W.H.WILLIAMS (spennymoor)

[carl_williams]

I went out for a ride down to Rotherham, yesterday with my son, Paul. My how the A! has changed in Yorkshire. Most of the time I didn’t know where we were as all the old landmarks gone, and completely obliterated.

My mind went back to the last post I made about taking loads down to Banner Textiles in Altringham. It was a job I did quite often with DPT100B whilst I was on school holidays. The roads were so different in those days going down to Wetherby roundabout and through Leeds and weaving our way through Huddesfield and over the moors. I remember driving round past Belle Vue in Manchester.

One of the things I hated most was getting up at 4-00AM to get to our garage in Marmaduke Street Spennymoor to leave before 5-AM, well out of my comfort zone, but we had to in order to get through Leeds without being held up. Like I say how the roads have changed and how the drivers lives have changed. In those days, before by-passes we had to go through the centre of towns or on ring roads at best, but today the boredom and the speed.

On my journey with DPT100B the speed limit was 30 mph, but I could get 50 out of it, when the govenor kicked in, but even at that speed whilst watching in the mirror for police, I really enjoyed the scenery as I passed all the old landmarks, and saw the wagons and vans coming towards me from the other direction.

Yesterday, I don’t know if it was because I was sat so low in the car that I couldn’t see the traffic from the other carriageway a lot of the time and was therefore unable to admire operators vehicles.

Yes times have changed and the roads have improved above imagination, but in my opinion for the drivers of today we have created total boredom,to replace what was a very interesting time.

I surpose I must be getting old.

[carl_williams]

I suppose I might be looking back with rose coloured glasses, but I used to enjoy driving on the old roads, provided traffic level was not too high. I enjoyed if driving one of our vans having to negotiate difficult roads and today, travelling along endless corridors of dual carriageways and motorways must be very boring.

During the sixties and early seventies nearly every weekend I travelled over to spend the weekend in Blackpool. Through Cattlewagonman’s country. Barnard Castle, Kirby Steven, Sedberg and Kirby Lonsdale, before joining the short section of the M6 which had been opened as the Lancaster Bi-Pass.

I always thought it was a wonderful part of the country and for the most part due to the bends and corners on the road you had to travel at a speed you could enjoy the scenery. Dad and I between us went by train on the Saturday morning by train to Warrington and collected new vans from Marsden Coachbuilders and brought them back to a service station on the main road at Poulton Le Fylde, who kindly allowed us to park until late Sunday night.Which ever one of us had collected the van met up and we followed by car back home on the Sunday night and I can always remember a tight bridge where you had to negotiate exactly right to get the 8ft wide pantechnicons through.

I used to know every turn and obstacle on the old road and remember a garage where they used to put a car on the ramp and lift it before manouvering another car underneath to totally fill their garage on a night before closing their doors. Progress eventually arrived when they developed the old railway line up to Tebay where by that time they had expended the M6 past.It saved about 20 minutes of the journey to Blackpool but deprived me of seeing such an interesting part of our country.

I remember about ten or twelve years ago when I had gone with a girlfriend over to Blackpool for a few days and on the Sunday morning we had a lie in and after a late breakfast had to check out of the hotel and had no rush to get home decided to take the old route through those villages and the twisty road. I was soon told off for wasting time taking such a long route, so not everyone shares my taste for nostalgia.

I suppose thank heaven for today’s motorways as without them traffic would have ground to a standstill, but I am so pleased I was privileged to drive and travel in an era,where we could really enjoy the ride.

[carl_williams]

Gordon Ball an ex driver who regulary contributes to this thread recently added a photo to the ‘Memories of County Durham’ group on Facebook and was most surprised to receive a reply from Australia from Linda Hopwood who was one of the final office staff working and was tidying things up after the closure as she had been the last in a sucession of wages clerks.

It asked was he the Gordon Ball that was a driver with W.h.williams. he told me and suggested I make her a friend on Facebook. I think I found her but to date she has not agreed. I was quite upset as I was sure we parted on a good friendship and I am sure she would ave so many tales she could remind me of the last few years.

