The apple store that was punctured was at Faversham, not too far away from the M&S RDC. I have been there and it was a huge storage shed.
The half bushel box, which I think held about 20lb, was rare and normally only used for heavy fruit. We had a cherry orchard near where we lived and they were certainly used there. I remember in 1959, a year before I left school, going fruit picking for a week to earn a bit of pocket money. On the first day we had to pick damsons and I was told I would be paid £2 for every box (half bushel) I filled. Great I thought as I collected my ladder and made a start on the row I had been designated. I soon found out why I was being paid so much. It was a bad year for damsons. So few on the trees I soon finished my row and started on another. By mid afternoon we were finished. There were about ten pickers and everyone was peed off. I just managed to fill one box, some of the others had less. A poor return for all our hard work. However, we were promised better pickings for the rest of the week. We would be picking bramley apples but even though they were more plentiful I didn’t make my fortune.
cav551. You mentioned Mr Davidson’s farm. I think the hill was called Liverton Hill or something similar. The other farm you mentioned was Homesby Court. Their land backed onto Mansion Farm where my father worked but if you went another half mile or so up Windmill Hill beyond Homesby Court there used to be a narrow track going down on the left. Many many years ago there was a little old Kentish cottage down there. By the time I knew of its existence, when I was a young boy, there was only a few stones left amongst all the brambles and trees. My mother took me there one day and told me that’s where she was born together with her five sisters and six brothers. The family lived there whilst growing up but finally the old cottage became derelict and one November some local lads put a light to it.
Talking about the doors of the cold store. Yes, you couldn’t work anywhere near them without getting some of that blo-dy grease on your clothes.
Anybody remember a company called HGF - Home Grown Fruits,and did they have a place in Maldon Essex?
Chris Webb:
Anybody remember a company called HGF - Home Grown Fruits,and did they have a place in Maldon Essex?
Mitchell & Robertson were one of their preferred hauliers along with Francis Davis and a few others. We usually had a ten pallet load off them every day when they were busy. On one auspicious occasion John Mitchell arranged a football match. Mitchell & Robertson v HGF. They fielded a young healthy team many of whom played most weekends, where we on the other hand fielded a team made up of Malcolm Robertson, in goal, John Mitchell, Joe Mitchell, Norman Horsford, Peter and Ray Capon, myself and a few other drivers. How we rounded up eleven players I’ll never know, we were only a small company, fully expected the secretary to turn up in her short shorts to give us the edge but unfortunately that never happen.
I must admit I had hoped we could keep the score down to single figures but luckily, once it got to 10-0 they took pity on us and eased off. I think somebody on their team saw sense and realised they didn’t want to loose one of their preferred and favourite hauliers.
HGF… red and white striped boxes IIRC and possibly blue and white as well?
I got a phone call one Sunday morning from Jack Henley to say that he had taken on work for HGF which required him to supply someone to assist in running the warehouse at Wakely Bros farm at Otterham Quay, which had been chosen as a suitable point for a collection transfer base and he had selected me. He also mentioned that I had smashed up one of his lorries recently and he wasn’t especially pleased, therefore since I lived the nearest, I was to work from there the next day; there wasn’t really much to argue about!
On the Monday, from about 10.00 in the morning lorries soon started arriving from Francis Davis, Wakely Bros, Mitchell & Robertson, Henleys and others with the various farm pick ups. It was my job to ensure that the two farm staff fork lift drivers separated the fruit into variety, count etc and put it in the empty cold stores allocated for a few hours temporary storage. Drivers then either parked up, disappeared to do another collection, which either I or their own traffic office had given them, or made for the cafe on the A2 next to Spade Lane ( I forget the name of it back then). From 2pm onwards I would get several phone calls from Paddock Wood with details of what was to be put on Henley lorries either as part of the outgoing load or for consolidation at Paddock wood or Chartham. I was also given details of loads for the other hauliers. The rest of the day was spent loading.
The most difficult thing was that I had left my water wings at home, but over the following weeks I slowly got better and quicker at sorting things out with the excellent help I got from everyone. What was most noticeable was the terrific sense of us all being in this together, it didn’t matter which company drivers worked for, those waiting to load didn’t sit in their cabs but helped each other roping and sheeting or making up part pallets and the last two or three stayed behind to help tail end charlie. It was usually a very long day.
