I was fortunate that from my Grandfather who was born in 1891 through to my father I inherited their liking of new technology. For instance my Grandfather bought a tape recorder, when few knew what they were and an ironing machine in 1950s to save my grandmother hand ironing their clothes.
It must have been when I was about 8 years old (about 65 years ago) I was with my mother who had gone to Newcastle with my Grandparents one day. Shopping to my Grandfather was not visit to Fenwick’s or Bainbridges, but wholesalers usually for vehicle parts and as near to shops he would go was The Grainger Market or The Green Market to buy fruit & vegetables and of course Shell Fish which he loved.
But this day we were in Thompson & Brown Brothers in Carliol Square. They were not open to the General Public and Wholesale Only but were main agents for Dulux Coach Finish paint, a specialist paint which we used to paint our vans. But amongst the compressors and vehicle workshop equipment they had an assortment of Domestic Appliances and as I walked round looking at things whilst waiting of my Grandfather to obtain the paint order he had been sent for I spied a Dishwasher & said to my mother’You should buy that’ Talking it over with my Grandmother she said to me to give my dad a ring and see what he said. I suspect she dare’t ask him directly & was using me as a go between I rang him and he said ‘Get it’ So 65 years ago we had our first dishwasher.
When in 1979 many years later when I got married a dishwasher was considered by me to be an ‘Essential’ for our new home.
Switch forward to 2014 when I downsized to live alone I had no space for one & thought I cannot, on my own create sufficient washing up to need one. (How wrong I was)
For the last 4 weeks I have been having a new kitchen installed involving new ceilings Electrician, Plumber Plasterer Joiners and finally decorators (Not quite finished yet) at long last functioning again and one more a dishwasher. El Dorado. How I realise what I’ve missed.
Living without a cooker and having to cook with microwave and a single ring in my Summer Room which has no central heating in it not only limits what you can eat or what you can be bothered to eat. The dust from the electrician after ripping out all the old wiring and then the plasterer re-plastering all the walls and newly plaster-boarded ceiling and a week without even a sink boarders on hell , but all is worthwhile because now once again I’ve got a dishwasher.
Carl Williams:
I was fortunate that from my Grandfather who was born in 1891 through to my father I inherited their liking of new technology. For instance my Grandfather bought a tape recorder, when few knew what they were and an ironing machine in 1950s to save my grandmother hand ironing their clothes.
It must have been when I was about 8 years old (about 65 years ago) I was with my mother who had gone to Newcastle with my Grandparents one day. Shopping to my Grandfather was not visit to Fenwick’s or Bainbridges, but wholesalers usually for vehicle parts and as near to shops he would go was The Grainger Market or The Green Market to buy fruit & vegetables and of course Shell Fish which he loved.
But this day we were in Thompson & Brown Brothers in Carliol Square. They were not open to the General Public and Wholesale Only but were main agents for Dulux Coach Finish paint, a specialist paint which we used to paint our vans. But amongst the compressors and vehicle workshop equipment they had an assortment of Domestic Appliances and as I walked round looking at things whilst waiting of my Grandfather to obtain the paint order he had been sent for I spied a Dishwasher & said to my mother’You should buy that’ Talking it over with my Grandmother she said to me to give my dad a ring and see what he said. I suspect she dare’t ask him directly & was using me as a go between I rang him and he said ‘Get it’ So 65 years ago we had our first dishwasher.
When in 1979 many years later when I got married a dishwasher was considered by me to be an ‘Essential’ for our new home.
Switch forward to 2014 when I downsized to live alone I had no space for one & thought I cannot, on my own create sufficient washing up to need one. (How wrong I was)
For the last 4 weeks I have been having a new kitchen installed involving new ceilings Electrician, Plumber Plasterer Joiners and finally decorators (Not quite finished yet) at long last functioning again and one more a dishwasher. El Dorado. How I realise what I’ve missed.
