JUST WONDERING IF ANYONE HAS ANY PICS OR MEMORIES OF THIS FIRM - WERE A BIG FLOWER/PLANT NURSERY/GROWER BASED IN CLACTON, ESSEX - CLOSED DOWN BACK IN THE LATE 80’S - REINCARNATED THEMSELVES UP IN SPALDING FOR A SHORT WHILE AFTER BUT DIDN’T LAST LONG - MY DAD USED TO DRIVE FOR THEM - ALWAYS SAID IT WAS THE BEST JOB HE EVER HAD !
Hi Dennis,I remember the name,they used to deliver plants into MFS Maltby for Littlewoods in the 70s and 80s.
Sorry,no photos though.
Used to go all over the UK and regularly back and forth to Aalsmeer in NL too - all the markets and garden centres galore ! Shame you’ve got no pics but perhaps someone else may have ! I’ll keep my fingers crossed ! 
'hi guys.i well remember ruaton gardens in clacton.coming as i do from clacton.i worked for the original[old]ruaton gardens in 1966 during school holidays picking tomatoes[bloody hard work for a pittance]the manager at that time was a dutchman,muller jansma,and i went to school with one of his children reinhart,the other was a girl marijka,both about 7 foot tall[like so many dutch]the foreman at that time was a man called bishop who’s son was also at tha same school as me.later it was changed to new ruaton gardens and they started delivering to all over.an old ex M.E. mate john martin worked in oman in the 70s and later went to work for ruaton as a delivery driver[there’s a picture of him in cola cowboys]at one time it was quite a big employer in clacton with a lot of holiday work.
now i’m old and living in lappland and the only tom’s i want to see are in the supermarket.best.mike sargent
Johnny Martin ! I remember that name ! Haven’t seen him for years - when Ruaton Gardens packed it in, he and my dad both went self employed and brought 8 wheel tippers - my dad with an old 1900 DAF and John with an even older Magirus Deutz if I remember correctly ! Those were the days - nearly 20 odd years ago now though ! Keep the blasts-from-the-past coming !!.. and some old pics would be good too …anyone !!
hi dennis.i dont know if i or your dad know each other but if he worked with john then maybe wer’e in the same age group[59]i know that new ruaton done flowers to holland as i lived there for over 25 years and done quite a bit of work out of alsmeer and rijnsburg flower markets and saw drivers with loads ex ruaton.if you are a local lad you may know a guy called chris massingham from little clacton.he is married to my cousin and i remember that he used to do nursery work when he had trucks.maybe he done loads for ruaton. 
i’ve lost touch a bit now as i live up in the arctic and dont get to the uk much now.it’s still snowing up here so wer’e still waiting for the flowers.take care mike
My dad is Andy and I think he started working for Ruaton’s in '77 until their demise in the late eighties. We know Chris Massingham well - in fact he and my dad both worked for Lemflora and a host of other firms who took the nursery over in the early '90’s. I still see him fairy often and he still lives locally ! Chris still has connections with the nursery I think but my dad now works for DSV and has done for a fair few years. A few other drivers names that I can remember were Nobby, Ernie, Bill and Paul (I think) with Chris and Pete Wilson in the workshops !
I should say that my name is not Dennis ! It’s Chris ! A long story !! …
hi dennis or chris.you sound like you could have worked on simon international with us in the 70s.we also had a lot of guys with aliases[maybe for a different reason though]i have just got home as i have been driving a 50ton tipper 1km underground in the mine in gällivare for the past 2 days.we had about 10cms of snow saturday here so the winter aint completely gone yet.if you see chris tell him to tell anne that michael sargent says hello and if she wants to go snowscootering or dogsledding then to get up here before she’s too geriatric 
do you have anything to do with chris’s sons an old friend of mine also done some work for chris before he died,tony saunders.take care mike
I’m Andy’s son, Chris - not a driver myself though ! The alias is just a nick-name, nothing more ! Will say hello to Chris the next time I see him - his son, Scott, now works for Transam Trucking I believe so look out for him at a pop concert near you !!
hi chris.thanks for replying.strange,i done a bit of work for trans am in the early 80s when i came back from living in afghanistan.i dont expect to see any tour trucks up here as we are too far north[i live 30kms above the arctic circle]and there are so few people here that it’s not viable for concerts and suchlike up here.we have more reindeer than people.whats the other son[is it aaron]doing and chris must be getting near to pension.i am 1yr younger than chris but now only work part time.i work 2 weeks then 1 week free and get more money than when i was working full time driving in europe so it’s not too bad.take care mike 
Yep, Chris’ other son is Aaron - he now owns a fishing boat and does chartered trips of the coast local to us. - I thought Chris was mid-fifties to be honest, about the same as my dad - both got plenty of years left in 'em yet !
hi chris.bloody strange again.when i was a teenager in clacton we also all had fishing boats.i think that a couple of old mates,steve barrett and lee bolingbroke still have boats although now they are bigger ones for chartering.chris was in the next class up from me so he must be 1yr older.i suppose i’m lucky that my house is on a river so i still get to do some fishing.it’s relaxing after driving 1km underground with a truck,also close by is a good salmon and trout lake so we don’t starve.take care mike