I was relieved to hear Gordon had experienced the same problem, so perhaps both of us have been contacting a Linda Hopwood who hadn’t a clue as to who we are. Never the less I have a cousin living in Australia who knows Linda since they were at school together, so I am still rying to make contact.

Here is Linda at our stand at an exhibition in the eighties that has been errased from my memory and have no knowledge of

[carl_williams]

Recently I told the story of dad delivering a load of pianos and commenting about carrying them.

Not a truer word was spoken, because in those days we only had one piano trolley, not an aluminium one like they have today, but a wooden one, which I suspect dated back to the 1920’s. It was useless, and certainly not manoeuvrable, like today’s. It was therefore easier to lift them. When I see these programs on the television today they seem to use barrows to wheel almost everything. Back in the fifties and sixties almost everything was lifted, manually, and carried.

[carl_williams]

Me and my ex-wife in 1978 when I drove one of our smallest Bedford TK lutons round the boundary of County Durham raising money for the treatment of Psoriasis. Spennymoor and District Round Table had agreed to raise £3000 to buy a machine to assist in the treatment of the disease and we had provided a vehicle, which was t serve as a focal point to focus on what was happening. I as a member had agreed to drive and my fellow members were taking it in turns, relay style to run the route. I recon I got the best deal.

[carl_williams]

J.F.Clemments was my great Grandfather, father of my Grandmother, Annie Williams. As can be seen from the letterhead J.F Clements had a relatively large and diverse business in the early nineteen hundreds. Here my grandfather had bought a harness from him, probably sold from one of his weekly auctions.
My grandmother had grown up in a largish house where her father through his business was affluent enough afford the services of a full time maid, and when in 1919 she had agreed to marry my grandfather W.H.Williams, her family had warned he that he was a money grabber, just wanting her because of her family wealth.
This had greatly annoyed my grandfather, and he waited his time to prove them wrong. My Great Grandfather, Mr J F Clemments, unfortunately died fairly young, leaving a family of six, three sons and three daughters, who unfortunately were in the most too young, or in the case of the oldest my grandmother married to my grandfather and too involved in his haulage and removal business, or her first younger brother who hadn’t the inclination to carry on the business.
Over the ensuing years my grandfather took great pleasure in offering employment to the two younger sons and renting a house to the eldest. This helped him rub their noses that he had not been after money in marrying my grandmother.

[carl_williams]

After going down the A1 and seeing the changes with Paul, my son, last week and putting the photo on from the 1970’s with my ex wife took my mind back to something that happened when I was travelling with her, in one of our old Bedfords and being followed by Ken Armstrong and Fran Morgan in the other, probably heading for Manchester ant the Trans-Penine rally.

I don’t know if anyone who reads this has ventured off the A! just a bit further down from the Quernhow about a couple of miles over to the left to the Nag’s Head at Pickhill. I remembered the story that the parents had bought the old inn as a venture with their young son, who was a budding chef and he had built up a high reputation, for the quality, not only of his restaurant but also of his excellent Bar snacks. I had called several times for Sunday lunch if I was heading out on a Sunday, with my wife and two children, most probably to see vehicles we were considering buying, but always called if passing on a week day for a bar snack.(Their steak sandwiches were really excellent, with chips.)

Well this day I decided to treat the four of us on our way south and told Ken to follow me as I turned off the A! and made our way over to Pickhill and parked the two vans in their car park.

I know, they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and although most people on this site like admiring old restored commercials, but not everyone, and I could undertand the owner of the Nag’s head not appreciating two old vans parked in their car park, no matter what condition they were in, as he would not like other patrons thinking it was a transport cafe.

‘Who’s are the vans?’ I heard him say as he entered the bar. ‘They are mine’, I replied. Seeing me I noticed a double take. ‘They are beautiful. aren’t they!’ he replied making a quick business decision not wanting to upset a regular client who had made many recommendations, of the type that had made his business sucessful.

These words are topical at the moment when I read another thread, of someone wanting to aquire a Bedford T M to use in the centre of London. One of the replies tells him thst no mater what condition it is in, many people will think it is just an old vehicle, and I’m afraid that is the truth.