Living without a cooker and having to cook with microwave and a single ring in my Summer Room which has no central heating in it not only limits what you can eat or what you can be bothered to eat. The dust from the electrician after ripping out all the old wiring and then the plasterer re-plastering all the walls and newly plaster-boarded ceiling and a week without even a sink boarders on hell , but all is worthwhile because now once again I’ve got a dishwasher.
Hi Carl
Thompson Browns was like Santa’s Grotto ! they sold everything and anything in there ! Their rep used to visit weekly and apart from the usual commercial stuff I remember my Mam & Dad buying a washing machine and I also got my first “proper” bike and a three band transistor radio from there.
We have been through the new kitchen scenario a couple of times over the years, I can guarantee you will still be chewing plaster dust in April !!!
Tyneside
Carl Williams:
I am old enough to have had ‘The pleasure’ of carrying a few of those pre-war bed settees and believe me they were heavy, and if the weight wasn’t enough the springs that folded them together nearly amputated your fingers if you were unlucky enough to get trapped.
Being somewhat younger than yourself, I didn’t come across bed-settees on removals all that often and thank gawd for that. My Mum and Dad had more than one - they were the precursor to the ‘sofa bed’ (of which I moved far too many) and they were fiendish contraptions to use and to move. Personally, I’d much rather handle a joanna.
When the Labour Government led by Barbara Castle MP then Minister Of Transport started the introduction of Operators Licencing, it was phased in over a few years starting with the de-licencing of vehicles under 3.5 ton GVW. At this time we had about 10 small wans ranging from BMC J2, JU, EA Ford Transits and two of which had Marsden luton bodies about 650 cu ft and a similar size Bedford CF. All these vehicles were on our ‘A licences which were very difficult to obtain and this offered us the facility to immediately de-licence them and use these licences to add to our fleet large HGV vans which enabled us to quickly expand. At the same time we ordered three Leyland 350FGs with 750 cu Ft bodies fitted with 3.8 litre diesel engines which we had specified as an alternative to the 2.2 litre that was standard fitting as we bought these vehicles for long distance use. (Photos of two of them shown below).
In these pre Common Market (EU ) days we were getting an increasing number of removals to do to Europe, and it is difficult to know how to deal with Customs unless you, yourself had some experience.
We had an enquiry from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) to give an estimate to remove a British member of their staff who was based in Naples to move to NE England and we estimated the load to be about 650 cu ft and our price was accepted. It was the ideal opportunity for me to learn by going to Italy and carrying out the removal.
Phil Riley, who was then a porter was to accompany me and our route was set ferry Dover-Ostend into France, Switzerland into Italy and down to Naples.
We had three Leyland (BMC) 350 FG’s with 3.8 litre diesel engines and 750 cu ft fibreglass bodies by Marsden of Warrington. I chose to take the newest which was just about three months old at that time. For those of you who remember the FG’s had the threepenny bit cabs which in their larger form were mostly used as bread vans. The advantage these vans were very compact and as we were charged ferry charges by the vehicle length they offered incredible economy in ferry charges. The FG’s were certainly better than other 3.5 ton GVWs at the time, having a proper chassis and conventional springs, and strange for Leyland at that time were fairly reliable. We also had had larger fuel tanks fitted. On the downside the unladen weight was about 2.5 ton giving a load limit of just 1 ton, the cab was particularly uncomfortable (In fairness they were designed for urban deliveries not high mileage work), and finally they had a crash gearbox, when fitted with the larger engine, which I’m sure may of todays drivers would struggle with.
We set off on a Monday morning, making it to Ostend (Via Dover) in good time and proceeded into France where we found somewhere to stay about a mile off the main road. Although I took French at School I was not very good and the inn where we stayed had no one speaking English. With my broken French we managed to get something to eat and a few drinks before going to bed. The next morning we made an early start. At one point Phil was able to tell me ‘See that house there, the third one down, we moved them in there’… At one customs post I managed, trying to get as close as possible the customs officer’s office, to bump his flag with the front corner of the luton.
