Thanks for all the tips Lads I have been using heat pads and it seems to be in the shoulder joint so now I have both shoulder joints knackered as my left one is worn out has been for about 7 or 8 years can’t be operated on but I’ve had a number of cortisone jabs which used to ease it a bit but you can only have so many jabs apparently so the last thing I needed was damage to my good arm ! I hear some awful crunching sounds from both shoulders sometimes ! Anyway there’s plenty worse off than me and if I have two or three G & T’s or two or three drams the pain disappears for a while I kid you not 
but I can’t turn into a ■■■■ head eh! so just Friday/Sat nights and maybe Sunday Lunch time Anyway thanks for the advice, Cheers Dennis.
My physio said if it crunches it means its still working !!!
Bewick:
pete smith:
Hi Dennis,
Hope you are feeling better, Linkflow was it part of the TDG? and did they have a depot opposite Tebay truckstop Jcn 38? Cheer’s PeteThanks for that Pete but my right arm and shoulder are still giving me gyp from when I jarred it in my fall it’s a real pain, literally! going to physio regular but it will just take time, the X-rays showed nothing serious though it’s just nagging [zb] pain especially of a morning after being layed in bed. Anyway, enough of my aches and pains! No, Linkflow weren’t part of TDG but they could have had some Scandinavian connection they did take the Portbury job over off Western Transport and we continued to haul the Barrow pulp through them but then BCL at Barrow closed so the job fizzled. The TDG you were on about at Tebay was originally John Russell and then Williams Bros. took over and used the warehouse to store Thames Board pallets from Workington. Both Russells and Williams were both TDG Group companies. Cheers Dennis.
Thank You for the Reply Dennis
The next episode will be a tidying up of the '70’s prior to continuing on into the 80’s as you cannot cram 25 years+ into a few posts other than describe the "tips " of the Ice berg and most of an ice berg is below the waterline 
! Cheers Dennis.
gingerfold:
Really interesting and fascinating stuff, Dennis. Thank you for sharing it with us. I have always been passionately interested in the history of haulage companies. Didn’t know that you had bought Makins, I remember them well.
This is one of the two 8LXB Sed/Atks we acquired when we took over the transport at J & J Makins it was driven by John Hull a Great lad who hated long distance so we sorted that by running him on locals/medium so as long as he was back Home on a Wednesday or Thursday night (can’t remember which night) for his game of snooker in his Club he worked like a “Trojan” no probs ! ( Square pegs in Square holes was always the “Bewick” philosophy ,worked all the time !! Cheers Bewick.
PS The fleet name of this Makin Sed/ Atk was “Bald Eagle” and John Hull’s nick name was “The Monk” 
Cheers Bewick.
Thanks for bringing back the memory of the Makins fleet Dennis
Makins ran quite a diverse business with one of the divisions manufacturing large organs for Churches and the like which were shipped all over the World and it was the organ business that the last Makin boss man was most interested in to the detriment of the paper mills. They also had a large converting operation in Rochdale which specialised in sticking gold and silver foil on paper board for the tobacco industry, mainly B&H and Senior Service and this was big tonnage. They also had a business that produced all kinds of metal powder which used in all kinds of processes particularly in brake lining manufacture (Ferrodo). Now when it was announced that Bewick Transport would be taking over Makins Transport operation apparently the driving staff weren’t too happy so Don McGregor the Bibby CEO arranged a meeting with himself and me and the IIRC 7 or 8 Makin drivers and their foreman and DBMc pre warned me that I was going to be asked a couple of loaded questions the first one being average length of service of Bewick drivers compared to Makins and also wage rates and other conditions. As regards the length of service comparison it was Makins 4 years and Bewicks 9 years, no comment from the Makin “mouth piece” driver when they heard that Bewicks drivers had more than twice the length of service so 1 nil to Bewicks. Then as regards the other conditions I was able to show that Bewicks had far superior conditions, more hourly pay, an extra weeks holiday after the third year and an accident insurance which Makins didn’t have. Game set and match to Bewick Transport and you should have seen the smile on Don McGregors face !! Some of the Makin drivers took their redundancy pay off which they had been offered and as luck would have it the ones that went were the ones we didn’t really want and we were able keep the decent Lads who tuned out to as good as the Bewick drivers and they slotted into our operation perfectly, particularly when we transferred our C series ERF Sleepers down to Rochdale Interesting times which thankfully went in our favour. Cheers Bewick.
Two Rochdale based Makin C series 8LXC’s standing in the yard at Milnthorpe, they must have brought a couple of loads of pulp in from somewhere. Cheers Bewick.
The drivers would have had to work hard to keep the units so clean. Makins used to pump out loads of dust particularly round the back of the kingsway factory site onto the canal path at the rear. Remember rushing past that site when walking/cycling along the canal
daleman:
The drivers would have had to work hard to keep the units so clean. Makins used to pump out loads of dust particularly round the back of the kingsway factory site onto the canal path at the rear. Remember rushing past that site when walking/cycling along the canal
I was around in 1963 as a 14 year old on a wild night when the Barnes mill chimney fell across the canal and made a big hole in the back wall of Makins.
A couple of friends of mine used Makin’s yard as an operator’s centre in the late 80’s early nineties and i did a few collections from Makin’s metal powders from there and after they moved to Woodbine Street, as far as I know they are still there.
Makin’s site is now a retail centre…what a surprise!!!
Bewick:
Two Rochdale based Makin C series 8LXC’s standing in the yard at Milnthorpe, they must have brought a couple of loads of pulp in from somewhere. Cheers Bewick.
Pity they’re not the ■■■■■■■ Dennis .