Strange with the alterations to the A! the turn off that led over to Pickhill is no longer there. Looking at the remnant of the old A! I could see over to my left I noticed their sign post advertising the direction over, but no access from the new road. A sign of the times, I noticed the Quernhow site is now up for sale for redevelopment, as again no passing trade. I hope the Nag’s Head is surviving without the A1 passing trade, but I doubt it.

[carl_williams]

Most people reading this thread will have heard of Nigella Lawson, quite a few will have heard of her ex-husband, Charles Saatchi, and Scotts restaurant in Mayfair, where he allegedly put his hands round her neck. Today I am talking about Scotts restaurant at Mayfair> Perhaps some, like me have dined there, and if you have you certainly will remember.

In the early seventies, my father had lunch there. He was a guest, and I cannot remember who invited him, but I certainly knew he didn’t pay the bill. I suspect he was a guest of a director of AEC, as they are the only suspect who, being based at Southall, and the meal taking place in central London.Also it was the time that we were starting to buy a few new AECs, and by the way that other members of the Leyland group lavished both of us from time to time with expensive meals and outings, where companies like Bedford tended not to have as high entertaining budget.

I suspect dad travelled down to Kings Cross and was met, taken to Scotts and then after lunch taken round a guided tour of the AEC plant, before being driven back to his central London Hotel, probably The Hilton in Park Lane. I nice little paid for trip.

In any event I remember when he came back being told that he had thoroughly enjoyed his meal at Scotts and he suggested that my mother and myself nipped down to London for a weekend break and went to Scotts. Although fazy in my mind now, the meal was excellent and I remember we all had Lobster, and eventually the bill came. £90 10shillings. Now anyone who knew my dad will remember he couldn’t see, without a magnifying glass., and so as he was getting his money out to pay, he asked me how much. '£90 10shillings (£1007 when adjusted for inflation). 'Don’t be silly came dad’s reply.‘I said how much’ and when I confirmed the price he started t count out the money, only to stop and put it back into his pocket, passing the bill to my mother, he asked her how much.

Eventually he paid the bill, and we got into a taxi and as we were going to the Adelphi Theatre in the Strand I told the taxi driver where we were heading. I will now switch to dad,s words.

‘’ I said to the taxi driver, if ever you pick up anyone you don’t like recommend Scotts to them. I’ve just paid £90 for my meal. and at that the taxi swerved as the driver got a shock. He said that he knew it was expensive but nothing like that. My wife then said, that the Italian waiter who had served us looked like Mario Lanza, and I told her that he should have sang like him, for the price I had just paid.’

We soon were at the Adelphi Theatre and found we were about an hour early, so we said to each other,‘What do we do now’ and I suggested we could go for a walk along the Thames Embankment, and dad said’Don’t take me there or I might throw myself in@

Although I never could praise AEC and their products and design enough, as we found them wonderful vehicles, so unlike all other Leyland Products, with the exception of Guy,I cannot help thinking, that if British Leyland had spent less on hospitality and more on research and development they might still be manufacturing today.

[carl_williams]

My grandparents meeting up with Bobbie Edwards in Blackpool in the 1940s.
Bobbie and my Grandfather had known each other all their lives and both went to Rosa Street School Spennymoor, and taught by Teddie Eland. (Someone I met in my teens when I occasionally chauffeured him. I real old fashioned school teacher, very stern but treating a youth like myself with respect when he was in his eighties).
When my Grandfather was about 11 years old he gained employment ‘working the lights at the Cambridge Theatre Spennymoor, after being recommended by Bobbie Edwards who coming from an already well-established Spennymoor fruit and vegetable business, sold the rotten fruit to theatre goers who then threw it at acts they didn’t like.
By the twenties Edwards fruit business, based in Spennymoor had a warehouse in Covent Garden Market in London and ran a nightly trunk of two Albion wagons bringing fresh fruit and vegetables back to Sennymoor, which were wholesaled and delivered to shops throughout County Durham.
Bobbie had branched out on his own and established a business that owned Cinemas and Dance Halls throughout County Durham, to suddenly during the war seceded to sell up and move to Blackpool. Buying Blackpool’s ice cream factory, the Jubilee Hotel, a ten newly built largish hotel on the South Shore and of course a fruit shop.
Dad moved Bobbie and his wife from their former detached house in Durham, over to a new one he had bought in Blackpool and Mrs Edwards told dad she had no idea where they were moving to as he had never taken her to see the new home.
Bobbie paid for his son. Tommy to go to Edinburgh University and become a doctor. Tommy who was the same age as my dad admitted that he was frightened at the sight of blood, but went on to be one of Blackpool’s most well known doctors.
Perhaps some people might remember the name of Joseph Locke, a singer, who in the early fifties was the highest paid entertainer of his time, who when he built up a large tax bill, fled the country for Southern Ireland to avoid payment and left his home and all his possessions. Bobbie bought the house, complete with contents for his son and ended his days dreaming of buying Blackpool Tower. I remember when I was about five or six always meeting him walking up and down the pavement outside the tower.
On the photo, on the right W.H.Williams central Annie Williams and on the left Bobbie Edwards. I wonder if anyone can identify the type of car. If it is a Rover, it would have been my Grandfather’s.