I believe we were going to cross the St Gothard’s pass in Switzerland, I believe now its been tunnelled but as we headed towards the summit the FG heated up and we were unladed. We stopped for something to heat and let the engine cool down and fill up the radiator. THE PHOTO BELOW IS AT THIS POINT (If you enlarge you can just make out the van)
We headed on and our next stop was to stay overnight on the outskirts of Florence.
Next morning we carried on without stopping and approaching Naples we were starving. I saw a restaurant at the side of the road and we pulled in. They could only speak Italian and we managed to make signs to show we were hungry and wanted something to eat. We hadn’t a clue what was on the menu but were brought a plate of spaghetti which we ate thinking this was it, but to our delight it was followed by two massive steaks.
By some miracle and Phil’s wonderful map reading we arrived at the house, which was a miracle in those pre sat nav days. Kindly they welcomed us and gave us bunk beds to sleep in that night. We were up next morning to start to load.
One thing we had not anticipated was the heat. Also the chap we were moving was a collector of stones. By about 11am we were loaded, and what a load it was. With Phil’s skilful packing we managed to get everything on but the weight! The stones, which for all I had known covered the complete floor of the van and so the furniture and household effects were packed on top and we had a full load. It must have weighed about three ton. We were grossly overloaded and we had the Alps to cross.
We decided to start out and not stop just buying drinks as we refuelled, Air Conditioning was achieved by tying both cab doors open so the air passed through the cab, and at seven o’clock at night we reached the bottom of our climb of four hours in second gear. The 3.8 litre diesel engine drove you sick with its continual drum-drum noise, never the less, we managed to reach the summit 11 o’clock at night without overheating to where this photo was taken where we stayed overnight. Phil said ‘Thank heaven we are up here’ However I had to explain what goes up must come down and I had no brakes. They were not designed for this heavy a load.
Phil Reilly and I were staying at the Inn in the photo in Switzerland with a Leyland 350 FG Furniture van loaded with almost 3 ton when the maximum it could carry was 1 ton. I had no brakes because of this excess weight and we had to travel down the windy steep roads that led us back into France.
The next morning we got up early and after breakfast we started our long journey. I held the van in second gear and slowly down we went. It took almost 4 hours but at least we were safe.
Approaching the French customs we could see them pointing at us and laughing. ‘No ping this time’ the customs officer had said as he waved us through, obviously remembering me bumping his flag on the last time.
Our paperwork was made out in Italian, French and English and as well we had a letter addressed from NATO asking them to assist our journey.
Passing through France, once again we did not stop just getting sandwiches and soft drinks as we refuelled.
We travelled along their A1 Which led us to cross customs and travel into Ostend where Phil, from his previous journeys, assured me we would have a good night out? Especially as it was a Saturday night.
The customs post at that time between the France and Belgium had high towers at each side where they could see each other with a strip of no man’s land in between. The French customs let us through and when we went to the Belgium customs I was met with dismay. I could not understand what the customs officer was saying. He obviously didn’t speak English and with my broken French I could not understand him. After talks for a long time where he had made it obvious we could not cross.
Eventually in perfect English he told me that as our paperwork was not made out in Flemish and we could not speak Flemish we could not enter. I asked when I could see someone to discuss it and was told 9-00AM Monday morning. I must admit in my ignorance I never knew there was such a language.
We were in no man’s land neither in France or Belgium, starving hungry and tired from the journey. There was nothing there not even water to drink, so I went back to the French side. I told him what was wrong and he phoned up his Belgium counter part. We could see him answer the phone and they argued like mad with one another. The French customs officer then decided he would let us back into France and suggested we could go to Dunkirk and catch the hovercraft. ‘Not with that ‘ I pointed to the van. He immediately got back on the phone to the Belgium Customs Officer again and was shouting to him down the phone. All to no avail and our only option was go back into France and travel to Calais where we arrived at 4 in the morning. We waited for the ferry and I don’t know how Phil managed but I fell asleep with my head on the steering wheel. Next morning revering onto the ferry was like reversing into the Black Hole of Calcutta, as the sun was so bright into my tired weary eyes and it was absolute black darkness I was heading into, but I was guided carefully into my space.
