georgeking:
This is an interesting thread, keep it up.
Someone mentioned Jones Soft Drinks on here, weren’t they also associated with another soft drinks company called Grays? H & ME Fearon’s depot at Mealsgate was their ■■■■■■■■ depot. about 3-4 lorries were based there in the 70’s.
Yes it was Grays who did direct deliveries round the homes. I think as more women went out to work this wasn’t as successful and they bought out Jones who had been at Bishop Auckland. Jones did wholesale sales through shops. I believe Grays had the biggest bottle washing machine in Europe. They used us to dodeliveries on 40ft flat trailers to Amos Hintons (a largish supermarket chain), and it is quite possible we also did loads over to ■■■■■■■■ To our misfortune we used to rope and sheet the trailers until we lost a load over in teeside, after that time we had to use nets.
Grays were negotiating with a soft drinks somewhere near Huddesfield, who worked from very old premises. They would have require a 40ft load a day but were ancious that we would no be able to get foft trailer into their premises. I suspect it was William Hagues family (The Foreign Secretary). I went down to meet them and look at the premises. I order to assre them I sent one of our artics round to reverse in.However it never came off as they musn’t have been able to agree terms.
Thank you for replying Carl
I can remember Alpine pop being delivered to some houses in the street where I grew up many years ago in Bishop Auckland. Had khaki coloured TK’s and 8 wheeler Fodens. Last I knew of Kenny Dagga was He’d left John Dee’s and gone to Reeves.
Grays used to run a fleet of Karriers that I can remember and then replaced them with about 30 Leyland 2 Tonners, the one that was made by Standard Triumph.I cannot remember what they replaced these Leylands with but it was probably not too long afterwards that they took over Jones business and then delivered to shops and must have phased out their own door to door deliveries.
We in fact were considering buying a\ Letland 2 Tonner and building a luton body on it in 1964 when we instead bought DPT100B a Morris FG 2 Tonner. The Leyland looked a good modern vehicle, but unfortunatly was no good and developed a dreadful reputation, when in fact the FG wan’t bad, so we were lucky Carl
georgeking:
This is an interesting thread, keep it up.
Someone mentioned Jones Soft Drinks on here, weren’t they also associated with another soft drinks company called Grays? H & ME Fearon’s depot at Mealsgate was their ■■■■■■■■ depot. about 3-4 lorries were based there in the 70’s.
Yes it was Grays who did direct deliveries round the homes. I think as more women went out to work this wasn’t as successful and they bought out Jones who had been at Bishop Auckland. Jones did wholesale sales through shops. I believe Grays had the biggest bottle washing machine in Europe. They used us to dodeliveries on 40ft flat trailers to Amos Hintons (a largish supermarket chain), and it is quite possible we also did loads over to ■■■■■■■■ To our misfortune we used to rope and sheet the trailers until we lost a load over in teeside, after that time we had to use nets.
Grays were negotiating with a soft drinks somewhere near Huddesfield, who worked from very old premises. They would have require a 40ft load a day but were ancious that we would no be able to get foft trailer into their premises. I suspect it was William Hagues family (The Foreign Secretary). I went down to meet them and look at the premises. I order to assre them I sent one of our artics round to reverse in.However it never came off as they musn’t have been able to agree terms.
Thank you for replying Carl
I can remember Alpine pop being delivered to some houses in the street where I grew up many years ago in Bishop Auckland. Had khaki coloured TK’s and 8 wheeler Fodens. Last I knew of Kenny Dagga was He’d left John Dee’s and gone to Reeves.
Its vic again Carl i remember our local fish shop selling Alpine pop in Aycliffe nevill parade not far from your dellivery to the first house on the town. Vic.PS a name from the past Austin spooner worked for the pop companys in spenny then went on for him self .a gentleman who i still see now and again
Hi again Victor
Following my previous reply regarding Grays Lemonade before they moved into the new factory on Dobbies Bank they were based on Low Grange Road which ran along into the bottom of Marmaduke Street where we were orriginally based and my father and grandfather knew the ffamily quite well, but our history goes back further.
My father’s mother’s father, my great Grandfather was James Clements, known as jimmy the jew, who although certainly had no jewish blood, but more because his attitude to money.He was an Autioneer and County Sherriffe and amongst his business interests he used to recycle glass and make ink. My grandmother in her youth said she used to enjoy breaking up the glass. Pickup brothers were well known for making Ginger ail in Spennymoor. (Their stone bottles are very collectable on Ebay). They ran a steam waggon I do not know what make because it it must have been about the turn of the century before my dad’s time…Somehow James Clements aquired the business of Pickup Brothers along with the old steamer. He very quickly sold the business to Grays who then started their business.
