Scriv

Weren't a bad little job that; used to do a lot of crates up to East Mids Airport for the exporters. Another one I remember well from my days at Mayday was Randalls, the plumbers' merchants on George Street. And Fords, just round the corner; once you got in with them and could remember where all the shops were, they'd always ask for you to come back. Only downside was the crap hours, never any overtime; but it was a doddle of a job.

That Bampton Packaging Ian? Used to do a fair bit for them when I was on Mayday; they'd moved down Lenton Lane by then. Might even have driven that D Series Ford, they had one of those and a Cargo when I was there.

There is a long-established estate agency in Newport, Gwent called Crook and Blight! http://crookandblight.com/

The end result is that roads are now littered with broken ratchet straps, the hooks and tensioners of which are lethal to motorcycles. Everything now has to be secured to the loadbed; internal straps on curtainsider trailers are pretty much banned. VOSA, or DVSA as rhey're now called, are self-financing and much depends if you get pulled on how well you pass the attitude test. I got my first lessons at BRS Langley Mill about 1984; I was FLT driving there for Mayday.Liverpool trunk used to roll in 20 ton of John West tinned goods all stacked on pallets. Driver used to re

They're not damn well allowed to! Some great genius a few years ago decreed that roping and sheeting was no longer suitable for securing flatbed loads because (you're not going to believe this) the ropes haven't been individually strength tested. Anyoner who's done it (I could but would not claim to have ever mastered the art) knows that if it's done properly, you can tip the damn lorry upside down and shake it and nowt will move!

Dale was every bit as pleasant in person as his screen/radio persona suggested. During his Radio Trent days he was a regular for lunch at the Red Lion, Thurgarton where my mum was a waitress. She adored him for his charm and exquisite manners. It would be easy to dismiss him as just a nice guy but he knew his music too.

Legend has it that when Jack Stirland was in charge, any driver whom he saw leaving the yard with a dirty lorry was for the high jump when he got back.

The Clydesdale I occasionally drove for Clearways didn't have a lot of grunt in it, specially loaded to the gunwales with Glow-worm boiler parts!

I knew Jack and Margaret. He actually introduced my Mum and Dad to each other at a village dance not long after the war, they were long-time friends; our house was always Jack's last point of call on the milk round before he went back to Lowdham, as he usually had a cuppa with mum, and it was inevitably where anyone in the village who'd missed him would phone and ask for him to leave their order there for collection. Your father used to help him out sometimes during the school holidays. The tradition continued with Don Baldwin and later the Northern Dairies drivers Bill and Chuck for many year

Wrong school mate but i certainly knew "Pedro"; he taught maths at the Edward cludd school. Am i right in thinking your aunt married Jack Paling, who owned the dairy in Lowdham?

it always puzzled me how Fred managed it! He's not the lightest built of blokes is he?

He owns our great-uncle Bert's house which has been in the family for over a century. Really glad you mentioned hin because, purely on the offchance, after I saw your post I phoned him just now, caught him at home for once and we've just had a good natter and catch-up. He did ask if you owned a Caterham.

Yes, Richard (or Fred as we both know him) is my second cousin. Still in the motorsports business as far as I know; haven't spoken to him for a couple of years as like me he's rarely home.

Same era mate.As an aside, did you know that the old Hoveringham Gravels wrecker has been found? It's currently sitting in a field near Telford; it's available for sale, it does run but naturally requires a complete rebuild.I was rather tempted myself but, depsite naving a yard big enough to take it and the asking price being reasonable, I couldn't fit it in my barn and it would be a money pit too far.

The Grapes, that was the one I couldn't remember, thank you. Yes, I heard from Mike a few years ago, he and Judith (nee Reeves) live out in Norfolk. Her mother, Margaret, was my sister's godmother. The George and Dragon , as it then was, was the first pub I actually got served in back in 1976, just before it was taken over and re-named. I was at that time a fifth year at the Minster Grammar, would certainly have struggled to pass for 18 but the landlord was an old boy and despite needing a bit of persuasion i got my half of Magnet, all i could afford but it won me 50 pence off one

Understandable Phil; it was pretty much the "forgotten pub" of Southwell, not meaning that it was a dump or anything but it was about the only one that wasn't really on a main road. Southwell hasn't actually fared too badly for losing pubs compared to similar towns of comparable size; happy to be corrected but only the Shoulder of Mutton and one other further down Westgate (whose name escapes me) have closed permanently in my memory. There was the Portfield on King street but I think that closed before my drinking years started; for a few years I lived near there in the flat above

That would've been the Newcastle Arms when you visited. If my memory serves me correctly, originally a Shippo's pub; I only ever went in there a few times when i lived in Southwell, preferred the Rodney.

She is indeed, I get updates from friends in Thurgarton. I'm in touch with Richard but haven't heard from the rest since just after my Dad died.

We may have met then Phil, I was about then. Do you remember Ernie who used to be the landlord at the Coach, notorious for having to be surgically removed from his stool behind the bar if you wanted serving? If you went in the Waggon you may well have met my late uncle, Ron Winn, who contributed quite generously over the years towards the pub's upkeep! You're right about Geoff Sale. It was never the same after he knocked the place about, ruined what atmosphere it ever had; which quite frankly wasn't much. The Moon was always a good pub; being a real ale man I preferred

The Coach has been gone for a few years; it's now been re-developed into housing. I'm saddened but not really surprised to hear that the Red Lion has closed, it was part of my life for many years. My mother and father both worked there part-time, mum as cleaner and dad as gardener and Saturday night glass collector and pot washer. I too earned a few bob there, both casual as a scholl kid and later as a full time barman after I came out of the Army. I can truthfully say that I've been going in there since 1963, as Mum used to take me with her before I went to school, we only lived across the ro

As indeed is a fag lighter and an ashtray!

Slightly off-topic; but one of the big selling points of early 1970's Japanese cars was that they came fully equpped with stuff like radio, fag lighter, heated rear window and all the stuff that buyers of British cars had to fork out extra for. The most ridiculous fad was during the mid 1970's when there was a "race to the bottom" amongst the likes of Ford and vauxhall for the "economy" models, some of which even lacked a passenger sun visor. I say ridiculous because they actually cost more to make.

By the time I got into driving, heaters were pretty much standard though their efficiency was often suspect. Mention of the draught created by a perished gear lever gaiter, though, brought back memories of a minor disaster when I was working for Rainbows of Southwell. In those days (late 1980's) I was an occasional pipe smoker; Rainbow's fleet was exclusively Bedford, and as anyone who's ever driven a TK will know, there is nowhere on the dashboard to rest a pipe once it's gone out; not unless you want it on the cab floor within seconds. My pipe died on me one day whilst trundling along t

Thank you very much for that gents. I had feared that my memory was playing tricks with me!

I don't look in here very often these days but would like to add my condolences. Firbeck and I were politically diametrically opposed but shared interests in the military, trains and cricket would almost certainly have overcome that had we ever met in person. RIP.