We had a good crossing and got something to eat only to find when I pulled off the ferry at Dover and started to drive on the left, the van was very unstable. Obviously we had packed to compensate for the camber of the road being right in Italy and it was leaning well over with the left camber.
Things got worse. The customs demanded the van was unloaded so they could inspect the contents.
I reached agreement that Phil would stay with the van at Dover. After finding accommodation for Phil and I rang Spennymoor and arranged for a driver to travel down with one of our large vans which was loaded for Dover and was just about to leave after lunch on Sunday sothey could tranship from one van onto the other whilst the customs watched and get back for Monday night .I caught the train to London and by lunchtime I was asleep in my room at the ■■■■■■■■■■ Hotel Marble Arch, where I had a solid sleep till 11PM when I had a meal.
In the end I suppose it all worked out well as had I been daft enough to try to drive back in England I would no doubt have been stopped by the police and been prosecuted foe overloading.
Great story Carl. Thanks. Oh, and by the way, you can wish me happy birthday, I’m 73 today. As you can imagine, back in 1948 my Dad was worried I wouldn’t pop out until the new tax year, but I made it just in time! All the best, John.
John West:
Great story Carl. Thanks. Oh, and by the way, you can wish me happy birthday, I’m 73 today. As you can imagine, back in 1948 my Dad was worried I wouldn’t pop out until the new tax year, but I made it just in time! All the best, John.
Happy birthday John. 73 is a good age to be I was on 9th Sept but I try not to remember. However up to January last year I still felt as young as 50 but in Jan last year I had a heart attach which was a shock but just getting over then along came this lockdown & although lucky not to have caught virus I have found at long last I felt my age and unable to do many things I used to do.
. Hopefully with this better weather I am shaking myself up & starting to get out again. Determination is a wonderful thing
Hope you still feel young
Best wishes
Carl
Hiya,
Barbara Castle never had a driving licence, and being the Minister of Transport
was surely a bit of a joke for anyone with transportation links.
Carl Williams:
John West:
Great story Carl. Thanks. Oh, and by the way, you can wish me happy birthday, I’m 73 today. As you can imagine, back in 1948 my Dad was worried I wouldn’t pop out until the new tax year, but I made it just in time! All the best, John.Happy birthday John. 73 is a good age to be I was on 9th Sept but I try not to remember. However up to January last year I still felt as young as 50 but in Jan last year I had a heart attach which was a shock but just getting over then along came this lockdown & although lucky not to have caught virus I have found at long last I felt my age and unable to do many things I used to do.
. Hopefully with this better weather I am shaking myself up & starting to get out again. Determination is a wonderful thing
Hope you still feel youngBest wishes
Carl
I’ve been lucky Carl, the only time I’ve been in hospital was when I crashed my bike into a lamppost and had to have four stitches in my chin. I was seven, so it’s some time ago now! Apart from arthritis in the left knee I’m in good nick!
Like you, glad to have not caught the virus and looking forward to getting out more. I agree with you about dishwashers by the way. My wife thinks we should wash the frying pan by hand, so as not to damage the surface - I think I’d rather buy a new frying pan once a year! My daughter has inherited my genes, she says if it isn’t spotless when it comes out, well it just goes back in again!
John.
Way back in early 1966 our smallest vehicle was a Morris J2 with a luton body built by Bluebell caravans of Southampton (sadly I have no photo). I drove it quite a lot and one memory comes to mind was a Friday night about 5-00PM when I was delivering groceries in East Howle near Ferryhill which was a row of terraced houses (Long since been demolished & now a Travellers Caravan site) with rough unmade roads & the exhaust broke. I had a date with a young lady who worked in the accounts department at Woodhouses Furniture shop in Bishop Auckland and not wanting to be late for my date I tied it up with string from the Cardboard boxes carrying the groceries & got a great laugh when I returned to Spennymoor being told the heat could have burnt the string,But in my eyes the last laugh was on me as I quickly got back & it held.