The only Spooner I remember is Dennis Spooner who ran his haulage business from Aycliffe- Now there’s a character
I have managed to get two photographs of Grays vehicles attached
Once again best regards Carl
harry_gill:
hiya,
Thank you Carl for the info regarding Fyffes of Forres you sent me via email, I was beginning to think I’d begun to believe I’d imagined seeing them about but they did exist they did seem to be in quite a big way, never knew what their bread and butter traffic was, thanks again Carl.
Hi Harry
I can understand how you felt , as my memory plays funny tricks with me ,but they, from my memory, did a similar service to Shore Porter Society and Clark & Rose and a run took them a full week as they dropped of and picked up on there north to South run and then likewise on their return. We never went to Forres to see the vehicle as they got their driver to call at Spennymoor on his way south and a deal was made over the phone. The driver called again with the vehicle on his northward leg of his journey accompanied by another driver and van to give him a lift home. We paid cash for the van and off they both went
hiya,
Carl I did say i once got a return load from Ffyfes it was on a rare occasion I was driving a four wheeler trader with a luton body and the load I’m pretty certain was for the military base at Burtonwood only one drop for a change a load of bookcases if my memory is still working, which ties in with what you said was their type of work, but coming from Lancashire in those days quite a result a one dropper on the doorstep for a change and a chance to get my own motor back.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry
You were very lucky to get a return load with a luton van and I would immagine they would pay a fair rate
best wishes carl
Kenny Hardy was a giant of a man. His hands were like shovels; he lived in Chilton and had worked for us a number of years when he was arrested for ■■■■. All his fellow drivers said he was innocent and those who knew the woman concerned said she was a slapper and had been regularly charging Kenny for ■■■.
He was held in custody and when his solicitors asked if we would be prepared to employ him if he was bailed, we readily agreed. Dad even went to court as a character reference and with this help bail was granted. When eventually he went to court he was found guilty and jailed.
On his release he came back and recommenced his work with us until the end in 1986. However imprisonment had damaged him and he was never the same again. After that he became a taxi driver and eventually we heard he had died. He would probably still just be in his forties.
Laurence Petch worked for us as a class 1 driver driving a Ford D series tractor unit and lived in Ferryhill. The girls in the office used to sometimes go for lunch with him and a few other drivers on Smart & Browns canteen, and everyone said he appeared quite normal.
One day he was doing deliveries in Southampton when he had a smallish problem with the Ford and we sent him round to the main dealers. They couldn’t fit the repair in straight away and told him to leave the artic and come back for it the next day when he could return home. The garage rang us the next morning and said the vehicle was ready for collection, and he driver had not been in touch.
Eventually we were contacted by the police saying he had been arrested and was a masked ■■■■■■. At the time the police were investigating the Yorkshire Ripper and we regularly had them discreetly coming to check drivers’ records as they thought it was probable the ripper was a lorry driver. One of our drivers was at the ripper areas on every occasion and they were ready to arrest him when the last occasion he was fortunately in Aberdeen. Petch was an obvious suspect but when they checked his driving records it could not be him. However he was, I believe, a serial ■■■■■■ who had followed home and then broken in and raped. In his cab they found men’s magazines with dart holes where he had thrown darts at the female models.
It just goes to show how you never really know anyone.
Bob Bradley leaves Green lane with SUP417M on a journey in 1974.
I remember on one occasion my father was going down to London for a couple of days and instead of catching the train as was his norm he got a lift with Bob with that particular van
They had left at 7.00Am and after about a couple of hours my dad had said ‘Are we not stopping for breakfast?’ and Bob replied he usually didn’t stop en route. Dad had replied ‘When you are with me we stop for breakfast’ and bought Bob his meal. Bob dropped dad off at Marble Arch at the ■■■■■■■■■■ Hotel and even with the stop arrived at the hotel earlier than if he had got the train. He would have had to leave home giving sufficient time to catch the 125 to Kings cross and then have had a taxi drive to Kings Cross.
