Hi Paul, With regard to the Military and Police work that we did for Remploy Frontline,
In 2003, Remploy at Clydebank got some work which would take 6 months to complete.
A company called Highmark in Dromara, Co.Down had a job to produce 24000 anti-stab
vests for Strathclyde Police, in 7 sizes for male and female officers. Highmark were at
that time very busy, so they subbed it out to Remploy at Clydebank. It involved taking
the “Pre-cut fabric parts” from Remploy CCU (Central Cutting Unit) at West Float in
Birkenhead, up to Clydebank, and within about a week, the first batch of vests were
ready for delivery. For the next 6 months, whichever driver set off to Clydebank on
Monday morning would deliver the “Cut Parts”, and then spend the rest of the week
delivering complete anti-stab vests to every main Police Station of Strathclyde Police.
On Friday morning, the driver would load Anti-Gas suits for the Military, usually for M.O.D.
at Bicester, or Royal Navy at Portsmouth, and back home to Wigan Friday afternoon.
Kind Regards, Ray.
Can I please borrow the D.Sharp and Platt Bridge pictures ■■.
I bought a 7.5T Ford cargo curtainsider in those orange colours from a dealer in Audenshaw in 89/90, A458JEH I think. Ran it for about 3 years, good little workhorse, I had to do a fair bit of welding on the cab eventually though.
Remploy Textiles factories produced various clothing products for the Military and the Police.
This is my Mercedes Benz Sprinter van doing a delivery of Counter Terrorism garments to
British Transport Police in Tavistock Place, London, in June, 2005. A few weeks later, and just to
the left of this picture is Tavistock Square, where the London Transport double deck bus was
blown up by a suicide bomber. The Police Constable in the picture is Neville Lazonby.
At the time of the explosion, Neville was just arriving for work. He and several other officers
remained on duty for the next 36 hours, working in shifts to help the injured people
Neville and his colleagues recieved a commendation for their efforts.
From 1995 until 2012, my main source of work was from the specialist textile section of Remploy Ltd, later to become Remploy Frontline,
producing anti-gas suits and equipment for the Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Police, Fire Service, & Ambulance Service in the UK.
It involved delivering to, and collecting from over 30 of their textile factories as far apart as Aberdeen and Dundee in Scotland, and
Penzance and Redruth in Cornwall and delivering the finished products to the above authorities. I delivered to almost all of the factories
involved, but I cant recall where this location was. The 2 pictures were taken by Joe Rutter, a driver who was with me for 25 years,
and he cant remember this location. He thinks it may be one of the Scottish factories.
In 1999, Remploy Ltd produced a book showing the history of the company which was formed
in 1945 to care for and provide suitable employment for mainly military personnel who had
returned from World War 2 with injuries and disabilities. Factories were established throughout
the United Kingdom from Aberdeen in the North to Penzance in the South, the first factory was
at Bridgend in South Wales. In the picture is one of the DAF drawbar lorries in the latest livery
in the 1990s. Remploy Ltd was my main source of work from 1995 until 2012, carrying components
and finished goods between their factories and also to Military and Police locations the length
and breadth of the UK. Two of my lorries are seen in the third picture. Click pictures to enlarge.
moomooland:
Thanks for the comments Ray no probs regarding the Atki pictures.
matamoros:
I bought a 7.5T Ford cargo curtainsider in those orange colours from a dealer in Audenshaw in 89/90, A458JEH I think. Ran it for about 3 years, good little workhorse, I had to do a fair bit of welding on the cab eventually though.
They ran loads of those Ford Cargo’s of all shapes and sizes across the country.
I personally thought that orange and red livery was hideous.
0A yard shot taken in Ashton showing the fleet of Ford Cargo demountable four wheelers introduced into the fleet around 1981/2. All these vehicles would later be fitted with wind deflectors to improve their fuel economy.
Remember the Remploy trucks parked at the bottom of Oldham Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, the land is now bingo/retail park opposite IKEA. The metal framework collapsed while the retail units were under construction and this delayed opening and during the delay Kwik Save pulled out and some of the retail units were empty for years.
Hi Dean, Three very interesting pictures of Remploy from 1959. From 1995 through to 2012, my main source of
work was from Remploy, Textiles Frontline Division, delivering component garment parts to many of their factories
as far North as Aberdeen, and as far South as Penzance and Redruth in Cornwall on a weekly basis.
We also delivered the finished garments to many military sites, e.g. Aldeshot, Bicester, Faslane, Portsmouth, etc.
From approx 1995, because of the threat of terrorism, we delivered " Anti-Gas garments " and equipment to most
Police Forces throughout the U.K., also to NHS Ambulance and Fire Service locations. Other types of Remploy products
were Buoyancy Aids and Life Jackets, made by Remploy Marine at Leven in Fife, and also at Alder Hills Road at Poole.