It was a relief to get back to driving a few months later.
Gingerfold,
Interesting about the gases used in fruit storage,the word INERT i had to look up,and it is a complex system[Wikipedia].
in 1965 my very first driving job [a commer noddy van] for a fruit wholesaler, they had a BANANA room with gas type lights all around the walls , to ripen the BANANA [ the old gas mantles very delicate used in houses,] they used to tell me not to hang around in there, i expect so i would not help myself.
20 ,+years later i would be loading BANANAS out of Sheerness delivering to southern ITALY RUNNING at +15, now BANANAS arrive chilled and sweaty in supermarkets in plastic BAGS i wonder what the ships cargo holds temperature are that they are carried at.
As years ago i was on meat carrying ships from ARGENTINA ,CHILLED not frozen, on hooks ,the same as trucks,but i had no idea of the transported temperature, above my status ,however i know gas was involved as [all] decks were WOOD no steel, in 1972 the same ship i was on ROYSTON GRANGE ,caught fire ,all hands lost,collided with a PETROL tanker,her cargo of chilled butter IGNITED the gas was a contributor as the GAS allegedly went through all the accommodation air conditioning i was finished at sea well before the accident in1972. pdb.
peggydeckboy:
Gingerfold,
Interesting about the gases used in fruit storage,the word INERT i had to look up,and it is a complex system[Wikipedia].in 1965 my very first driving job [a commer noddy van] for a fruit wholesaler, they had a BANANA room with gas type lights all around the walls , to ripen the BANANA [ the old gas mantles very delicate used in houses,] they used to tell me not to hang around in there, i expect so i would not help myself.
20 ,+years later i would be loading BANANAS out of Sheerness delivering to southern ITALY RUNNING at +15, now BANANAS arrive chilled and sweaty in supermarkets in plastic BAGS i wonder what the ships cargo holds temperature are that they are carried at.As years ago i was on meat carrying ships from ARGENTINA ,CHILLED not frozen, on hooks ,the same as trucks,but i had no idea of the transported temperature, above my status ,however i know gas was involved as [all] decks were WOOD no steel, in 1972 the same ship i was on ROYSTON GRANGE ,caught fire ,all hands lost,collided with a PETROL tanker,her cargo of chilled butter IGNITED the gas was a contributor as the GAS allegedly went through all the accommodation air conditioning i was finished at sea well before the accident in1972. pdb.
Interesting comments PDB about gas in the holds of ships. The temperature is still +15 for bananas, they don’t like cold, they turn black and mushy if the temperature is too low.
Gingerfold,I would not say gas was actually in the holds,however it was used to make the cooling system .
I remember the last two loads I did to Covent Garden, one was to the old market and the other to the new one.
I was working for Mitchell & Robertson and it would have been spring of 74. We were going through a slack period and I was in the yard washing the lorry and trying to find something to do. I had a flat trailer so obviously my Tautliner was off the road. I’d had an altercation with a bridge in Bristol so maybe it was during that period it was being repaired. Anyway, late morning Malcolm Robertson came and found me to say they had managed to find a 20 ton load of pears but it had to be delivered to Covent Garden by midnight at the latest. As I didn’t do nights Malcolm asked if I would do it before taking on the job. I could hardly say no so Malcolm trotted off to the office to confirm we would handle it. I said I would load it myself somewhere down near Hastings even though he said he could have it loaded for me.
I made my way up to London late evening and into the Garden. It was the first time I had taken an artic there and hoped it would be the last. Luckily for me I only had the one drop down Long Acre. The shop was one of the last down the Acre on the left hand side. I was the only one there that night and there was only one store man. A few hours later the last box was finally heading off down the rollers and soon after I was heading off home to get some well earned rest.
The very last load I did to Covent Garden was to the new one at Nine Elms which opened up in November 74. It was, I think March 75 that I delivered 20 tons of oranges there. I had three drops and I remember that one of our other drivers, Peter Capon was also delivering there. Once again, and it was the last time it happened, Malcolm had asked me to deliver during the night although I cant remember the reason. Two things stand out in my mind. One. It was the first and last time I entered the new Covent Garden Market and two, after doing two drops I was making my way to my third drop and hadn’t drawn my Tautliner sheets when one of the pallets of oranges tried to unload itself. I had oranges all over the road. I was frantically gathering them all up before they were run over. I managed to get them all back in their cartons and even got a clear signature when I finally delivered them. However, I vowed that would be my last time. I never let Malcolm talk me into delivering another load there, day or night.