[rigsby]

that car is a standard vanguard carl , i always admired them as a kid and was always on at my dad to get one .cheers , dave

[harry_gill]

hiya,
Carl as you know I originate from the North West, and as a single young man and prior to the
breathaslyser one of our night out locations was Oldham where part of the evening was
always spent in a pub called Help the poor Struggler, very apt for a pub that was in the hands
of Albert Pierrpoint (spelling) the then hangman, now a chap you have afore mentioned Mister
Josef Locke no less turned up not as the “turn” I hasten to add but for another drink and by his
appearance having had “several” during the course of the day, he was en-route to Manchester
supposedly to do a show, instead he spent the evening (with his poor old manager) failing very
miserably to get him to his venue where he would have gotten paid instead he rather drunkenly
burst into song in Albert’s pub and went through his whole his repertoire of current songs, free
en gratia, to the delight of the regulars and visitors who thoroughly enjoyed the show myself
included, I can still hear him now, happy memories.
thanks harry, long retired.

[carl_williams]

rigsby:
that car is a standard vanguard carl , i always admired them as a kid and was always on at my dad to get one .cheers , dave

Thanks, Dave.

It obviously must have been Bobbie’s car, as from about 1926 my grandfather only run Rovers. I know that before moving to Blackpool Bobbie used to run a large American car. A little fat man in a huge car and he drove on the wrong side of the road only puling over when encountering an on coming car.

If Cattle Wagon Man reads this, if his father or grandfather nearly ran into a car in the Sedgbergh area travelling on the wrong side of the road, it probably would have been him making one of his frequent trips to Blackpool.

In any event the Standard Vangard looks new, and it was almost impossible to get new cars so soon after the war. I know doctors got priority, so he probably used his son to get him quick delivery

Carl

[barrie_hindmarch]

Just read your last post Carl the Standard Vanguard was produced long after the war I would assume the photo was taken in the late 50’s early 60’s it certainly was nothing like a Rover , either in appearance or status. regards Barrie.

[cattle_wagon_man]

Carl Williams:

rigsby:
that car is a standard vanguard carl , i always admired them as a kid and was always on at my dad to get one .cheers , dave

Thanks, Dave.

It obviously must have been Bobbie’s car, as from about 1926 my grandfather only run Rovers. I know that before moving to Blackpool Bobbie used to run a large American car. A little fat man in a huge car and he drove on the wrong side of the road only puling over when encountering an on coming car.

If Cattle Wagon Man reads this, if his father or grandfather nearly ran into a car in the Sedgbergh area travelling on the wrong side of the road, it probably would have been him making one of his frequent trips to Blackpool.

In any event the Standard Vangard looks new, and it was almost impossible to get new cars so soon after the war. I know doctors got priority, so he probably used his son to get him quick delivery

Carl

Hi “Carl” ,
Having just read about Bobbies driving antics ,..........my father reckoned the chap was American and forgotten hed left his homeland !!

Cheers , cattle wagon man.