The J2 reg NUPxxxD (Cannot remember the numbers) was continual trouble which really is not surprising as it was often overloaded, but we didn’t see it that way calling it all sorts of unrepeatable names. However on another occasion it set on fire with me driving in the centre of Gateshead (Before the flyover was built) whilst early one morning I was heading into Newcastle with a load of multi drops including Grundig radios & tape recorders & Brillo pads (of all things)
I exited the cab quickly jumping over a wall next to a block of flats for safety & the fire brigade travelled down the pavement to put it out (As the road was jammed packed with traffic.
Buists were the Morris agents on the Coast Road Newcastle those days & we were hoping the insurers would write it off & so we could get rid & get something that might be better, but sadly they didn’t and about 8 weeks later we finally got it back.
Whether we got used to it or it got better as it aged we decided to buy a JU with a similar sized body in 1970 (H reg) and they ran together for many years the J2 lasting till it was about 10 years old. Again I have no photo of the JU but below is an artistic impression done for me by Eddie Worthington. Young Eric Nelson,born & bred in Ferryhill, had joined us more or less from school and as soon as he had a driving licence had been driving a small 30 cwt Bedford J model petrol with a sort of walk through body built by Hawson (Again I have no photo, but it had a long bonnet to accommodate the 6 cylinder Bedford Petrol engine so it was all cab with an equal sized body. He had (and did over all the years he worked for us) proved himself to be a very hard, good worker so he was given the JU when it was new. I cannot remember it so well as the J2 probably as I can hardly remember ever driving it, but I seem to recall collecting it new from Harpenden, however I remember been told it was no better than the J2.
Eddie was just about 18-19 years old when we got a load of mostly chairs & tables to be delivered to a new shoe shop in The Champs elysees in Paris. It was going to be The British Shoe Corporations flagship French store. Eddie had never travelled far out of County Durham at the time and had no passport and as it was his van , The Morris JU that was the right size to carry the load we sent him to Liverpool to go to the Passport Office (Before they opened one in Durham) to get a passport which we paid for.
In those days there was no such thing as a Sat Nav and Eddie certainly spoke no French but was determined he would managed which he did successfully. I was in Paris a few years ago walking down the from the Arch De Triumph and how a young 18 year old with so little experience on his own managed is unbelievable.
I wonder how many youngsters would get a chance like that today & how many would have the ability to do it?
I was born in Sept 1947 and my first memories were furniture vans as my playground was our garage in Marmaduke Street Spennymoor. (seen in photo) At a squeeze we could get 12 vans in that garage and we stayed there until we moved to our new depot on Green Lane Ind Estate in late 1972. My best first memories were Bedford ‘O models’ which we had 6 & sadly only photos of 3 of these remain today but I still remember several Bedford old pre-war 2 tonners like the one in the photo. I don’t know how many as I couldn’t count in those days, but the last was with us until 1952 when it was part exchanged for our first new SB pantechnicon NUPxxx (don’t remember the numbers)
The 6 Bedford O models I remember the best a 1946 3 tonner the first vehicle we bought after the war (Seen here with my Grandfather in his 60s and me the smallest about 5) The others were 2 OB (Passenger chassis used to build vans on as max length in their days) 2 5 tonners one (The horse box in the photo) built for us by Spurlings & exhibited in 1948 motor show and a 1948 Bedford artic with trailer by Eagle, which sadly in those days had no brakes relying on the tractor units brakes and hoping it stopped straight without attempting to jack-knife.
