A couple from Osney Mill Oxford 1911,
pete smith:
A couple from Osney Mill Oxford 1911,
Osney Mill burnt down towards the end of WW2, the owners and Clarkes (Wessex) Mill of Wantage merged and production went there. Osney Mill was a ruined shell until only a few years ago and is now flats with a hydroelectric water wheel.
Muckaway:
pete smith:
A couple from Osney Mill Oxford 1911,Osney Mill burnt down towards the end of WW2, the owners and Clarkes (Wessex) Mill of Wantage merged and production went there. Osney Mill was a ruined shell until only a few years ago and is now flats with a hydroelectric water wheel.
Which one is you in that shot Nathan ? 
Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
Muckaway:
pete smith:
A couple from Osney Mill Oxford 1911,Osney Mill burnt down towards the end of WW2, the owners and Clarkes (Wessex) Mill of Wantage merged and production went there. Osney Mill was a ruined shell until only a few years ago and is now flats with a hydroelectric water wheel.
Which one is you in that shot Nathan ?
The one partially hidden because it hasn’t been washed. 
Heard today that long serving (38 years) Smiths driver, Len Jackman retired a year early recently. Great bloke who started the same time as my Dad. Len did the run to Kidlington Premix (Readymix now Cemex) for over 25 years, you could set your watch by the time he’d pass through Bladon or turn into Langford Lane and would never be rushed for anything. Never took the job seriously either, must be why we always got on.
I have come across this photo in my collection with no idea how i got it ,anyhow i do remember Bushells as a Wallingfod firm with tippers and were a Fiat lorry distributor ,tippers worked for Amey at times ,does anyone else remember them , a poor pcture but looks like Wallingford on the drivers door
toshboy:
0I have come across this photo in my collection with no idea how i got it ,anyhow i do remember Bushells as a Wallingfod firm with tippers and were a Fiat lorry distributor ,tippers worked for Amey at times ,does anyone else remember them , a poor pcture but looks like Wallingford on the drivers door
Bushells were from Wallingford, and as you say were FIAT main dealers they also had a dealership in Romsey Hants late 70’s early 80’s
toshboy:
0I have come across this photo in my collection with no idea how i got it ,anyhow i do remember Bushells as a Wallingfod firm with tippers and were a Fiat lorry distributor ,tippers worked for Amey at times ,does anyone else remember them , a poor pcture but looks like Wallingford on the drivers door
Nice one toshboy, I remember them, a Fiat tractor unit(lowloader) and a Scammell Routeman 8 wheel tipper comes to mind, a varied fleet, we had a chap come to Progressive from them, leaving and going to ABM who were also at Wallingford.
Oily
I remember Bushells well enough from the sixties when Wallingford was still in Berkshire! Another Wallingford firm was Ayres Transport who ran green BMC’s etc, one ‘ran away’ in Reading when the pneumatic governor diaphragm split on Caversham Road but the driver did manage to get it to our garage! 
Pete.
toshboy:
0I have come across this photo in my collection with no idea how i got it ,anyhow i do remember Bushells as a Wallingfod firm with tippers and were a Fiat lorry distributor ,tippers worked for Amey at times ,does anyone else remember them , a poor pcture but looks like Wallingford on the drivers door
Hi Ivor, hope you are keeping well. I posted a pic of this wagon somewhere else on this thread if I remember correctly, it was driven by Ron ‘Squibby’ Coles, he lent me a load of his pics from his past & said I could post them on here, from his Bushells days, & Car Transporters up to his own Wagons, Magnums/F12s/FHs etc. Regards Chris.
oiltreader:
toshboy:
0I have come across this photo in my collection with no idea how i got it ,anyhow i do remember Bushells as a Wallingfod firm with tippers and were a Fiat lorry distributor ,tippers worked for Amey at times ,does anyone else remember them , a poor pcture but looks like Wallingford on the drivers doorNice one toshboy, I remember them, a Fiat tractor unit(lowloader) and a Scammell Routeman 8 wheel tipper comes to mind, a varied fleet, we had a chap come to Progressive from them, leaving and going to ABM who were also at Wallingford.
Oily
Hi Oiltreader, Going back over this thread does jog the old memory but you have mentioned drivers you have worked with in the past and i find some are the same as my old buddies namely Tubby Leach who in my time at BRS Oxford was the 3 ton Bedford driver , Ron Cavender who’s artic i took over when he changed to the new Albion HD 's and drags and Hoppy Haines who despite his handicap was a fierce independent bloke who shunned any help offered until he got to know you , these guys were a little older than me and taught me so much in my tender years.
Hoppy was a masterman with gear changing only ever using the clutch to pull away !
toshboy:
oiltreader:
toshboy:
0I have come across this photo in my collection with no idea how i got it ,anyhow i do remember Bushells as a Wallingfod firm with tippers and were a Fiat lorry distributor ,tippers worked for Amey at times ,does anyone else remember them , a poor pcture but looks like Wallingford on the drivers doorNice one toshboy, I remember them, a Fiat tractor unit(lowloader) and a Scammell Routeman 8 wheel tipper comes to mind, a varied fleet, we had a chap come to Progressive from them, leaving and going to ABM who were also at Wallingford.
