m off to make myself afew bob ] I nearly fell off the bar stool 
Anyway took the lift & the guy from Bristol dissapeared into the moonlight with the Boy never to be seen again (Well he wasn`t back when I left at 8am) 
I dun unnerstan…? You mean he was gay…?( & on the game…? ) "im skint so Im off to make myself afew bob " Translate that for me greko…?
Hi.to stop us from slipping onto pag 2 I thought I had better let you all know that that is not me in the photo either. Regards Todd
H. I was just reading this thinking that I’m not so sure that I would want to admit to spending that much time in the Juniper Berry. When I was at sea that was home from home for the Cunard and Union Castle stewards. And very nice they looked in the good dress! 
I never had time for anything in Sotton. Always scrambling for a boat. The gender benders were of no interest for me ( & vice-versa if you didnt encourage em ) when you had the all them Spanish & South American gals lookin` for romance.
Re: Bowdens ; Its funny ,when I think of it ? In the old days it used to take about 3 days to clear in Lisbon. So every night I used to go to the clubs ,fall in love & end up in an hotel. But there was this Bowdens driver who had this handlebar mustache & would go to the Bavarian bar that was crammed full of crumpet. He used to stand at the bar wearing a blazer ,grey flannels ,collar & tie. He went there because they served beer in big pint mugs. He used to smoke his pipe & drink his beer like a sergeant major ,while all around him were truckers from all over Europe totally wasted & really wild women doing what they did best. He never went with any of the girls. But as soon as he got to Lisbon he made a bee-line to the nightclubs. A respectable oddity… ( I was there now )
Nice to see this old thread resurrected.
My first boss in Southampton was a former ship’s steward, appropriately named Lennie Dear, camp as a row of tents but a smashing bloke to work for.
For the record BFC - who’s yard definitely was at Eastleigh, possibly on a farm, and who pulled a mixture of Cunard boxes and rope and sheet mixed flatbed freight out of the dock sheds was not either Bowden or BFI.
From fuzzy memory the fleet included TKs, D series and Dafs and had white cabs with red wings and chassis. AKT, their very dodgy susidiary, had a yard, also used by BFC, in St Marys close to the railway. Their livery was a bright yellow and blue and they only ran rigid flatbeds. AKT probably fielded six wagons. BFC four or more times that, most bought second hand. Drivers were often swopped between the two firms, hence I worked for AKT - 4 pot Ford and Leyland Terrier, both day cabs, on long distance - but also drove a BFC TK and Perkins powered D series, a real flyer.
David Miller:
H. I was just reading this thinking that I’m not so sure that I would want to admit to spending that much time in the Juniper Berry. When I was at sea that was home from home for the Cunard and Union Castle stewards. And very nice they looked in the good dress!
Can’t say as I know the pub, when I was working by on the Castle boats in port before sailing on the Mary, I was straight home to Auntie each evening where I lodged, at Portswood. Sounds like I was doing the right thing . Might have needed the steward-rejection practice though on the QM, if it hadn’t been for the force 9 that kept us all below decks and seperated right through to New York.
Mike-C:
Rob K:
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2003 8:25 pm
Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:21 am
There’s been a few like that lately, i’m suprised no one else noticed, they all carry on like it was yesterday!!!
Well, it would have to be Tykes and Scousers complaining
I think youv`e translated it yourself Harry
I was just an innocent in them days H
Yes Todd we could all tell that from the size of the head ! ! ! cheers Buzzer.