Hello Bewick I know that we are all awaiting the next instalment of your story with bated breath but I have a question for you in relation to your expansion and how it affected your standards of fleet management, when I started driving I was on the opposite shift from my brother days/nights/days/nights you get the picture and we had an old FL7 E447 HBC now don’t get me wrong that old girl was great and we polished it to death it was a matter of pride but some of the older drivers just didn’t care about the state of the motor which bugged me, so Bewick how did you deal with drivers who didn’t look after their kit?
Richard R:
Hello Bewick I know that we are all awaiting the next instalment of your story with bated breath but I have a question for you in relation to your expansion and how it affected your standards of fleet management, when I started driving I was on the opposite shift from my brother days/nights/days/nights you get the picture and we had an old FL7 E447 HBC now don’t get me wrong that old girl was great and we polished it to death it was a matter of pride but some of the older drivers just didn’t care about the state of the motor which bugged me, so Bewick how did you deal with drivers who didn’t look after their kit?
Hiya Richard, Good question which I think I can answer! We were never a “blingy fleet” although we built up over the years a great set of Drivers who took a real pride in their motors with regard to cleanliness both inside and outside and they were a credit to the firm as we often had customers as well as the Ministry men at roadside checks passing compliments on the fleets pristine condition particularly the older units. One of the main reasons was the fastidious Fleet Engineer we had ( as well as my-self ) we also had a great trailer/Tyre fitter who kept the trailer fleet up to scratch the tyre policy we had always helped as each outfit always had a matched set of rubber and that, IMHO, was always what indicated a well maintained fleet. However, we did have a handful of Drivers ( over the years) that no matter had hard we “chased” them they were incapable of maintaining our required standards of cleanliness but without exception these Drivers were very hard working and could get through the work also they caused very little maintenance problems but the price they paid was never being allocated a new unit and say if I bought a bunch of second hand units those Drivers who weren’t the “cleanest” would be allocated one that lets say wasn’t actually pristine inside the cab even though it was in first class mechanical order. Hope this answers your question ! Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
Richard R:
Hello Bewick I know that we are all awaiting the next instalment of your story with bated breath but I have a question for you in relation to your expansion and how it affected your standards of fleet management, when I started driving I was on the opposite shift from my brother days/nights/days/nights you get the picture and we had an old FL7 E447 HBC now don’t get me wrong that old girl was great and we polished it to death it was a matter of pride but some of the older drivers just didn’t care about the state of the motor which bugged me, so Bewick how did you deal with drivers who didn’t look after their kit?Hiya Richard, Good question which I think I can answer! We were never a “blingy fleet” although we built up over the years a great set of Drivers who took a real pride in their motors with regard to cleanliness both inside and outside and they were a credit to the firm as we often had customers as well as the Ministry men at roadside checks passing compliments on the fleets pristine condition particularly the older units. One of the main reasons was the fastidious Fleet Engineer we had ( as well as my-self
Hi Dennis, Does this mean that Harry would be a no no ? Any way I do hope you are getting better my friend, And of course having the proper medication, Like single malts, Its a pity that they are not on prescription Eh, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Bewick:
Richard R:
Hello Bewick I know that we are all awaiting the next instalment of your story with bated breath but I have a question for you in relation to your expansion and how it affected your standards of fleet management, when I started driving I was on the opposite shift from my brother days/nights/days/nights you get the picture and we had an old FL7 E447 HBC now don’t get me wrong that old girl was great and we polished it to death it was a matter of pride but some of the older drivers just didn’t care about the state of the motor which bugged me, so Bewick how did you deal with drivers who didn’t look after their kit?Hiya Richard, Good question which I think I can answer! We were never a “blingy fleet” although we built up over the years a great set of Drivers who took a real pride in their motors with regard to cleanliness both inside and outside and they were a credit to the firm as we often had customers as well as the Ministry men at roadside checks passing compliments on the fleets pristine condition particularly the older units. One of the main reasons was the fastidious Fleet Engineer we had ( as well as my-self
Hi Dennis, Does this mean that Harry would be a no no ?
5am Monday morning Larry “H” is off down the “smoke” on this fine motor ! Thanks for the well wishes Mate the “medication” is helping the dodgy arm Cheers Dennis.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Bewick:
Richard R:
Hello Bewick I know that we are all awaiting the next instalment of your story with bated breath but I have a question for you in relation to your expansion and how it affected your standards of fleet management, when I started driving I was on the opposite shift from my brother days/nights/days/nights you get the picture and we had an old FL7 E447 HBC now don’t get me wrong that old girl was great and we polished it to death it was a matter of pride but some of the older drivers just didn’t care about the state of the motor which bugged me, so Bewick how did you deal with drivers who didn’t look after their kit?Hiya Richard, Good question which I think I can answer! We were never a “blingy fleet” although we built up over the years a great set of Drivers who took a real pride in their motors with regard to cleanliness both inside and outside and they were a credit to the firm as we often had customers as well as the Ministry men at roadside checks passing compliments on the fleets pristine condition particularly the older units. One of the main reasons was the fastidious Fleet Engineer we had ( as well as my-self
Hi Dennis, Does this mean that Harry would be a no no ?
Larry, we’re doing a job once a week at the moment that will be of great interest to you…Manchester to the Glenmoranjie Distillery just north of Tain, old fashioned transport with a flat trailer.
Punchy Dan:
Bewick:
Two Rochdale based Makin C series 8LXC’s standing in the yard at Milnthorpe, they must have brought a couple of loads of pulp in from somewhere. Cheers Bewick.Pity they’re not the ■■■■■■■ Dennis .
Pity they aren`t Guy Big Js
Hello Bewick are there anymore tales to tell?
Richard R:
Hello Bewick are there anymore tales to tell?
I’ll get my thoughts together and pick the story up in the early 80’s still a few tales to impart ! Cheers Bewick.