OilyHi Oiltreader, Going back over this thread does jog the old memory but you have mentioned drivers you have worked with in the past and i find some are the same as my old buddies namely Tubby Leach who in my time at BRS Oxford was the 3 ton Bedford driver , Ron Cavender who’s artic i took over when he changed to the new Albion HD 's and drags and Hoppy Haines who despite his handicap was a fierce independent bloke who shunned any help offered until he got to know you , these guys were a little older than me and taught me so much in my tender years.
Hoppy was a masterman with gear changing only ever using the clutch to pull away !
Ivor, you’ve stirred the cogs again, Tubby Leach as I recall was yard foreman at Sandy Lane and Hoppy Haines was on general. There was a few of us who had been on the buses, moving to car delivery etc. were housed on the then new estate being built namely Blackbird Leys. Ron Cavender, I met on the buses, he left before me for Dealers Deliveries, a plater, got me a job there, not sure if he was on BRS (might have been his old man you knew) he had a brother Ken who was also on the buses. Ron stayed with Dealers until moving to Devon. There was quite a few of us on transport who were housed within streets of one another. I have mentioned names on this thread before, here is an update…Colin Arnold (BRS), Ken Booker (BRS and Progressive), Alan Taylor (Progressive), Brian Wharton (MAT), Dave Rapley (Dealers Deliveries and MacKenna’s), Jimmy Roberts (Progressive), Alex Dunlop (Progressive) and others on the estate I forget the names of. Johnnie Taylor was another ex BRS on Progressive.
Cheers Eddie
adr:
toshboy:
0I have come across this photo in my collection with no idea how i got it ,anyhow i do remember Bushells as a Wallingfod firm with tippers and were a Fiat lorry distributor ,tippers worked for Amey at times ,does anyone else remember them , a poor pcture but looks like Wallingford on the drivers doorHi Ivor, hope you are keeping well. I posted a pic of this wagon somewhere else on this thread if I remember correctly, it was driven by Ron ‘Squibby’ Coles, he lent me a load of his pics from his past & said I could post them on here, from his Bushells days, & Car Transporters up to his own Wagons, Magnums/F12s/FHs etc. Regards Chris.
Hi Chris, I worked with a Harold Coles from Didcot on Dealers Deliveries, he had a lad who was driving for someone, this was around 1963, I wonder if there is a connection.
Cheers
Eddie
Hi Eddie, could be a connection with Squibby somewhere, sadly unlike today diesel was in the blood in families back then! My Dad always said he never knew how ‘Hoppy’ used to drive the old wagons with his disability (club foot from polio when he was a child) I believe. Hoppy was a character, real old Transport man, I remember going round his house with Dad & sitting there in the kitchen listening to their stories over gallons of tea 
. Back to the family/diesel in the blood, Hoppy’s nephew works with me on Air Products at Didcot, good bloke is Mick & good driver, he remembers my Dad from when he used to go with Hoppy in the wagons! Regards Chris
[/quote]
Hi Chris, I worked with a Harold Coles from Didcot on Dealers Deliveries, he had a lad who was driving for someone, this was around 1963, I wonder if there is a connection.
Cheers
Eddie
[/quote]
Hi Oiltreader, Was it Dealers Deliveries who had a yard next to Johnsons Café? Only my Dad worked out of there, late '50’s early 60’s, on plates. The manager was a chap called Mike Arkle (spelling) lived in the house on the yard. I did a few weeks there on ferrying, at the start of the bad winter 62/63. didn’t stay long though. it was murder trying to find the cars in the top field up the Horspath road & digging 'em out! My Dad worked for most of the car plating firms though, so not sure who it was really.
BigG-Unit:
Hi Chris, I worked with a Harold Coles from Didcot on Dealers Deliveries, he had a lad who was driving for someone, this was around 1963, I wonder if there is a connection.
Cheers
Eddie
[/quote]
Hi Oiltreader, Was it Dealers Deliveries who had a yard next to Johnsons Café? Only my Dad worked out of there, late '50’s early 60’s, on plates. The manager was a chap called Mike Arkle (spelling) lived in the house on the yard. I did a few weeks there on ferrying, at the start of the bad winter 62/63. didn’t stay long though. it was murder trying to find the cars in the top field up the Horspath road & digging 'em out! My Dad worked for most of the car plating firms though, so not sure who it was really.
[/quote]
Hello George, good to hear from you on your thread , Dealers Deliveries was in between CKD(on the corner) and Johnson’s cafe, I joined them August 1962 and left 1963, and indeed '62/'63 was a bad winter. The office was ran by Mike Arkle and his wife (living above the office, later moving to Kidlington), Margaret Rackley (Office) I can remember most of the platers but not all, a few names for you.