Added to this dad had completely enjoyed his ride …He liked nothing better than sitting watching the road south with all his memories. He couldn’t speak higher than he did of the standard of Bob’s driving, saying he never felt him change gear and although it felt like Bob was keeping just a steady pace, he was making excellent time. Anyone who knows dad would know his sight was so bad he would have been completely unable to see the tachograph.
Bob was one of many excellent trusted employees who worked for us very many years. I remember him driving SUP 417M from new and cannot remember him being allocated another vehicle. It is inconceivable that Bob would drive this same van for some twelve years, and if anyone reading this can remember what he drove after SUP417M I would be very pleased to hear from them.
On another occasion dad was in Harrods and walking out saw a reflection of one of our vans in the window. When he looked round he saw Jimmy Luton talking to the doorman. Just then jimmy got into his cab and as the doorman headed back to his post he said jokingly ‘you shouldn’t let him park there’. The doorman replied that the driver was delivering to a street behind Brompton Road and was just asking what the best direction to get entry was.
Once again jimmy Lutton, an Irishman living in Chilton was another long term driver of many years excellent service.
In 1970 we had a shortage of vans as Courtaulds were gradually increasing their production. My dad had seen a removal contractor from Morley Leeds had a D Reg TK luton advertised for sale and we arranged to go and see it on the Sunday Morning.
We went down to Leeds and were interested in the D reg TK when conversation was diverted to the Coaches this business also run and we were told the benefits of Spanish Coach building on Bedford chassis as opposed to Plaxton or Duple. (They ran coaches as well as their removal business) The conversation soon went onto Marsden and he readily proudly showed us a G reg Marsden Luton van he had just bought new about 9 months earlier. Bragging that he worked on the theory that he set aside depreciation as it happened so he could always afford to replace any vehicle even when they are quite new, Straight at that point dad said I’ll give you so much now for the D Reg and the G Reg. Strangely he readily accepted and a cheque was made out immediately and arrangements were made for us to pick them up after the cheque had cleared in about three days.
We left and were heading to have lunch when dad said could I drive as he had a tremendous headache. Over lunch I explained that the reason for the headache was that he had immediately accepted without quibble and had he haggled over the price and we had paid about £500 more my dad would have no headache. Adding he’ll have a much bigger headache when e works out what he has sold them for, and finds out how long Marsden would take to build a new van.
The D reg Bedford is another vehicle not on the fleetlist and I cannot remember the reg number, but we did run it for many years. The number the G Reg was MNB489G.
After three days me and Ronny Harris went down by train to collect both vans. There was a little delay as one was being unloaded in their warehouse. The Managing Director of the company who had sold us the vans said if I got rid of Ronnie we could go out for lunch. My reply was that he’s with me if I go he goes so we waited stopping for something to eat later on our way home.
They were both painted and lettered and checked over and on the road by the next Monday Morning. However after about a month we got an urgent phone call from the D reg driver saying he was outside the North Britain at Aycliffe village and his near side back wheels were coming off. I dashed down to Aycliffe with a fitter to make sure we were there before the police and was amazed to see the van standing on the road with the left hand side wheels standing out between the body and the curb. If the road had not had a pavement and curb the wheels and half shaft would have come completely out and the van probably would have turned over.
When we got it back to our workshops we found a clevis pin had been left off sometime when they had had the hub off. We were very lucky we didn’t get caught out and get a GV9.
It just shows how times have changed but when had started driving one job I Was given regularly was to go to Martins or Barclays, which it begin after the larger bank took over the smaller one, on Whitworth Terrace Spennymoor to go to collect cash from another bank.
We usually went either to Bishop Auckland or Sedgefield, OK were at Bishop Auckland and they paid in a lot of coinage from bus fares and at Sedgefield the same happened as Wilkinson’s were based there.
I used to pick up a bank clerk who was armed with a truncheon and he took notes to exchange for the coinage, when we came back to Spennymoor I used to park on Clyde Terrace opposite the bank and we opened up the rear of the van and started carrying the cash across the road. The van was left unattended when we went into the bank and in fact we used to drop a bag containing about £100 to keep the bank doors open.
On a Friday morning I used to go up to the bank and collect our wages, as in those days everyone was paid cash. Not many of our staff would have had bank accounts. One day we were counting out the wages when we found we hadn’t enough money and were £1,000 short. I rang the bank and said they had made a mistake by not putting enough money into the bags and was asked to nip up so we could sort it out. My car was parked outside of 16 Marmaduke Street which we used as an office and was amazed to see £1,000 lying in the gutter, which had dropped out as I was carrying the bags out to the car. I don’t think it would have stayed there so long these days.