During the late 1960s in Liverpool, a new wholesale fruit and vegetable market was built on the site
of the old Speedway track and stadium between Edge Lane and Prescot Road. Before that the fruit
and veg wholesalers and some retailers were on several sites on the streets not far from the centre of Liverpool.
A few sites that I can remember were Cazneau Street, Great Homer Street, Roe Street, and Queen Square.
These 4 pictures show Queen Square wholesale market from the days of horse and cart transport, right up
to the 1960s. Some of the names that I remember seeing in the new wholesale market at Edge Lane are
seen here, T. J. Poupart in picture 3, and Fitzpatricks in picture 4, their name sign is in huge letters at
the top of the building on the left. The two-tone estate car in picture 4 looks like a very rare Vauxhall Cresta.
Pictures from Bootle History Forum.
Ray Smyth
T J Poupart were very important customers for Mitchell & Robertson but although I was in Liverpool market many times it was J V White who I delivered to most. I did wonder if there was a tie up between the two of them or maybe its just the way the loads worked out. However, Malcolm Robertson was a fruit broker. He would buy or source mainly bramley apples from a number of small growers in the area and it was White’s who he supplied.
The photos arn’t mine but came from the web. The first one was taken outside J V White’s in Liverpool Market whilst the second one was taken in Birmingham Market, a pig of a place to work, I used to hate that market.
The third photo is interesting, a load of loose rhubarb! Not boxed or crated just loaded straight onto the back of a lorry. Think I would have liked sides on there to keep the load in place. The rhubarb was produced by ‘Brandy Carr Nurseries’ who are one of the countries largest producers. They have over one hundred varieties and a very interesting web site.
W. H. Colley & Sons Ltd were based at North Market in Liverpool, which I think was at Cazneau Street.
The first picture looks like the 1920s, The second picture is mid 1950s on Byrom Street, the start of
the A59 in the centre of Liverpool, showing a Liverpool Corporation tram, a W. H. Colley Bedford,
and a Ribble Leyland PD2 bus. Whether W. H. Colley moved to the then new Wholesale Fruit Market
at Edge Lane in the late 1960s, I do not know. Not my pictures.
When I worked for Mitchell & Robertson A & R J Woods were one of the companies we did loads for when our regular work dried up. Rates weren’t great but it was better than sitting around in the yard doing nothing.
cav551:
One of the local characters doing market work was the ever cheerful one-eyed Charlie who drove for G J Duncanson Ltd of Pympes Court Farm Tovil. Because the farm was situated along a narrow winding lane, which was a short cut into Maidstone from even quite early in the mornings, Charlie had muffled air horns fitted to his Mercedes 2421 six wheeler. .
I called in to Pympes Court Farm a couple of weeks ago. Charlie is still remembered fondly by some of the longer standing employees who reminded me that he was Charlie KEMBER. He died about three years ago having been in a retirement home for a couple of years following the death of his wife May.
coomsey:
0
Could that be one of Fletchers of Ibstock,taken over by BRS?
Victoria Street in the centre of Liverpool was one of several locations that
were occupied by Wholesale Fruit & Veg merchants. In addition to produce
from the nearby West Lancashire Plain, large volumes of fruit and vegetables
arrived at Liverpool Docks from Cyprus, Egypt, Ireland, and Spain.
This picture from 1936 from the Stewart Bale Collection.
Click picture for clearer image.
TJ Poupart
Just a bit of trivia, A good friend of my fathers had a General Haulage Business just a short walk from our yard, he popped in one late morning looking for a favour, he had bought two Commer Maxiloaders off of TJ Poupart in Covent Garden and they were ready to come home.
I went with him on the Underground to Covent Garden, always keen to drive something different, this would have been about 1976ish and I would have been in my mid 20’s.
They were two nice looking, tidy motors and I’m pretty sure they gave him good service iirc…