[carl_williams]

harry_gill:
hiya,
Carl as you know I originate from the North West, and as a single young man and prior to the
breathaslyser one of our night out locations was Oldham where part of the evening was
always spent in a pub called Help the poor Struggler, very apt for a pub that was in the hands
of Albert Pierrpoint (spelling) the then hangman, now a chap you have afore mentioned Mister
Josef Locke no less turned up not as the “turn” I hasten to add but for another drink and by his
appearance having had “several” during the course of the day, he was en-route to Manchester
supposedly to do a show, instead he spent the evening (with his poor old manager) failing very
miserably to get him to his venue where he would have gotten paid instead he rather drunkenly
burst into song in Albert’s pub and went through his whole his repertoire of current songs, free
en gratia, to the delight of the regulars and visitors who thoroughly enjoyed the show myself
included, I can still hear him now, happy memories.
thanks harry, long retired.

Hi Harry

You were very lucky. I read on the internet that he was Britain’s highest paid entertainer, sold more records in UK than Bing Crosby and when ever he appeared sold out with disappointed fans unable to see him, and you saw him free, In fairness it says his two problems were drinking and taking a liking to young Chorus girls.

Talking about Albert Pierrpoint, my great uncle Jim, (my grandmother’s brother),who worked for us and has been mentioned on this thread, used to meet up with him, at The Big Jug in Claypath Durham, when he came to Durham to do a hanging. Anyone who reads this, who knew my uncle will remember him for his intelligence and drinking, and was a great conversationist. He said very few people would know this quiet man sitting on his own in the corner of the bar was the famous hangman.

Carl

[leylandlover]

Off topic a bit.sorry.I have a Joseph Locke lp.

[carl_williams]

Barrie Hindmarch:
Just read your last post Carl the Standard Vanguard was produced long after the war I would assume the photo was taken in the late 50’s early 60’s it certainly was nothing like a Rover , either in appearance or status. regards Barrie.

Hi Barrie,

You could be right. When I recon up I remember going to see May Edwards his elderly sister (Her maiden name) with my parents and it must have been about 1958. She also had moved to Blackpool during the war, and my parents were buying two houses, that she was renting out in Bryan Street Spennymoor, and as she didn’t intend to return she wanted rid of. I don’t know if you knew but Edwards had a garage round there where they kept their Albions before they moved to the bottom of Cheapside, where John West (Jewitts) subsequently opened Cheapside Motors (Compulsory purchased eventually to put road through). Apparently Edwards opened what was Spennymoor’s first bus service with a bus called The May Queen , named after the young May, and that bus was parked in garage in Bryan Street about 100 years ago.

Anyway May Edwards had a poodle dog, which influenced my parents to buy the first of four poodles (Born in Blackpool of course)

You were right about Rover cars. My grandfather had quite a few over the years. After having a lot of different makes, he got his first Rover in about 1928 and always had Rovers from then onwards. I once asked him why, and he said when he got his first it was so much better than anything he had owned before , and they never let him down. The only real disapointment was a new Rover 75 he bought in 1946. They had changed over to coil springs with this car and the first one to drive it was my dad, who came back and told his father that it was dangerous as he had nearly turned it over. My grandfather had said ‘Rubbish’ only later, to tell him he was right, and sold it a few month;s later to replace it with a second hand Rover 12. I have faint recolections of that car and another 12 he bought before he got his new 60 in 1955.

In 1940 he had ordered a black Rover 14 and dad and him went to collect it at Coventry. Dad said Rover had stopped production because of the war and they waited as a Midnight blue Rover 14 pulled round. Dad said it was absolutly beautiful, but not black. Granddad had gone mad saying he wanted black and try as he may dad could not disuade him. They said they hadn’t got a black one and were not producing any cars for the foreseable future because of the war. Eventually they agreed to give him a new 16, no doubt at the same price, knowing my grandfather, Dad said they put the number plates on that were for a Rover 14 as was the tax disk, with a letter from Rover explaining what had happened.

Apparently he had ran this car right through the war, until he got the new 75, and by that time it had done well in excess of 100,000 miles Unusual for a car in those days), particularly as it never had anything done to the engine appart from oil changes. It was in the garage at Marmaduke Street, waiting to be sold when he got the 75 and dad said with the two next to each other you could not hear the older car ticking over, as the engine was so smooth, and the new car was as rough as could be.