Soon afterwards we arranged for Securicor to collect the wages.
Carl Williams:
It just shows how times have changed but when had started driving one job I Was given regularly was to go to Martins or Barclays, which it begin after the larger bank took over the smaller one, on Whitworth Terrace Spennymoor to go to collect cash from another bank.
We usually went either to Bishop Auckland or Sedgefield, OK were at Bishop Auckland and they paid in a lot of coinage from bus fares and at Sedgefield the same happened as Wilkinson’s were based there.
I used to pick up a bank clerk who was armed with a truncheon and he took notes to exchange for the coinage, when we came back to Spennymoor I used to park on Clyde Terrace opposite the bank and we opened up the rear of the van and started carrying the cash across the road. The van was left unattended when we went into the bank and in fact we used to drop a bag containing about £100 to keep the bank doors open.
On a Friday morning I used to go up to the bank and collect our wages, as in those days everyone was paid cash. Not many of our staff would have had bank accounts. One day we were counting out the wages when we found we hadn’t enough money and were £1,000 short. I rang the bank and said they had made a mistake by not putting enough money into the bags and was asked to nip up so we could sort it out. My car was parked outside of 16 Marmaduke Street which we used as an office and was amazed to see £1,000 lying in the gutter, which had dropped out as I was carrying the bags out to the car. I don’t think it would have stayed there so long these days.
Soon afterwards we arranged for Securicor to collect the wages.
hiya,
You’re spot on Carl it would go today before you could reach down to pick it up, and why, no deterrent that’s why, light tap on the wrist and " don’t be a naughty boy" is all that’s meted out in present times.
thanks harry long retired.
In the early twenties my grandfather’s work fell mostly into three categories.
Delivery of groceries originally for Brough’s store Spennymoor. It’s ironic that I see home deliveries came to a halt as self service grocery stores became the norm, and now once again all the large supermarkets are re-introducing them.
Delivery of Ice from the Ice factory in Durham. The lack of refrigeration meant that the ice cream parlours bought solid ice blocks which had to be handled by very large tongues. Before he died my dad described collecting loads when he was a very young and still at School. He told me the ice factory, run by Icy Smith was on the opposite side of the wear to the ice rink and the wear (small waterfall) was built by Mr Smith to help with ice production. The road out was along the river with a very steep bank leading onto North Road, and the T model Fords struggled up the bank when they were loaded with ice. Often when I was very young my grandfather took me when he met his Old Italian customer. On one occasion my daughter was at a school function when the ice cream man said to her ‘I know who you are. I know your dad and your great grandfather and your ice-cream is free. She was ever so proud as it was in front of all her friends.
The third part was saw dust. My grandfather bought loads of saw dust and had the delivered by rail to Spennymoor station. It was then reloaded onto T Fords and sold to Schools and pubs where it was spread on the floor.
Over the years we have carried many strange things. In the late seventies and eighties one such thing was the carrage od coffines. We used to collect as return loads new coffins made by a company called Vowles and they were from the Worcester area. We then delivered to various undertakers in the North East.
Although the coffins had never been used some of our drivers were superticious and dreaded carrying them and we respected their wishes by allocating the work to other drivers
Carl Williams:
Over the years we have carried many strange things. In the late seventies and eighties one such thing was the carrage od coffines. We used to collect as return loads new coffins made by a company called Vowles and they were from the Worcester area. We then delivered to various undertakers in the North East.
Although the coffins had never been used some of our drivers were superticious and dreaded carrying them and we respected their wishes by allocating the work to other drivers
hiya,
Have delivered to that coffin maker on a couple or so occasions Carl sheeted stuff from Tyneside from our BRS depot at Team Valley I couldn’t half make that stuff move about the trailer, Formica horrible stuff, I suppose the end product you lads carried in the vans would travel a lot better, and they wouldn’t move at all when clamped in the hearse, just hope it’s a while before I put that to the test though.
thanks harry long retired.
Carl Williams:
Over the years we have carried many strange things. In the late seventies and eighties one such thing was the carrage od coffines. We used to collect as return loads new coffins made by a company called Vowles and they were from the Worcester area. We then delivered to various undertakers in the North East.
