PAUL GEE's PHOTO COLLECTION (Part 1)

Hewden Stuart brochure.

Click on pages twice.

Old Foden crane seen in Poole when they were building the fleetbridge flyover and roundabout in the 1970’s.

paulgee crane.jpg

Click on pages twice.

foden news crane 69 ppg.jpg

Rarest brochure i have ever posted. Foden brochure for cranes.

robroy:

oiltreader:
" Is that a MG sport car ■■"
Austin Healey Sprite, '64/65ish model, carted a few of them Dean.
Oily

Don’t want to be pedantic, but I reckon that’s a 68/69 on a G.
I had an identical model on an H.

You’re right, I should have paid attention to the G :blush: I was focusing on no bonnet badge which I was connecting to an earlier model the one after the Frog Eye.
Oily

DEANB:
Any crane drivers on here… :unamused:

Dont know much about them so someone may knows the makes where you cant see a name ■■
ABA Cranes from Wolverhampton way i think dont know if its the crane in the picture but one exactly the same as that was bought by Mc Canns of Llandovery for use in putting up buildings I had the PLEASURE of driveing once that was enough bounced like mad on the road did not use the crane Think its fitted with a Mercedes V10 engine and an Allison automatic gearbox
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Here are some shots of our, then, local Crane Hire firm Hudson Engineers of Sandside. Not a large firm but they had a good reputation. Their lagest Crane was 6 wheeler with a further two or three four wheelers, they started with a strut crane in the early 60’s and eventually moved onto Tele’s. We used Hudsons many times over the years mainly for lifting trailers off in the yard although the biggest and longest lasting job they did for us was when we provided outside Pulp storage for our local Mill at a time of shortages in the mid 70’s. we circa 1500 ton in a stack in our old yard down in Milnthorpe.


First shot is an early '90’s shot at Lakeside on Windermere and this was probably the last crane Hudsons operated. The Driver is the late Tom Grindey and he shot lifting off a replica Viking ship to drop onto the Lake for the Festival.



The two previous shots are of a couple of Hudsons cranes lifting trailers down in our depot. If we needed them for this job they usually called in at finishing time on their way back to Sandside.

scan0157.jpg
Got to include this last shot which is one I took from the Man Cage when I was replacing the elements in one of our flood light towers!!! That is Bob Bagguely at the controls looking up at me 50 ft above ( I had the “anti shake” device switched on the camera ! :wink: ) Cheers Dennis.
And PS for Buzzer that is my Transporter box laid on it’s side over the fence which was an attachment for my little David Brown tractor and yes I had all the implements , trailer, roller, chain harrows and fertilizer spreader plus the tractor had a fore loader as well !!

Likin the old cranes Dean, not sure if the Scotts cranes are the same firm but i had a job at Weldex in Alfreton and took these.

Anyone know if sparrows still going as not seen in ages

Interesting to see the name ‘A. Hassell’ in the list of Foden representatives, and that he is listed for the Cardiff area. This was Arthur Hassell who was later the rep for the Derbyshire/ Staffordshire etc areas, he lived in Ashbourne and showed us around the Foden works one evening in the 1970’s. When the factory closed he worked as a dumper driver at Tilcon’s Ballidon Quarry in Derbyshire, I understand he was sadly killed in an RTA in the Potteries while riding his bicycle. :cry:

Pete.

smallcoal:
Anyone know if sparrows still going as not seen in ages

Still going strong in Bristol Plymouth and Gloucester. A large contractor told me “if you want to move a girder get ----Cranes.
If you want to put a matchbox on top of a steeple get Sparrows”!

TIDDERSON:

smallcoal:
Anyone know if sparrows still going as not seen in ages

Still going strong in Bristol Plymouth and Gloucester. A large contractor told me “if you want to move a girder get ----Cranes.
If you want to put a matchbox on top of a steeple get Sparrows”!

I remember seeing adverts for “Supersparrow” in the trade press sometime in the 1970s?

Retired Old ■■■■:

TIDDERSON:

smallcoal:
Anyone know if sparrows still going as not seen in ages

Still going strong in Bristol Plymouth and Gloucester. A large contractor told me “if you want to move a girder get ----Cranes.
If you want to put a matchbox on top of a steeple get Sparrows”!