As I said the garage was my playground and I played in the cabs of all the Bedford O models and I have so vague memories in riding on my mother’s knee in one of the old 2 tonners. Also sitting on my dad’s knee with my hands on the steering wheel as he drove up Marmaduke Street in the artic
The horse box was a unusual case as my dad & grandad had Spurlings build it with the rear ramps detachable and tailboard with 2 doors above made to substitute when required so from the rear when they were fitted it looked like a normal furniture van. As I said it was exhibited at 1948 Commercial Motor show and was a special chassis cab built specially by Bedford for the show with much of the engine chrome plated. New vehicles were very limited for UK market as to help the country’s financial position after the war to encourage as much of production as possible exported and livestock was given priority & hence we got round order problems by building it for livestock but suitable for use as a van. I asked my dad was it ever used for livestock & he said only on about 2 occasions for carrying horses.
My first strong memory was our first Bedford SB which in its day with its high cab and big body seemed so massive. and I remember every van from then on.
Hiya,
Happy days leaving happy memories Eh’ Carl.
harry_gill:
Hiya,
Happy days leaving happy memories Eh’ Carl.
They say time makes you look back through rose coloured glasses, but all in all I really enjoyed my life. A roller coaster ride at times and stress many never could imagine, but how you miss it when its gone.
I bet you look back Harry and have no regrets at your life in road transport. In my eyes there was nothing else like it and probably never will be again. Evolution will take advantage of drivers relying on sat navs and part of the human brain will gradually disapear. Today, although they don’t know it being told ever minute what to do, where to go, when to stop not needing to change gear & then to be told you reved the engine a bit hard there & used too much fuel makes them not much better than a machine.
Your photo of the Spennymoor Gardens Guild reminded me that in those days, knowing someone with removals vans was a very useful attribute. I was only about 6 when Dad sold his last furniture van, but I can remember travelling with the boy scouts to camp with the scouts, the scoutmasters and all their gear. Dad was always roped in for helping out with scout and guide camps and he usually seemed to be the driver - I suppose it saved on wages on a Saturday or Sunday - so I always loved to go with him. I guess H&S long ago stopped anyone travelling in the back. I know things have improved socially in the last 70 years, but simple and mostly harmless pleasures like that have disappeared with some of the bad things.
This photo was just passed to me taken from a Newspaper article showing Haltwhistle before the bypass was built.
I cannot recognise which of our TKs with standard cabs this is, but History makes me feel so old. Still in my mind that could be a photo from yesterday
Carl Williams:
This photo was just passed to me taken from a Newspaper article showing Haltwhistle before the bypass was built.
I cannot recognise which of our TKs with standard cabs this is, but History makes me feel so old. Still in my mind that could be a photo from yesterday
Here is a slightly improved photo
Just heard we’ve lost another ex-driver. Sadly Jimmy Oxley has died
We ran 16 pantechnicons based on the Bedford SB (Passenger chassis) 3 Petrol & 13 Diesel with 14 bodywork by Marsden of Warrington, before plating and testing was introduced and what we had always considered as 7 tonners were plated at 9.5 ton GVW meaning they could only carry 5 ton and the front axle easy to overload.
My dad was always particularly fond of the SBs saying they were more pleasing to drive than his Rolls Royce and in his mind were in vans equivalent to the Routemaster. Reliable so simple to maintain easy with front access to the engine just by removing the radiator,and virtually indestructible.
The replacement choice was Bedford TK chassis scuttles , but initially we were worried by possible overheating problems and for a while introduced a series built on the Seddon Pennine (Passenger chassis) which ticked the boxes of ease of engine access and 13 ton GVW. However the Perkins 6.394 engines were never a match for Bedfords either in attainable mileage, fuel economy or operating costs.
When 466 engine & subsequently 500 engines were introduced it was back to Bedfords and our final Pantechnicons were all Bedfords.
Recently I told the story of our Bedford SB Passenger Chassis based pantechnicons Here is an article I wrote in 1973 at the request of a technical expert from Vauxhall Motors, Bedford Truck Division, which was published in Jan 1974 Bedford Magazine. The vehicle was a 1961 Bedford Marsden 4479PT which sadly I have no photos of (Still hoping one day one will turn up).
