Web Page 1184
21st September 2013
Happy birthday Mrs. K for tomorrow!
Top Picture: A traditional Pickfords lorry
Bottom Picture: A heavy haulage unit
on the move
On the Move
In
my lifetime I have only moved house three times, once when I was 8 months old
from Newcastle upon Tyne to Portsmouth, then in 1967 Pam and I moved into a
flat in North End when we got married and then two years later we moved from
there to Gosport and here we have stuck. I know I am lucky not moving every few
years as some folks did. For example Pam moved from Bordon, to Weymouth, from
Weymouth to Newcastle upon Tyne (I had
already moved out by then), Newcastle to Reading then to Germany, back to
Southsea and onto Cosham and then with me to North End and Gosport. A total of
eight moves.
What prompted me to write about moving house was
that someone the other day mention what a trail it was in the 1950’s and 60’s
moving. The movers (usually Pickfords) arrived first thing in the morning,
ready to pack the lorry. They had already delivered a pile of tea chests so our
parents could start to pack away delicate things a few days before the big
move. The thing that I had forgotten that came up in conversation was that if
you were going to leave a house empty for a while, ie people were not moving in
straight away, the usual thing was to stick sheets of brown paper over the
insides of the windows so that no one could see in. Does anyone else remember
this I wonder?
Things today must be so much easier when moving.
Furniture is now much lighter wardrobes are not made of solid heavy wood and
very few people own a grand or upright piano that has to be moved on special
little trolleys these days. However a relation of Pam’s lived in Newcastle and
he had inherited his fathers large heavy safe (his father was in business),
which was kept under the stairs. When they came to move south to Telford the
removal company took one look at the safe and refused to move it so the
original makers of the safe had to be called in to actually move and reposition
the safe in the new house. This cost a small fortune. The gentleman in question
has recently passed on so when his son comes to sell the house he is going to
have the same problem all over again! Unless he sells the house with the
massive safe as a feature!
In our younger days the removal me arrived wearing
white bib aprons with a khaki storemans coat over the top and possibly a flat cap
as well. No sign of trainers or jeans. These were the days of the Pantechnicon
vans, this was a word originally used for horse drawn removal vans and a word
which seems to have been totally lost today.
Just looking back to Portsmouth in 1964 the city was
well served with Removal Company’s how many of these do you remember? Ashley’s
of Cosham (I knew Peter Ashley very well), George Blower of North End, Bridges
of Landport, Culverson, Charles Ellis and Curtiss &Co., Humphrey Brothers
all of Southsea. Manchip of Eastney and the North End Carriers. Pickfords,
Parham, Parrington & Morrow, Charles Taylor & Sons, H Watts &
Dowding, webs and White & Co. We were really spoilt for choice. There was
not the facility, in those days, for hiring a van and moving yourself although if you were moving a business the
local railway company would do it all for you. There is a marvellous British
Transport Film entitled ‘Farmer moving South’ where the LMS railway move every
thing from the kitchen table, the tractors and even the livestock from the
Yorkshire Dales down to another farm in West Sussex.
Then there were those mysterious places where
peoples furniture went, when it went into storage, places called Depositories.
We never used one but at one time around the City you could spot large
warehouses with the word ----------Depository on the side. Where have all these
gone now? Maybe people do not store furniture any more!
Just one other thing Pickford’s, who were later
bought out by British Road Services (BRS) but retained the distinctive dark
blue and white livery, were masters in heavy haulage. If a power station needed
a transformer moved Pickford’s had the high powered tractor unit and low loader
to do it and the maintained a vast stable of specialized units and trailers to
move items around the country.
The only moving I do now is things out of my loft
and off to the tip, I sincerely hope that I will not ever have to move house
again!
Keep in touch
Peter
You Write:
News and
Views:
On this day 21st
September 1960-1965.
On 21/09/1960
the number one single was Apache - The Shadows
and the number one album was Down Drury
Lane to Memory Lane - A Hundred and One Strings. The top rated TV show
was No Hiding Place (AR) and the
box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's
Division 1 champions.
On 21/09/1961
the number one single was Reach for the Stars / Climb Ev'ry
Mountain - Shirley Bassey. The top rated TV show was "Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash
was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's
money was worth £13.25. An Argentinian
swims English Channel both ways non-stop The big news story of the day
was Take Your Pick (AR)".
On 21/09/1962
the number one single was She's Not You
- Elvis Presley and the number one album was Best of Ball Barber & Bilk. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash
was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1
champions.
On 21/09/1963
the number one single was She Loves You - The Beatles
and the number one album was Please
Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash
was The Great Escape. A pound of
today's money was worth £12.64
and Liverpool were on the way to
becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On 21/09/1964
the number one single was You Really
Got Me - Kinks and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles.
The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash
was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's
Division 1 champions.
On 21/09/1965
the number one single was Make It Easy On Yourself - Walker
Brothers and the number one album was Help – The Beatles.
The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash
was The Sound of Music. A pound
of today's money was worth £11.69
and Liverpool were on the way to
becoming the Season's Division 1 Champions.
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