Although the coffins had never been used some of our drivers were superticious and dreaded carrying them and we respected their wishes by allocating the work to other drivers
hiya,
Have delivered to that coffin maker on a couple or so occasions Carl sheeted stuff from Tyneside from our BRS depot at Team Valley I couldn’t half make that stuff move about the trailer, Formica horrible stuff, I suppose the end product you lads carried in the vans would travel a lot better, and they wouldn’t move at all when clamped in the hearse, just hope it’s a while before I put that to the test though.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry
I always tried to buy and use products made by our customers but like you I’ve been in no hurry to use theirs
I wonder how many grieving families have watched the undertaker take careful measurements of the deceased to expect them to make a custom made coffin only having one supplied that was ready made by Vowles. Never mind the body put inside would never mind and if the coffin had moved with them inside I bet so would everyone else in terror.
It must have been nigh on impossible to keep the load steady by roping and sheeting and it is credit due to you that you had not lost a load
Carl Williams:
Over the years we have carried many strange things. In the late seventies and eighties one such thing was the carrage od coffines. We used to collect as return loads new coffins made by a company called Vowles and they were from the Worcester area. We then delivered to various undertakers in the North East.
Although the coffins had never been used some of our drivers were superticious and dreaded carrying them and we respected their wishes by allocating the work to other drivers
hiya,
Have delivered to that coffin maker on a couple or so occasions Carl sheeted stuff from Tyneside from our BRS depot at Team Valley I couldn’t half make that stuff move about the trailer, Formica horrible stuff, I suppose the end product you lads carried in the vans would travel a lot better, and they wouldn’t move at all when clamped in the hearse, just hope it’s a while before I put that to the test though.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry
I always tried to buy and use products made by our customers but like you I’ve been in no hurry to use theirs
I wonder how many grieving families have watched the undertaker take careful measurements of the deceased to expect them to make a custom made coffin only having one supplied that was ready made by Vowles. Never mind the body put inside would never mind and if the coffin had moved with them inside I bet so would everyone else in terror.
It must have been nigh on impossible to keep the load steady by roping and sheeting and it is credit due to you that you had not lost a load
Best wishes Carl
hiya,
Carl just wonder if these new fangled ratchet straps would have made those loads more secure i could get the ropes tight by double dollying bur still find the stuff always moved to some extent, was tempted to get the steel chains and tensioners out on occasion but I don’t think the “Guvnor” would have approved, it was certainly not a job I enjoyed.
thanks harry long retired.
Carl Williams:
Over the years we have carried many strange things. In the late seventies and eighties one such thing was the carrage od coffines. We used to collect as return loads new coffins made by a company called Vowles and they were from the Worcester area. We then delivered to various undertakers in the North East.
Although the coffins had never been used some of our drivers were superticious and dreaded carrying them and we respected their wishes by allocating the work to other drivers
Hi Carl,
I have followed your stories of your family firm with much interest, and would like to say THANKS for sharing the history of W. H. Williams on TNUK. I can well remember seeing the furniture vans on our side of the Pennines.
When I read about the transportation of coffins, it brought to mind an ( incident ? ) which happened to my father in 1950, when my sister was born.
My mother was in a nursing home at Kirkby Lonsdale, 11 miles from the family home in Sedbergh , and had just given birth. As we did not have a car in those days, my father was to make the journey to see his firstborn , by driving there in his wagon, a Bedford WLG.
My father had originally trained as a cabinet maker prior to the outbreak of the war, and his former employers often asked him to deliver coffins to various undertakers from his starting up in haulage in 1946.
By chance, his old boss mentioned there were some coffins to be delivered to the undertakers in Kirkby Lonsdale.
My father said hed load them straight away, as that was where he was heading , but next door . They were loaded and safely delivered, then my father walked next door to the nursing home, proud as a new Dad. It was during the visitng that my father mentioned having brought the coffins NEXT DOOR to the undertakers. My mother was horrified to learn what my father had been handling prior to cradling his new-born daughter !!! Neither was she pleased by my fathers reply, which was : " Dont worry, I wasnt expecting a fill or a return
load " !!
I do not think my mother ever forgot or forgave my father for bringing those coffins next door that evening.
Hope you enjoyed reading that , Carl .
Cheers, cattle wagon man.
Carl Williams:
Over the years we have carried many strange things. In the late seventies and eighties one such thing was the carrage od coffines. We used to collect as return loads new coffins made by a company called Vowles and they were from the Worcester area. We then delivered to various undertakers in the North East.
