Alan Watkins??
Peter 1961:
Alan Watkins??
Some info on the above on page 249 in this thread,
Found a pic of a Leyland Buffalo that I drove from new in 1973 for A.Curtis & Sons near Lymington, it is in the colours of CB Morgan from Shaftesbury who bought it from my boss when he replaced it with a RR engined Scammel. (not my pic)
Mr Jake…by coincidence my first ever brand new wagon was also a Leyland Buffalo i drove
for Lucketts of Fareham…and i can even remember its Reg…MOU 266L
mappo:
Mr Jake…by coincidence my first ever brand new wagon was also a Leyland Buffalo i drove
for Lucketts of Fareham…and i can even remember its Reg…MOU 266L
Mr Jake that might just be a little white lie there from Mappo because rumor has it his first transport had no cab probably pulled by a pair of Buffalo’s which would be nearer the mark as he is a lot older than he likes us to believe.
mappo:
There was a firm Alan Watkins from Fareham area, used to load out of Sweetheart Plastics in Gosport.
They were blue motors.
I loaded out of Sweetheart once for Pritchett’s in about 1972. I couldn’t believe how many plastic cups they made in an hour never mind a day! Those were the days when you could wander about the factory asking questions about the process, and nobody minded, not like now!
It was a hot summer evening, about 9.00pm, but everything was still in full swing with all the doors open.
We usually loaded out of Ryvita at Poole from the South Coast. My memory of the south Coast in the early seventies is that it was always hot and sunny!
John.
John West we at Davies International used to unload and palletize for Sweatheart but they had a new name by then which was Huhtamaki so can only imagine it was Japanese take over or the like , we used to un stuff two or three loads a day sometimes four if I could talk every one to stay on, some were waggon & drags all from Germany then Wincanton got in on the job and they used to load out of our ware house.
Alan Watkins had a yard in Hunts Pond Road, not far from our present yard of today, he liked a drink or three on the social side and the pub he used in Titchfield called the Coach & Horses but that is now houses as is his old yard. He ran quite a few ERF’s and Leyland peanut punchers Marathons, he had a busy period once and had a Volvo on demo from a second hand dealer and the freelance fitter he used rang me and said he aint never going to buy it and gave me the number of the dealer, I rang and bought the thing but the problem was that I used the same fitter in Watkins garage, anyways Watkins got wind of the deal and chucked my motor half way through a service and the fitter out the yard instantly, never spoke to him after that. He loaded sweetheart up and had a contract with Unilever out of Port Sunlight for the main of the return traffic, in the end one of his sons Steve ran it but he unfortunately died at a very young age.
Still go past where the yard was with my horses and think back to when it was buzzing but as in so many cases these old companies fell by the wayside and disappeared for ever, cheers Buzzer.
Thanks Buzzer,
Funny how all of us on here are connected in branchlike fingers through past experiences.
I have a mental image of a plastic sheet sliding forward off a machine with hundreds of holes punched in it where the cups had been extruded moments before. The man in charge explained that the plastic would be chopped up and returned to the machine, so that there was no waste. Until you think of the millions (billions?) of cups that went to landfill after 1 cup of coffee! No change there then Mr Costa.
Incidentally, although never involved in farming (or having any desire to be!) I do love the ‘Archers’ on here. Great stuff, keep it up.
John.
Hi Charlie,
Just to wish you a “Happy Birthday” and hope you have a good day,keep taking the tablets, they seem to be working.
Regards
Richard & Angie x
One for Fergie,
roolechat:
Atki mad:
A friend of mine has got an old Erf with the word Southampton over the radiator. If anyone has any info on this vehicle please post. JXF 101 First registered in London in 1947ishThis Willenhall cabbed C16 's colour scheme suggests to me that it may well have been operated by Charlie Russett whose scrap yard was in Lower Wiliam Street, Northam. If it was Russett’s, then it had a small crane mounted on the back to lift & tow.
My friend has found out it may have had a crane on the back so it could be Russetts. Anyone got any photos of Russetts?
DISPATCHER:
Just to move back up the page
Was that Charlie Tigwells old Scammed Chris ?
Was it George Holbrooke? Who drove it,
Hi Dave, Charlie was the original driver, George did have it as well, I believe Auther Cave drove it as well,
I think she was ex Pentus Brown they never changed the colour,it came via Rush Green Motors I think not sure
taxing on the old grey matter
DISPATCHER:
Hi Dave, Charlie was the original driver, George did have it as well, I believe Auther Cave drove it as well,
I think she was ex Pentus Brown they never changed the colour,it came via Rush Green Motors I think not sure
taxing on the old grey matter
AN was a Bedfordshire CC Reg so was probably an ex Pentus Brown from Leighton Buzzard particularly if it was light blue in colour
roolechat:
DISPATCHER:
Hi Dave, Charlie was the original driver, George did have it as well, I believe Auther Cave drove it as well,
I think she was ex Pentus Brown they never changed the colour,it came via Rush Green Motors I think not sure
taxing on the old grey matterAN was a Bedfordshire CC Reg so was probably an ex Pentus Brown from Leighton Buzzard particularly if it was light blue in colour
Hi roolechat,
I thought AN was a West Ham number ? Only from my old bus spotting days 
Regards
Richard
MaggieD
Hi The reg was XNM 477 was pale blue with red wings
DISPATCHER:
MaggieDHi The reg was XNM 477 was pale blue with red wings
Hi Chris,
That’s better that reg is Bedfordshire which ties in nicely with Pentus Brown,do you remember a chap called Levold who drove for Hills in the 60’s ? I remember taking a chap I think his name was Frank in an MAN and low loader,with an oil rig part for Matsolex down to Spain back in the late 70’s or early 80’s,don’t think he’d been across the water before.
This photo was not on this occasion.
Regards
Richard
Hi Richard
The name sturs the old Grey matter was it Frankie Levold ? I
dont recall him driving an artic.Frank driving 19/330 MAN would
probably have been Frank Halkyard from Fareham but dont remember going to Spain. Did quite alot for Matsolex.
The picture is of laminated beams delivered to Chichester, Keith Knight by the unit and steersman non other than John Evans.