Basilbrush:
They were from Frampton Cotterell and ran mainly AECs and Commers with the last new lorry he bought being a K reg Bedford TK complete with a new body, this was shortly before the firm was sold. All were 4 wheelers and were a nice blue in colour. They always had Drew Brothers Containers on them which was handy because the bodies were built about a mile from Sonny Cooks yard.
You would be a bit south of their patch, they mainly served Markets at Chippenham, Gloucester, Thornbury & Yate. With regular attendance at Wilton & Honeybourne sheep fairs plus Hereford Bull Sales whenever they were held. Sonny Cooks driver Reg Anstey was so well known throughout the cattle haulage business, he’d always gain work from buyers ending up with a load of bulls from there which we used to bring back to the yard, unload into a shed and split amnog the fleet to deliver all over the south west the following day. It was brilliant & I wouldn’t exchange the memory of it for anything.
BB
Hi BB.
I am new in here so bare with me.
My Father bought Cooks but sadly I dont have any pictures,But I do remember The 2 AEC’s 1 commer and Bedford we had,Reg Anstey had got the sack by then,But Len Charles came & workrd for us.
Sonny was a great Bloke who I was only aloud to call Mr Cook,& he always called his wife Mrs Cook.The yard was fantastic,But I think you would struggle to get modern lorries in there.
Got hundreds of memories of those days,but sadly no pictures.
cheers.
Basilbrush:
They were from Frampton Cotterell and ran mainly AECs and Commers with the last new lorry he bought being a K reg Bedford TK complete with a new body, this was shortly before the firm was sold. All were 4 wheelers and were a nice blue in colour. They always had Drew Brothers Containers on them which was handy because the bodies were built about a mile from Sonny Cooks yard.
You would be a bit south of their patch, they mainly served Markets at Chippenham, Gloucester, Thornbury & Yate. With regular attendance at Wilton & Honeybourne sheep fairs plus Hereford Bull Sales whenever they were held. Sonny Cooks driver Reg Anstey was so well known throughout the cattle haulage business, he’d always gain work from buyers ending up with a load of bulls from there which we used to bring back to the yard, unload into a shed and split amnog the fleet to deliver all over the south west the following day. It was brilliant & I wouldn’t exchange the memory of it for anything.
BB
Hi BB.
I am new in here so bare with me.
My Father bought Cooks but sadly I dont have any pictures,But I do remember The 2 AEC’s 1 commer and Bedford we had,Reg Anstey had got the sack by then,But Len Charles came & workrd for us.
Sonny was a great Bloke who I was only aloud to call Mr Cook,& he always called his wife Mrs Cook.The yard was fantastic,But I think you would struggle to get modern lorries in there.
Got hundreds of memories of those days,but sadly no pictures.
cheers.
Hello
Thanks for the reply. Would you be Roger or Rogers Son? I was only young but I knew Roger & his Father Ivor.
I was aware of what happened with Reg but I have the greatest respect for that mans memory & didn’t want to mention it. Len was a nice bloke as was Keith who also worked there for years. Do you have any brochures or anything from Drews the body builders?
As you say, Sonny Cooks yard was lovely, a place most would kill for but also restricted to 4 wheelers because of the access. Good days though.
Hello all
I’ve just caught you all up having spent the last few days ploughing through all the pages.
BUBBLEMAN you have opened the curtains on a progressive part of history. The transport of our goods has generally been taken for granted and lorries seen as something to overtake on the way to your holiday, appointment etc. or stinking out the towns and villages on their way to the farms, tips or abbatoirs. The people inside them, how the vehicles work and how they continue to develope are a fascinating story. Add to this the tales from retired (or otherwise) drivers usually with wry dry and at times caustic wit humanise the pages. Thanks. Jim.
Basilbrush:
They were from Frampton Cotterell and ran mainly AECs and Commers with the last new lorry he bought being a K reg Bedford TK complete with a new body, this was shortly before the firm was sold. All were 4 wheelers and were a nice blue in colour. They always had Drew Brothers Containers on them which was handy because the bodies were built about a mile from Sonny Cooks yard.
You would be a bit south of their patch, they mainly served Markets at Chippenham, Gloucester, Thornbury & Yate. With regular attendance at Wilton & Honeybourne sheep fairs plus Hereford Bull Sales whenever they were held. Sonny Cooks driver Reg Anstey was so well known throughout the cattle haulage business, he’d always gain work from buyers ending up with a load of bulls from there which we used to bring back to the yard, unload into a shed and split amnog the fleet to deliver all over the south west the following day. It was brilliant & I wouldn’t exchange the memory of it for anything.
BB
Hi BB.
I am new in here so bare with me.
My Father bought Cooks but sadly I dont have any pictures,But I do remember The 2 AEC’s 1 commer and Bedford we had,Reg Anstey had got the sack by then,But Len Charles came & workrd for us.
Sonny was a great Bloke who I was only aloud to call Mr Cook,& he always called his wife Mrs Cook.The yard was fantastic,But I think you would struggle to get modern lorries in there.
Got hundreds of memories of those days,but sadly no pictures.
cheers.
Hello
Thanks for the reply. Would you be Roger or Rogers Son? I was only young but I knew Roger & his Father Ivor.
I was aware of what happened with Reg but I have the greatest respect for that mans memory & didn’t want to mention it. Len was a nice bloke as was Keith who also worked there for years. Do you have any brochures or anything from Drews the body builders?