Carl

[barrie_hindmarch]

Hi Carl.
On the subject of your Grandfather’s Rovers, I remember the Black one from when I was a young lad playing football in the street and the countless number of times we could have been run over because we didn’t hear it coming. My Father used to describe it as the poor man’s Rolls Royce. Your mention of your parent’s Poodles reminded me of the time that one of them strayed into our yard and the large Black guard dog savaged it somewhat, I believe it was called Coco and when I apologised to your father he replied that it should not have been off the leash and that our dog was only protecting it’s territory. Your mention of Jewitts garage reminded me of when it was Edwards . They had a fitter called Jack Fairclough who often visited my Dad to borrow a certain spanner which apparently they did not have. His younger fitter was called Tommy Atkinson and I only found out many years later that I was employing his Son Gavin as an apprentice fitter.
Regards Barrie

[carl_williams]

Barrie Hindmarch:
Hi Carl.
On the subject of your Grandfather’s Rovers, I remember the Black one from when I was a young lad playing football in the street and the countless number of times we could have been run over because we didn’t hear it coming. My Father used to describe it as the poor man’s Rolls Royce. Your mention of your parent’s Poodles reminded me of the time that one of them strayed into our yard and the large Black guard dog savaged it somewhat, I believe it was called Coco and when I apologised to your father he replied that it should not have been off the leash and that our dog was only protecting it’s territory. Your mention of Jewitts garage reminded me of when it was Edwards . They had a fitter called Jack Fairclough who often visited my Dad to borrow a certain spanner which apparently they did not have. His younger fitter was called Tommy Atkinson and I only found out many years later that I was employing his Son Gavin as an apprentice fitter.
Regards Barrie

Hi Barry.

Coco went on to live until he was 16 years old , so it mustn’t have done him too much long term harm, but your dog was something so different, No dog could have done its job better. It must have lived long, or did you get a second that was as violent. In those days in Marmaduke Street, things were so different, with everyone helping each other. As well as both of our businesses, and as you mention Edward’s round the corner, we had Howe’s up the road, and Grays Leomonade, round the corner on Low Grange Road, before they moved to the new factory on Dobby’s bank.

I wouldn’t like to have to count the number of times I have gone down to the Essoldo (Tivily) to meet Howe’s bus as they brought us parts back from Newcastle, much quicker than we could make the return journey.

Here is a photo of one of your vans. I would be interested how you found Mercedes compared with the Bedfords you ran for so may years. In our last three years we bought 9 Mercedes and in fairness we never ran them long enough to form an opinion, but the drivers were not too keen, calling them tin cabs, but in fairness they had come off Bedford/ Marsden integrals with ‘sleeper cabs’ which were in a completely different class, but much more expensive.With the Mercedes we managed to get a competitive price on chassis/cabs, but the box van/curtain sider bodes were much cheaper

Carl

[barrie_hindmarch]

Hi Carl.
The guard dog I spoke of was sixteen and a half year old when sadly I had to have him put to sleep. As you said he was a very reliable asset as far as security was concerned and very few people ever entered our premises without him giving mouth as my Father would have said. Because of the high value traffic that we handled our premises were frequently checked at night by the police .One night my mother was awoken by the dog barking and duly told my father who went out into the yard to discover a young policeman cowering behind the diesel tank and the dog just about to bite him. It was obvious that the young man had never checked our premises before and my father lost no time telling him in future to do his check from the street. I found later that the regular Bobbies had not told the lad about the dog as a prank.
As you know like your business we operated Bedfords , indeed my Father bought one of the first Bedfords in the area at Kelvin Hall Glasgow just after the change of name from Chevrolet. Our move to Mercedes came about with the demise of Bedford following the Government awarding the vehicle supply contract to Leyland Daf. I found the Mercedes vehicles to be very reliable , an example being an 814 7.5 tonne E913 KPY which had over 1 million miles on the clock when we sold it and still had the original clutch which when you consider the stop start nature of our business speaks volumes . I can honestly say that when due to non availability of a suitable Bedford chassis I made the worst purchase of my business career when I bought the dreaded Commer Commando SUP 586M.