Harry Strange, ? Spooner, Peter “Paddy” Colleary, Ted “Yogi” Eyles, Dave “Farmer” Lindsay, Pete Reeves, Jack Leatherby, Ron Cavender, Dave Rapley, Fred Summers(Shop Steward), John Crostan, John Willoughby, Alex Dunlop, Alan Long, Les Coppock and Ron Coppock (twin brothers), ? Jacobsen, Pete Hunt, Vic Parsons, Harold Coles, Robbie Robinson and Peter Heapy, great bunch of guys, I could expand on a story or two relating to some of these characters
There were 2 DD transporters in the livery of Stewart and Arden, also ran from the yard.
All the best
Eddie
Hi Eddie, Yeah, haven’t been on much lately I know, but been struggling a bit. Had my third heart attack in July, didn’t seem much of a do as I don’t get chest pain, just in my jaw. Almost didn’t go to the Doc’s, carried on a few days & only went as thought it might be Arthritis or something in my jaw. sent me for a blood test , did a bit of shopping whilst out & came home, Doc rang & told me at 6 o’clock & said ambulance on the way! Thing is though I don’t seem to have recovered so well this time, but they reckon I’m ok. Just can’t seem to get going though somehow, but I suppose being five years older from the last one doesn’t help. 
Looking on the bright side though, I’m still here & can still get out & about.
Anyway, it would seem we were at D.D. at about the same time, but I don’t remember if I left before or after Christmas to go on the oil tankers at Hartwells, then at Osney. I didn’t get to know any of the blokes there, as I only worked 8 'til 5 & they would be well down the road by then. I worked with a woman who they said would show me the ropes, as it were, but I didn’t see much of her as it was non stop, mostly due to the weather. we were paid 1 shilling a car for Morris Minors out of 15 gate & 2/6d for the bigger motors out of the field up Horspath road, back of Pressed steel works. We got £2 a day flat rate, so you had to do over forty Minors or Eight Oxfords etc, to earn more! I never got anywhere near it & there was no allowance for the weather.
thinking back, I reckon that D.D. would have been the last firm my Dad worked for, as he was there a fair time, & I vaguely recall him & my Mum baby sitting for Mike & Judy a few times. I remember he spent his holidays one year painting the outside of the house & we had a photo of him, up a ladder, which my Mum couldn’t get over, as she said he never got off his backside at home! I’ll P.M. you my Dad’s name, as you might have known him & at a later date I’ll post an amusing incident I had while working there. 
Thank you & all the other regulars for keeping this thread going & I will keep looking in. all the best. George.
BigG-Unit:
Hi Eddie, Yeah, haven’t been on much lately I know, but been struggling a bit. Had my third heart attack in July, didn’t seem much of a do as I don’t get chest pain, just in my jaw. Almost didn’t go to the Doc’s, carried on a few days & only went as thought it might be Arthritis or something in my jaw. sent me for a blood test , did a bit of shopping whilst out & came home, Doc rang & told me at 6 o’clock & said ambulance on the way! Thing is though I don’t seem to have recovered so well this time, but they reckon I’m ok. Just can’t seem to get going though somehow, but I suppose being five years older from the last one doesn’t help.
Anyway, it would seem we were at D.D. at about the same time, but I don’t remember if I left before or after Christmas to go on the oil tankers at Hartwells, then at Osney. I didn’t get to know any of the blokes there, as I only worked 8 'til 5 & they would be well down the road by then. I worked with a woman who they said would show me the ropes, as it were, but I didn’t see much of her as it was non stop, mostly due to the weather. we were paid 1 shilling a car for Morris Minors out of 15 gate & 2/6d for the bigger motors out of the field up Horspath road, back of Pressed steel works. We got £2 a day flat rate, so you had to do over forty Minors or Eight Oxfords etc, to earn more! I never got anywhere near it & there was no allowance for the weather.
thinking back, I reckon that D.D. would have been the last firm my Dad worked for, as he was there a fair time, & I vaguely recall him & my Mum baby sitting for Mike & Judy a few times. I remember he spent his holidays one year painting the outside of the house & we had a photo of him, up a ladder, which my Mum couldn’t get over, as she said he never got off his backside at home!
Thank you & all the other regulars for keeping this thread going & I will keep looking in. all the best. George.
Hi George, so sorry to hear about your health but what a fine story that is and from your pm, yes I did know your dad, though I could not recall his name, was going to mention a chap who did a bit in the office now and again as well as plating in my previous list, couldn’t think of his name, it was your dad.
The wages then eh. yet we did not starve or go short of anything, any of your mates hit hard times, a whip round on a friday when the wage packet was opened, no need for food banks.
Get well soon mate
Eddie
Anyone remember Woodeaton Quarry near Islip when it was actually being worked? It’s just reopened for tipping again. The owner told me it was opened after the war for Oxfords’ building boom, and has been derelict for years. The locals wanted the “eyesore” filled in, but objected to nasty tipper trucks in their community. 
It’s got about 10 years of tipping space, assuming more wash plants aren’t built.
Talking of wash plants, now Einigs’ have set one up in the old Amey pit near Eynsham (New Wintles) that means there are more recycled sand/gravel plants in Oxon than actual gravel pits.