I remember seeing adverts for “Supersparrow” in the trade press sometime in the 1970s?

Sparrows had a big depot on Lower Bristol Road in Bath late 60s.

i drove this for a bit , and bloody hard work it was to, 20 tonnes and about 120 hp , and no rear suspension to speak of. the actual crane work was enjoyable , just getting to and from jobs was excruciating.

tony

TIDDERSON:

smallcoal:
Anyone know if sparrows still going as not seen in ages

Still going strong in Bristol Plymouth and Gloucester. A large contractor told me “if you want to move a girder get ----Cranes.
If you want to put a matchbox on top of a steeple get Sparrows”!

Don’t be confused between Sparrow Crane Hire and Sparrows,Sparrow Crane Hire is a family firm,Sparrows are a large worldwide conglomerate.

David

Sparrows rings a bell, was in digs in Grangemouth 1958 with a couple of their guys who were involved setting up a crane system, either in the docks or refinery. They’ve come a long way since 1946.
sparrowsgroup.com/about-us.html
Oily
Last of the founding brothers passes on and with a very interesting tale of how they began and progressed.
bathnewseum.com/2016/06/08/end- … ther-dies/

oiltreader:
Sparrows rings a bell, was in digs in Grangemouth 1958 with a couple of their guys who were involved setting up a crane system, either in the docks or refinery. They’ve come a long way since 1946.
sparrowsgroup.com/about-us.html
Oily
Last of the founding brothers passes on and with a very interesting tale of how they began and progressed.
bathnewseum.com/2016/06/08/end- … ther-dies/

Hi Eddie, I have just read the above… Sparrows of Bath, and it turned up some interesting information.
My mother was born in Bath in 1918, and at an early age, she was orphaned, and was adopted by
Stan and Anne Nowell who lived at Shophouse Road in Twerton, where Gordon Sparrow was born.
As children, me and my brothers knew them as Aunty Anne & Uncle Stan, their own daughter, Marion,
worked for most of her life in the office at Sparrow Crane Hire, not far away on the Lower Bristol Road.
Marion married Vic Brown, who was a van driver with British Railways at Bath Green Park Station,
the Northern terminus of the former Somerset And Dorset Joint Railway.

Regards, Ray.

Ray Smyth:

oiltreader:
Sparrows rings a bell, was in digs in Grangemouth 1958 with a couple of their guys who were involved setting up a crane system, either in the docks or refinery. They’ve come a long way since 1946.
sparrowsgroup.com/about-us.html
Oily
Last of the founding brothers passes on and with a very interesting tale of how they began and progressed.
bathnewseum.com/2016/06/08/end- … ther-dies/

Hi Eddie, I have just read the above… Sparrows of Bath, and it turned up some interesting information.
My mother was born in Bath in 1918, and at an early age, she was orphaned, and was adopted by
Stan and Anne Nowell who lived at Shophouse Road in Twerton, where Gordon Sparrow was born.
As children, me and my brothers knew them as Aunty Anne & Uncle Stan, their own daughter, Marion,
worked for most of her life in the office at Sparrow Crane Hire, not far away on the Lower Bristol Road.
Marion married Vic Brown, who was a van driver with British Railways at Bath Green Park Station,
the Northern terminus of the former Somerset And Dorset Joint Railway.

Regards, Ray.

That’s brilliant Ray :smiley: , you never know what this thread and others are going to throw up.
Cheers Eddie

The White part of GWS was JD Whites from Middlesbrough their yard is still there at Thornaby on Tees which was next door to where Sadlers Transport were based. Friend of mine’s brother worked for Whites, he drove at the time( 80,s ) their biggest crane ,i think i have an article somewhere about a lift they did on the Post Office Tower in London , will try and dig it out. Have posted this picture before i think, this was based at Thornaby and was taken at Redpath Offshore yard at Port Clarence, Middlesbrough about 1992.

As has been said Sparrows are a big company, they also operate and maintain the vast majority of cranes on the oil platforms in the North Sea.