As you say, Sonny Cooks yard was lovely, a place most would kill for but also restricted to 4 wheelers because of the access. Good days though.
BB
Hi
yes I am Rogers son, Idont have anything on Drews,But the body off the Bedford was Extended by Wrington vale body builders,Owned by Bob Greenwood who i am lead to believe worked for Drews.It was put on a mercedes Which Len drove till his Heart attack in 1985, we sold the truck to John Troughton,& I wouldnt be suprised if it isnt still parked up on Johns farm somewhere.Teh commer,We sold to Barry Cambridge,It got burnt out in a yard fire he had. The 2 AEC,s kept going for many years CHU198J, RDF537G,the G reg lasting the longest.The 3 deck body we sold to a welsh sheep farmer,cheers
Great to see this pic of Dunkerley’s… Another firm sadly gone They had some nice kit…
7
I know they had a couple of tractor units like this - I took this pic at Truckfest when this one was on the stand, fresh out of the box… I don’t think its the same one though…
6
I seem to remember an article somewhere years ago about these and Dunkerleys saying what a versatile machine it was… They could drag 150 tonnes around one day and the next they could hook up to one of their block trailers and do a decent days work with no loss of payload or any modifications whatsoever. Good lorries…
Hello Paul,yes mate…you’re dead right about Dunks utilising their heavy haulage tractor on blocks when the heavy stuff was quiet…heres a few pics from the fleet,Cheers Bubbs,
Nice pics of the Dunkerley lorries Bubbleman-the last MAN-K320 NMW was rated at 250 tons I believe and was a 6x6 with 500hp V10 and passed in to the Hills of Botley fleet when Dunkerleys packed up
Thats correct Tim, it was a 6x6 with a 500bhp V10 engine and rated for 250 tons
Hi again Bubbleman, Is this your own photo, or one you have aquired? I asked because I wondered if you have other photos of livestock trucks from this era, if so it would be great to see them on here, also, do you know where this was taken?. Cheers Richardp2012
Hello again,the pic of the Maggie was one I bought somewhere,I do have a few livestock pics scattered amongst my collection,I’ll have to dig them out.Heres todays bunch,Cheers Bubbs,
Hello Bubbs, I dont remember that wooden bodied trailer on the Maggie, but I’m sure the one I used to see was a stepframe. I do have a photo of Tite’s 1983/84 reg Foden tractor, I think it’s an S104 but not certain. It’s pulling a Doughty tri axle stepframe trailer. I heard a rumour that either this, or another similar Foden unit was stolen and never recovered. It would be nice to see any livestock photos that you or anyone else has, on here. Cheers Richard
love the chuckie chicken MAN, reminds me of days in dads truck and seeing these on the A49. in fact im thinking of making a model of one any pics gratefully recieved
Basilbrush:
They were from Frampton Cotterell and ran mainly AECs and Commers with the last new lorry he bought being a K reg Bedford TK complete with a new body, this was shortly before the firm was sold. All were 4 wheelers and were a nice blue in colour. They always had Drew Brothers Containers on them which was handy because the bodies were built about a mile from Sonny Cooks yard.
You would be a bit south of their patch, they mainly served Markets at Chippenham, Gloucester, Thornbury & Yate. With regular attendance at Wilton & Honeybourne sheep fairs plus Hereford Bull Sales whenever they were held. Sonny Cooks driver Reg Anstey was so well known throughout the cattle haulage business, he’d always gain work from buyers ending up with a load of bulls from there which we used to bring back to the yard, unload into a shed and split amnog the fleet to deliver all over the south west the following day. It was brilliant & I wouldn’t exchange the memory of it for anything.
BB
Hi BB.
I am new in here so bare with me.
My Father bought Cooks but sadly I dont have any pictures,But I do remember The 2 AEC’s 1 commer and Bedford we had,Reg Anstey had got the sack by then,But Len Charles came & workrd for us.
Sonny was a great Bloke who I was only aloud to call Mr Cook,& he always called his wife Mrs Cook.The yard was fantastic,But I think you would struggle to get modern lorries in there.
Got hundreds of memories of those days,but sadly no pictures.
cheers.
There’s several livestock lorry threads running on here and they contain a mass of photos.
Bubbs is most likely rushing around organising his meeting and auction at Keynshanm tonight so here are a few to keep the thread going.
The first couple are tankers from my driving days. I am not really ancient the Scammell was 15 years old when I drove it in 1966.
The only time the four preserved Bristols have been together.
Dunn Spencer Bulkflo gear.
Numbum:
Bubbs is most likely rushing around organising his meeting and auction at Keynshanm tonight so here are a few to keep the thread going.
Cheers Phil.
Hello Phil…our meeting and auction for Martin is next weekend mate.Will put some stuff on later lads,Cheers Bubbs,
Phil,is this one of Butlers? What did Bristol and South-West Tar distillers run,I remember seeing them, and odd times A E Evans ran into their place with absorbing oil from Sheffield.
Numbum:
Bubbs is most likely rushing around organising his meeting and auction at Keynshanm tonight so here are a few to keep the thread going.
Cheers Phil.
Hello Phil…our meeting and auction for Martin is next weekend mate.Will put some stuff on later lads,Cheers Bubbs,
Hi bubbs,
My heart missed a bloody beat when I read numbum’s keynsham comment I thought I had missed it.phew
Regards andrew.
They had some nice kit…
