malmic:
Hello Pete .yes i was with Tony Kent on that morning up in the office.I prefer not to think about it as the whole thing aged me about 10 years.People said to me we’re behind you Mick to which my reply was yes but how far behind.
As an old soldier said on rememberance day (referring to his time in the Pioneer Corps) “Only the enemy in front of us, everybody else behind” so somebody had to lead the attack Mick, happen a good job that it was you as some in the platoon wouldn’t have been as tactful in their approach I’m sure! I am guessing that you got some of what you asked for but not all of it. A long time ago now though, 13 years ago next month since I last aimed a truck at anything, where did that time go?
malmic:
Nearly 3 years since I last got behind the wheel Pete can’t say I miss it.Prefer the bowling green these days.
A decent pub now eh Mick? I know what you mean, a couple of my neighbours are bowlers and enjoy it and one let me have a go one evening at Matlock Park with him but it didn’t do my back a lot of good. Old age don’t you know!
when i started in hill head garage in 1959 some of that vintage were still in service . by then they had been recabbed and rebodied over the years . hughes brothers were welshmen and liked their moneys worth out of a lorry . they owned hill head as well and their fleet was similar , one old chap , edgar fletcher did one load a day to castle ford glass works and got paid 14 hours for it , but his lorry was one of the 1934/5 vintage with rod and servo brakes , as slow down the hills as up them . they had to stop on the market place and engage bottom gear to go down terrace road . dave
I remember one of our now sadly deceased OD’s (Frank Goodwin) telling me that when he was a kid one of Hughes trucks regularly came down the dip at Parsley Hay on the A515 with the driver crouched down out of sight so it looked as though the truck had no driver in it to give the local kids a thrill!
Back ‘in the day’ I think that a lot of firms ran vehicles until they just couldn’t be repaired any longer. When my dad was on a Foden FG at Thermalite they had an O series Bedford that broke its back and was originally sold off to a farmer to make a trailer from it, a few years later dad went driving for a local haulier and started off on that same Bedford that now had a blooming great piece of girder bolted into the chassis!
that must have been a chap called eddie , can’t recall his surname . he was the joker in the pack , used to put it in crawler up fairfield road and walk beside it to amuse the kids , another trick was chaining someone’s lorry to the support girders in the garage until some one set off in a rush and pulled half the garage down one morning . dave
Following on from the pics of Cawdor quarry I posted a few weeks back, here’s some more but show Matlock in colour. Late 70s. Also one in b/w from inside Cawdor around 1978 and a mid 70s shot of bridge repairs near the Tarmac offices at matlock.
Z and W Wade of Whaley Bridge machine doing the bridge work, presumably replacing the old foot bridge across the Derwent? The Boat House pub in the background is now closed but reopening as a veterinary surgery in the near future.
I have attended the funeral today of one of my old workmates at Ballidon quarry, John ‘Cotty’ Watson from Brassington who had previously worked for Longciffe and W.H Phillips among others before coming to Tilcon in the early 1970’s. We ran a lot of blacktop together and he was a proper grafter and a really nice bloke, however he had over 20 years of retirement which I was pleased about as not all of us will get that.
On Friday of last week I was also at the funeral of Ron Dykes from Ashbourne, another of our driver’s who was on powder tanks when he retired 20+ years ago. He had driven at Ballidon from around 1956 so he also had a good innings in plus a long retirement. Two workmates funerals within four days, we must be getting thin on the ground now.
malmic:
I was unable to get to either funeral Pete but as you said both good blokes and good workers hope they got a decent send off
Mick
Yes they were both well attended Mick, surprising how some folk seem to have aged though and yet thee and me are still young looking… or do I need a new bathroom mirror?:lol:
I am guessing that you got some of what you asked for but not all of it. A long time ago now though, 13 years ago next month since I last aimed a truck at anything, where did that time go? 
