Hi Boys
David, Lythgoes were a big part of our life at one time, as farmers we used to buy fertilizer off you. Then when my father went back into transport after foot and mouth in 1967/8 he brought this Guy Big J and went to work out of Minera Quarry.
The quarry had just been sold to Tarmac but I still remember the Euclids and backing up under those bins ( in the passenger seat in school holidays ) The trains were still running at that time.
Then when I was 17 I was on the road with this, didn’t I look smart then… .
That would be late 1973 and I worked out of your Widnes dept till mid 1976 when we went out Middle East. Under the sheet in the photo is 8 ton of Kayphos. Dusty stuff all hand balled on either off the belt or out of stock off the pallets then hand balled off again. Some farmers used to say it made their hair grow, others said it caused them to lose it. It didn’t do mine any harm. I was in Widnes when a rep came around with Mr. Lythgoe to sell him a granulating plant and I think he was for buying but the rep made the mistake of offering credit terms. This upset Mr Lythgoe and he said everything I buy I pay for and sent the rep away with a flee in his ear.
Do you remember a maintenance chap getting hurt in the yard when the jackhammer he was using touched a power cable, didn’t he recover only to die latter when changing a light bulb at home.
I have also got to know Frank Lythgoe over the years through the steaming world. In those early days I used to take bales of straw from his place to the golf course near Llandudno, do the family still own that?
Your rep for our area was Stan Bough(spelling) with Spencer Greenwood spreading, and was it a chap call Whitfield that sold around Derby / Buxton with Joe Eckert spreading.
Are any of your fathers brothers still alive?
Sorry gone on a bit regards Keith Millington.
I worked in the plant from about 1972 for twelve months or so before being a rep in Staffordshire / Derbyshire.
Yes the guy cut through an 11,000 volt cable with a Kango hammer which blew up on touching the cable and throwing the guy clear. He even knew the bloody cable was there.
Frank sold his golf course some years ago but, I think, he still has his vintage stuff at home. The three brothers Adam Fred and Joe are all long gone now.
I knew and worked with Stan Bugh, Derek Whitfield - and knew Joe Eckert, his son and Peter Till from Utoxeter. All great characters.
I got married in 76 and moved to the Isle of Man for 8 years before coming back for my father to supposedly retire yet again. He was signing cheques up until the day he died in 1999.
Glad I posted on here now - all the memories come flooding back.
If you ever get near Widnes, call in and have a brew!
Hi Boys
David we used to collect urea from docks over Scunthorpe way was it Gunness wharf, 1cwt bags ■■■■■■■ like a bag of potatos.
What happened to the fertilizer side of the bussiness?, did Kayphos ever get granulated? and what was your compound product called? all these questons going around in my head Ha Ha.
We used to import Urea to Scunthorpe because of the dock strikes etc on this side, which is daft because it came in from Southern Ireland.
We did a deal with SFD (I think) and they rented Widnes from us under the name Kayphos Ltd. It was never granulated because the phosphate works better as a powder.
It was impossible to stay viable with the various fertiliser price wars at the time, the fact that not many folk wanted to buy powders and we simply could not compete. We tried to diversify into animal feed additives but it didn’t work out.
We simply did not have the cash for the major investment which would have been needed to make a satisfactory granulated product at a competitive price for our 3,000 clients. We were too small.
One farmer said it was good for headaches, as he’d been spreading next to his wife’s washing line - and she wife threw half a brick at his head!
We still own the Widnes site. Some of it is tenanted out and my own storage and handling company uses several of the warehouses.
Imperial Tankers / Gilbraiths are based here along with Healthcare Envronmental and Colas Ltd.
We were nearly burnt down in October '12 due a major plastic recycling operation fire next door. I’ll forever be grateful to the fire crews who saved out site!
The chain link fence along the boundary was useless in holding back the flames etc, which did £200k worth of damage to our site!
GOOD EVENING DAVE 154
IT WAS INTERESTING TO SEE YOUR ARTICLE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY FIRM.MY FATHER WAS AGENT FOR YOUR COMPANY FOR SHROPSHIRE AND MID WALES IN THE THE LATE FORTIES AND EARLY FIFTYS HE OPERATED ABOUT SIX TRUCKS AND 3 SPREADERS ON LIME.MY FATHER DID THE SELLING AND TESTING HIMSELF AND SUBCONTRACTED TO OTHER CONTRACTORS IN THE MIDLANDS AND MIDWALES.
I WAS ONLY A YOUNG BOY BUT REMEMBER JOE AND I THINK FRANK LYTHGOE COMING DOWN SEVERAL TIMES AND ALSO I WENT WITH MY FATHER TO YOUR HEAD OFFICE AT CULCHETH FROM MEMORY IT WAS A OLD MANSION.