Although the coffins had never been used some of our drivers were superticious and dreaded carrying them and we respected their wishes by allocating the work to other drivers
hiya,
Have delivered to that coffin maker on a couple or so occasions Carl sheeted stuff from Tyneside from our BRS depot at Team Valley I couldn’t half make that stuff move about the trailer, Formica horrible stuff, I suppose the end product you lads carried in the vans would travel a lot better, and they wouldn’t move at all when clamped in the hearse, just hope it’s a while before I put that to the test though.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry
I always tried to buy and use products made by our customers but like you I’ve been in no hurry to use theirs
I wonder how many grieving families have watched the undertaker take careful measurements of the deceased to expect them to make a custom made coffin only having one supplied that was ready made by Vowles. Never mind the body put inside would never mind and if the coffin had moved with them inside I bet so would everyone else in terror.
It must have been nigh on impossible to keep the load steady by roping and sheeting and it is credit due to you that you had not lost a load
Best wishes Carl
hiya,
Carl just wonder if these new fangled ratchet straps would have made those loads more secure i could get the ropes tight by double dollying bur still find the stuff always moved to some extent, was tempted to get the steel chains and tensioners out on occasion but I don’t think the “Guvnor” would have approved, it was certainly not a job I enjoyed.
thanks harry long retired.
hi again Harry
most of our long serving drivers had learnt their trade from working for us driving vans but in the seventies as we did all the work out of the Courtaulds plant at Spennymoor we needed 40ft flats for some of the products, particularly exports for Rushia which we delivered to Hull,Liverpool and London docks. Orriginally we sub contracted to Davisons at Shildon, I believe another was Wilfred Whites and A! Transport who had a depot in Middlesborough. A1 was by far the most genuine and some of the tractors from others were in dreadful mechanical order. Some of the drivers were covered in oil as in more than one occasion oil was spurting into the cab from the engines.
We decided to buy our own and eventually amongst our trailer fleet were 5 platform 40 footers.Class one drivers we recruited could rope nd sheet and taught some of our existing drivers. But even then life was easier for them because the sheets we bought were much lighter than the traditional tarpolines , like parachute material and we had them made big enough that 1 sheet would cover a full 9 ft high load.I always admired how traditional operators got such a tidy square loaded trailer with smaller sheets and the one extra sheet over the top.
We also had curtainsiders but like you say they still had to be ratcheted inside. Roping and sheeting done correctly like no doubt you did at BRS is an art which will gradually be forgotten.
Carl Williams:
Over the years we have carried many strange things. In the late seventies and eighties one such thing was the carrage od coffines. We used to collect as return loads new coffins made by a company called Vowles and they were from the Worcester area. We then delivered to various undertakers in the North East.
Although the coffins had never been used some of our drivers were superticious and dreaded carrying them and we respected their wishes by allocating the work to other drivers
Hi Carl,
I have followed your stories of your family firm with much interest, and would like to say THANKS for sharing the history of W. H. Williams on TNUK. I can well remember seeing the furniture vans on our side of the Pennines.
When I read about the transportation of coffins, it brought to mind an ( incident ? ) which happened to my father in 1950, when my sister was born.
My mother was in a nursing home at Kirkby Lonsdale, 11 miles from the family home in Sedbergh , and had just given birth. As we did not have a car in those days, my father was to make the journey to see his firstborn , by driving there in his wagon, a Bedford WLG.
My father had originally trained as a cabinet maker prior to the outbreak of the war, and his former employers often asked him to deliver coffins to various undertakers from his starting up in haulage in 1946.
By chance, his old boss mentioned there were some coffins to be delivered to the undertakers in Kirkby Lonsdale.
My father said hed load them straight away, as that was where he was heading , but next door . They were loaded and safely delivered, then my father walked next door to the nursing home, proud as a new Dad. It was during the visitng that my father mentioned having brought the coffins NEXT DOOR to the undertakers. My mother was horrified to learn what my father had been handling prior to cradling his new-born daughter !!! Neither was she pleased by my fathers reply, which was : " Dont worry, I wasnt expecting a fill or a return
load " !!
I do not think my mother ever forgot or forgave my father for bringing those coffins next door that evening.
Hope you enjoyed reading that , Carl .
Cheers, cattle wagon man.
hi Cattle wagon man
Thank you for your very kind comments.