The second vehicle mentioned was the first of a lot of pantechnicons we had built on Bedford TK chassis scuttles, In this case a 1968 example BUP312F which is the first vehicle in the line up illustrated.
At the time of this photo it was 18 years old and still working alongside new vehicles which had cost over 10 times the cost it was new.Doing the same mileage per year and costing about the same each year in maintenance.
Recently from the various groups on Facebook where articles about our business and vans have been published, I’ve had quite a few kind remarks, about how well our vans were always turned out.
The main reason for this from mid seventies onwards was our Wilcomatic automatic vehicle wash of which I show site photo ,between the bottom building on right & trees which is the best I have. But I suppose the credit mainly should be given to Frank Morgan, shown in the photo with me , many moons ago, behind one of our vintage Bedford vans.(Which Frank also looked after & saw they were always immaculately turned out, as illustrated in the photo of the 1937 two tonner.
Frank grabbed every van as it came through our gates and put it through the wash, before he saw it was tidily parked. The advantage of the wash, which was like a giant automatic car wash going from front to back washing front, sides back and over the roofs, which ensured no dirt ran down from the roof leaving stains. It was capable of washing a complete tractor and 40ft van trailer.
However the quality of painting and signwriting was also a major factor. Up to 1966 every vehicle we had was painted by us, and even then every vehicle apart from new ones built by either Marsden or Vanplan was painted and re-painted. From the age of 12 until almost 1970 it was my dad himself who took pride in the finished product with of course the help of three excellent sign writers over the years.
The first sign writer called himself Professor Norton. My Grandfather met him in the very early 1920s when he worked as foreman painter at Motor Supplies Bishop Auckland, which over the years became Elliotts motors Ford Car & Truck dealers Bishop Auckland. My Grandfather had Motor Supplies paint most of his early vehicles.
Norton was an extremely strange and talented man, who lived in Crook. I have very vague memory of him when he sign-wrote the last van, he did for us in 1952. In fact when my dad drove him home after he finished (He didn’t drive & was collected & taken home as part of deal of working for us) he said to my dad ‘Well that’s it Harry I’m putting my brushes away for the last time. I’ll never write again’ and he died a few months later,
As I said I remember him as he was doing magic tricks entertaining me a young 4 to 5 year old as I watched him writing. As well as sign writing he did magic including a mind reading act assisted by one of his daughters and his wife was a fortune teller, and although my dad didn’t believe of such things he always wondered had Norton been told of his end of life when he told my dad he was putting his brushes away.
Before my time we had a van painted in Hardy Furnisher’s Ltd livery (Hardy’s were a company with Furniture stores throughout N E England with one in Spennymoor, crook, Bishop Auckland, Darlington, Stockton etc. My Grandfather had made friends with the owner Mr Ditchburn and been given a rather nice clock which stood on my grandparents sideboard, because he had negotiated the purchase of Hardy’s shop in Cheapside Spennymoor on their behalf. Anyway back to the van. It had a three piece suite on one side and a piano on the other, with Hardy’s one side and Northern Furniture Company on the other (Another name they traded as where they had two shops in the same town (Darlington for Example had a Hardys shop & a Northern Furniture shop and In Bishop Auckland A Hardys shop & another called Charles Hall0
The van had a small accident which had a delve through the three piece suite. Professor Norton had originally painted the van and so my dad asked him how it could be repaired. Today when we have fillers, fibreglass etc available is a completely different era from the 1940s and he was brought over to Marmaduke Street Spennymoor, where the van was parked in our garage and gave my dad a list of ingredients he had to obtain from the local chemist shop. By nightfall repair was effected & the three piece suite repainted and my dad said no-one would ever suspect any damage had occurred to the van.