IN ABOUT 1950 THE ROAYL SHOW WAS HELD AT SHREWSBURY AND WE HAD A TRADE STAND THERE SELLING LIME AND JOE AND FRANK CAME DOWN TO HELP SELL THEY ALSO BROUGHT A GENTLEMAN WHO WAS OFFICE/ACCOUNTS MANAGER SADLY I CANT REMEMBER HIS NAME.BUT I REMEMBER JOE BOUGHT A SHEEP DOG OFF A FARMER WHO CAME ON THE TRADE STAND AND THEY WERE GOING BACK TO CULCHETH IN THE ROLLS AND JOE THE OFFICE GENTLEMAN AND THE DOG WERE SAT IN THE BACK SEAT AND THE DOG WAS SICK ALL OVER THE OFFICE MAN SO JOE GOT IN THE FRONT AND LEFT DOG AND GENTLE MAN IN BACK AND THE DOG KEPT BEING SICK.
AT THAT TIME WE WERE SELLING A LOT OF WASTE LIME FROM A SITE IN NORTHWICH AND ALSO LIME FROM MINERVA,BUXTON,LLYNCLYS AND MUCH WENLOCK.THE REASON LIME WAS SO POPULAR AT THE TIME THERE WAS A GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY OF 70% AND ON HILL LAND UP IN MID WALES IT WAS 90 OR 95%.
SOME BODY ON THIS FORUM MENTIONED CONVERSION OF HALF TRACKS TO LIME SPREADERS I REMEMBER MY FATHER HAD A PROTOTYPE SENT FROM ATKINSONS OF CLITHEROE WHERE HE PURCHASED ALL HIS SPREADERS BUILT ON A FULL TRACKED BREN GUN CARRIER SO SUPPOSED TO BE DESIGNED TO SPREAD STEEP HILL LAND.BECAUSE OF THIS VEHICLE MY FATHER OBTAINED THE LARGEST LIME ORDER EVER OBTAINED 10000 TONS FROM A MR BENNET EVANS OF PLYMLIMMON IN MID WALES BUT SADLY THE TRACKED SPREADER WAS NOT VERY SUCCESSFUL AS THE BODY WAS TO TOP HEAVY SO WE DID IT WITH FORDSON MAGOR TVO TRACTORS WITH ATKINSON TRAILER SPREADERS.I THINK IT WAS JOE WHO ORGANISED A DEMONSTRATION ON THIS ORDER TO SREAD WITH A AEROPLANE BUT IT WAS A DISTASTER THE PLANE SRPREAD THE LIME MORE IN A STREAM AND ON THE MAIN ROAD THAT RAN THROUGH THE FARM
ANY WAY SORRY TO RAMBLE ON BUT IT WAS NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU.
GLYN SWAIN
Dave l54
Can you believe that I lived in Wigshaw Lane , we moved there in around 1960 ,So I,d love to know more about Wigshaw Grange .Adam Lythgoe lived in Glazebury across from the Raven Pub and his Son Lived on the outskirts of Winwck and had 2 daughters I,m sure one got married into the Sharpe Family , also young Adam as he was known around Cuclheth & Croft mother -in- law bought the house next door to my Mum & Dads. I do remember that the trucks Lythgoes Haulage were behind Birchalls garage in Croft ( Shell Petrol ) when I was a kid , hope I,ve got all my facts right its a long time ago
Wow - so many interesting posts on here and some of which even I didn’t know about.
My grandfather, the original Adam Lythgoe, lived in a farm called Goosenest at Pennnington Leigh.
When the business started and began to grow, they moved to Wigshaw Grange and ran the office in a converted poultry shed as his wife wouldn’t let them do it in the house. It is still owned by our family.
His three sons, Adam, Joseph and Fred, took on the business. Fred moved to Arrowsmiths Farm ( next to the original, Goosenest) Joseph built a house on the corner of Wigshaw Lane and Hob Hey Lane and Adam moved to The Bungalow next to the pub.
Adam also had two sons, Adam and Frank. Adam Jnr lived at Croft and Frank lives at Warburton. Fred had no kids and Joseph had me.
At some stage, the brothers struck a deal and my father ended up with the controlling share of the business - and he gave them his share in the properties.
I bought out all of the other shareholders a short while back.
Confused yet?
-oh and yes, Birchalls ran a few liveried trucks and their petrol station at Croft which we used for many years.
May have a few more photos to post shortly and will have look see.
If my memory serves me right , did Adam Lythgoe have connections with the quarry
situated close to the Settle - Carlisle railway line at Ribblehead, in the (then) West Riding of Yorkshire
in the late 1950s and early 1960s ? The A.G. name seems familiar to the area.
The entrance to the quarry was opposite the Ribblehead Inn and the other side of the railway bridge , on the
B 6255, between Hawes and Ingleton .
Shamelessly borrowed from ‘Wheels of the West’ by Peter C Killick, is an advertisement dated 9 June 1956, which I hope is of interest. It covers the 1950 — 1965 era.
windrush:
I have a pic saved from the web but not sure where it originated so apologies to anyone who owns the original copy.
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Pete.
Great pic Pete missed it when originally posted,remember the Canadian Dodges of Sheldons hurtling through Cromford as a lad. Is that Ryder Point when you could pull in under the rocks. Mike.
Yes, I believe they did some spreading as a mate of mine remembers them.