I have so many stories and I was reluctant to tell them as I thought noone would be interested. But I have a three year old and a 1 year old Grandsons and I would like to pass a little bit of the past that one day they can read. Its so good that people like yourself enjoys reading these tales.
I told my mam about your dad delivering the cofins to next door to the hospital and she laughed as it is so much like the kind of things my dad would do. They were married 12 Feb 1947 (The year of the bad winter) At about 7-00PM at night before the wedding my dad was coming home from your area of the country in a Bedford O model GPT which I have illustrateed a photo of earlier in this thread.Officially Bowes Moor was closed and my dad swore that he was the last vehicle over. If he had got stuck goodness knows what would have happened but one way or the other he wouldn’t have made it to his wedding.
Also earlier I have said about in the sixties going over to Blackpool every weekend and of course before the M6 was extended we went through Kirkby Lonsdale and Sedbergh, so I know your area well…One day one of our drivers was heading home from the west and as he went up the hill towards Kirby Steven he ran out of diesel. You know the small garage-Service station on the right as you leave Kirby Steven towards Brough, well they were so kind they drove the driver back to his van and put a can of diesel into his tank and then at the service station put another 10 gallon in, and as we tried over the phone to arrange payment told us ‘Oh just pay us next time when you are passing’. We called the next Saturday afternoon and paid them and after that time my dad always called in on his way back from Blackpool and topped his car up at their garage as a thank you.
Finally from your name we have something else in common. From the twenties until about 1955 we carried cattle. There are so many tales I will tell at a later time. And although I have no direct memories my grandad and dad told me plenty and my dad said it was the hardest job of all.
Before I was born and my father thought about his change in life with a new born baby, he decided to buy a bus. His thoughts were that if on a Sunday he and my mother were going to take a baby out to the seaside, he might as well take a busload of passengers and there would be plenty of room for a pram in a bus.
His first task was to get a PSV driving licence and then he went about locating and finding a coach. He bought a Thorneycroft from an Otterburn Bus and coach operator and got it delivered to Marmaduke Street Spennymoor. Eddie Howe who had started the OK service from Bishop Auckland to Newcastle and return in the 20’s and had been taught to drive by my grandfather had promised plenty of work and with other sources of private hire the future seemed secured.
The immediate problem was the vehicle needed a PSV certificate and Raine’s at Spennymoor were booked up for the foreseeable future as were everyone else recommended. He had taken it to a coachbuilder in Sunderland and finally decided to do it himself. The trip to Sunderland had been a fiasco. As it was not taxed they left at 6.00Am towing it with one of the old 1930s Bedford 2 Tonners. It was struggling so dad decided to drive the Thorneycroft and try to keep the rope tight, to make it look like it was being towed. Every time he tried to change up to second gear he just grated the gearbox and had to drive in bottom gear. At Herrington already there was a small section of dual carriageway and the Bedford towing went the wrong side and dad following with the Thorneyctoft took the other carriageway with the rope going over the central reservation.
On return he contacted Thorneycraft and arrange that they would take it to Newcastle to overall the petrol engine. When it was completed and came back dad asked the driver what it drove like and was told it was beautiful.’ What’s the gearbox like?’ dad asked. ‘Perfect’ came the reply and was informed (I hope I get the term correct) it has a stop clutch, which meant that when you needed to change up you just touch the clutch whereas no doubt dad will have been trying to double de clutch, pressing the clutch to the floor.
He got it ready for inspection and the MOT inspector was a young John Moore, who later went on to be the first Manager at Darlington Test Station and then Senior Engineer at the Northern Traffic area. When John measured the coach it was too long. Dad said that it can’t have grown, but John went on to say the law had been changed and I believe the front shackle was outside slightly the front of the bus and it was too long by the length exposed. The law had been changed and now it had to be included undeterred dad stripped off the back of the bus and planed down the wood structure till it was the right length and put back on the aluminium. It passed its Certificate of Fitness.
Then all that had to be done was tax the bus. But as the time was not quite ready for the ‘Coaching Season’ they waited a couple of months only to find licensing had been introduced and a licence was granted to all taxed and tested coaches. My dad and Granddad had waited too long.
I wonder how our business might have changed had that venture been successful but without a licence the Thorneycroft was put in part exchange against a Bedford O model platform at a significant loss. The only good was that dad made a lifetime friendship with John Moore
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