This 17 tons G.V.W. Mercedes-Benz, N173 DWX, did just over 500 thousand miles from 2000 until 2010 on this work, driven
for all that time by Joe Rutter, who worked for me for 25 years until he retired aged 66.
Ray Smyth:
Hi Dean, Three very interesting pictures of Remploy from 1959. From 1995 through to 2012, my main source of
work was from Remploy, Textiles Frontline Division, delivering component garment parts to many of their factories
as far North as Aberdeen, and as far South as Penzance and Redruth in Cornwall on a weekly basis.
We also delivered the finished garments to many military sites, e.g. Aldeshot, Bicester, Faslane, Portsmouth, etc.
From approx 1995, because of the threat of terrorism, we delivered " Anti-Gas garments " and equipment to most
Police Forces throughout the U.K., also to NHS Ambulance and Fire Service locations. Other types of Remploy products
were Buoyancy Aids and Life Jackets, made by Remploy Marine at Leven in Fife, and also at Alder Hills Road at Poole.
This 17 tons G.V.W. Mercedes-Benz, N173 DWX, did just over 500 thousand miles from 2000 until 2010 on this work, driven
for all that time by Joe Rutter, who worked for me for 25 years until he retired aged 66.
Ray.
Happy days Ray,sounds like that brought back some memories.
moomooland:
Hi Dean,
Sent the article over to Tommy Burns who was transport manager at Remploy Oldham for many years and he was well impressed.
Thanks again matey.
I thought you might like that one Paul,will drop you a email later !
Hi Dean, Thank you for your comments. From soon after we started carrying for Remploy Frontline in 1995, we began to deliver
their specialised products, mainly " Counter Terrorism " garments and equipment to Army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force depots,
and also to several Government departments, as well as Police Forces, Ambulance and Fire Service locations throughout the UK.
One particular Government site was D.S.T.L. ( Defence, Science, & Technology Laboratory ) at Porton Down, Wiltshire. On arrival
there, you were photographed and accompanied by a civilian guard, and depending on what part of the site your delivery was
going to, you could be accompanied by an armed M.O.D Police Officer. The guard was instructed to be no more than 2 metres
away from the driver. The location later became The Health Protection Agency. I expect they have been busy lately because of Covid-19.
After a couple of years, and with a bit of info from my main contacts at Remploy Frontline head office at Birkenhead, I applied to
The M.O.D. for approval to carry for them. I wrote a letter to M.O.D. at Andover, and about 6 weeks later, I got a phone call from
a lady at Andover to say that she was coming to interview me on Monday at 1 pm. She arrived on time and she grilled me for about
40 minutes, after which she said " You are now an approved M.O.D. Carrier ". She went on to say that I was already approved before
she arrived, her department and other agencies like M I 5 & M I 6, and the legal system etc had sussed me out over the last 6 weeks
to see if I had a criminal record etc. I then had to sign several documents including The Official Secrets Act.
I learned earlier today that Tommy Tickle had passed away. Tommy was the Head Storekeeper
at the Remploy factory in Wigan, and was a great chap to work alongside for organising the
distribution to many Remploy factories and customers throughout the United Kingdom.
moomooland: With the help of retired transport manager Tommy Burns i have now started a website dedicated to the transport department of Remploy Ltd which was based at Borough Mill Neild Street Oldham. Over the coming weeks more pictures will be added to the site You can find the site by clickingHERE
Regards Paul
just looking at your pics ask tommy if he remembers w.jones of port talbot i done a bit with jones & w,north on remploy work , jones no longer in buisness we used to pull out of neath,swansea merthyr i worked with dai mclean, graham,johnny brimfield,cyril jones i remember the oldham depot
Hi there…I am Tom Burns’ daughter. For some reason I am unable to see the photographs in this thread and would love to show them to my Dad who is now 88 years old and unfortunately has Alzheimers disease and recently moved in to a care home. I am hoping they will bring back some happy memories for him.
Kind Regards
Cathryn
Hi there Cathryn,
This site has recently been given a new platform, and some older posts and pictures are not available at the moment, but we have been told they are being transferred over so will be available to all again.
As a stopgap, maybe some members seeing this will have Remploy pictures they could post again?
Fingers crossed for you!
Hi Catherine . This is John Dickson replying to your email, I am in Canada been here for forty years so I can’t really help you in this regard. You can tell Tommy I remember him a lot, he was a great guy, just great, I wish I could help you and him , I really do, I’ve not been on the site for over a year, now . Tell Tommy I wish him all the best, and wish I could help you with this, give him my best , all the best to you and yours , I hope someone can help you. Ok. John Dickson the Scotsman .
My Dad was a Remploy driver (Tony Palfrey) who lived in Swindon, he went to Oldham on a Monday to drop and swap a box and back on Tuesday, night out in i think it was called Granellies cafe parking in the lorry park, he did Hampshire/Dorset and the Isle Of Wight, as a kid i was always in his lorry and he had a new Ford D series reg number JLX887N i remember it well, who remembers him?