As I said my dad painted all till about 1970 after he was about 12 years old and it was Professor Norton who taught him All were brush painted with originally 3 coats of what we would today call undercoat & then varnished after being written, until Dulux Coach Finnish produced an enamel finishing coat (Pale cream & mid brown) and then it was Undercoat then 50/50 undercoat & enamel & then enamel. Norton said scoup the paint o then brush & brush it in and of course finish so no brush marks show & you have a perfect finish. This wasn’t so bad when the vans were panelled as the most you had was an 8ft by 4ft panel but when fibreglass bodies came along you had a 30ft by 10ft panel and you were tired by the time you had painted one side.
I think it was perhaps because Norton lived in Crook that we used to get our paint originally from Pierce & Partners paint factory in Crook and I remember going there when I was very young, with my dad to buy the paint. When I was older at Darlington Station where at the time Locomotion Number 1 was standing I read a plaque which said Piece & Partners had sponsored building the original engine.
On one of his journeys to Crook to pick up Norton to sign write for us my dad always told the story as he was entering Crook from Willington there was a side window of a fish & chip shop which had a big fish painted on it and it looked so real, when he went to Norton’s door he said ‘I see you’ve been busy painting a fish’ ‘How did you know’ came the reply ‘Because no-one else could paint a fish so realistic,’
After Norton died we were lucky to get the services of Temp Newton a Spennymoor Decorator Sign writer and another genius with his brush who sign wrote four or five vans for us. Again his work was excellent but he was a very busy man running a very successful decorating business and I think Temp brought colour and a new modern feeling to many homes in the Spennymoor area. And over the years he became famous painting palaces for kings and Princes in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. He was famous for marbleising , gold leaf and for a time Spennymoor was very fortunate to have the opportunity of his work.
Meanwhile dad was in Adams & Gibbons the North East Vauxhall Bedford main dealers in their Clayton Street Durham Branch and he was introduced To Peter Butler who then was just a young man and my dad asked would he write a van for us. It was a start of a relationship where Peter would write near or possibly even over 200 Vans tractor units & trailers for us.
Peter was exceptional. One of our pantechnicons had a lot of writing on it and an interim painter we had used in the gap between Temp Newton & Peter Butler took 3 full days to write one. Peter did it ,to perfection in a day. The final photo shows my dad & me standing infront of a piece of Peter’s work. If you look closely you can still see Peter’s chalk lines and infact was painting the other side while we were being photographed.
Peter wasn’t the earliest of starters usually arriving about 10.00AM and often finishing well after midnight. Eventually he used to get Bob Harold another legend in Commercial Vehicle painting to come along to help by filling in some of the largest letters that he had outlined. Bob at the time was a teenager who was an apprentice painter at Anthony Carrimore (I think I got the name right) and as soon as he finished work used to dash over to our place at Spennymoor and help. It meant Peter could be finished about 10PM and I know it would be valuable experience for the then young Bob, but I don’t think he ever picked up how to sign-write, but he was an exceptional vehicle brush painter.
Sadly after we finished in 1986 Peter had a stroke and remarkably although he lost the use in his write hand taught himself to sign-write with his left hand. A remarkable example of sheer will and determination, but I understand he never did manage to regain his speed.
The final method we maintained the condition of our vehicles was ---- Flash— I suppose in the years that has passed modern paint has come on so much and one problem we had was the colour faded and also grime set in causing dullness & discolouration. When I was young I used to go round on a Saturday with a paintbrush and touch up any scuffs & scrapes but the difference in colour showed. Although people may think not much thought went into our colour scheme, perhaps more than than is realised did. For instance lettering was never too low on the bodywork where most scrapes & scratches occurred and no lettering on the cab front where chippings & stones cause problems. After about 4 years the cream tended to get a bit grimy, and so they were washed with flash by hand .The bumper wheels etc were repainted and any marks scuffs etc were touched in. We found Flash an exceptional product that tended to blend in the colour of the fresh paint but left a duller finish to the paint. We then varnished the complete vehicle which completely refreshed the paintwork and at about 7 years old they were given a re-paint.
