THE FLATLEY DRYER

[Stanley]

Mention of the Coatesgate cafe reminds me of another occasion when I called in for a bacon butty and a pint of tea. As I was parking I saw a wagon making a very bad job of turning round on the large car park and he was such a bad driver he caught the fibre glass cab of the wagon next to him with the back end of his flat and made a right mess of it. He knew he's done it because he changed his mind and left the car park. I had got his number and went into the cafe and found the driver of the wagon that had been damaged and gave him all the details, I was so mad at the bloke who had done it, it could have been me! There was a sequel.... I was asked to give a written statement and got a nice letter from the owner of the haulage firm. He told me that they had gone after the offender and thanks to my statement had got full restitution.
Funny how shopping someone always makes you feel slightly guilty but there are times when it is the right thing to do....

[PanBiker]

He didn't have anything to hide then. Unlike the bloke that I had a tangle with, must have been sometime around 1979. I had just taken delivery of a brand new Ford Escort Estate in Midnight Blue. I had picked it up on Monday from Skippers at Burnley, driven it to the sign writers at Colne and then retrieved it from there on the Thursday. It was Thursday afternoon and I had jumped on a job in Skipton so that I could take my new baby out for a spin. The A59 was being straightened at the time from the Junction at Elsalck road end through to the Aire bridge. There were traffic lights on the S bends at Broughton and they were on red as I approached first in the queue. I had just put the handbrake on and had glanced in the rear view mirror just as an artic rear ended me at about 40 or 50 mph. It shunted me forwards through all the road signs and left my Escort looking like a Fiesta, it had 32 miles on the clock! The wagon driver that hit me was very apologetic but also shady about his details and after shifting the debris in front of what remained of my car jumped in the cab and buggered off. I got the reg and the name of the haulage firm off the tractor unit as he passed me. I went down to the phone box at the Bull and rang my boss who arranged for collection of my lovely write off and then came and picked me up. Turned out that the bloke who was driving had no HGV qualification and therefore no insurance, they wriggled a bit but didn't have a leg to stand on, it was a firm at Gargrave. Bloke who was driving got banned for 3 years, extra points for not giving details, and leaving the scene of an accident, a hefty fine and the sack.

On the Friday we ordered another Midnight Blue Escort Estate, I picked it up on Monday, took it to the sign writers at Colne, collected it on Thursday, but only drove it home, that one had 18 miles on the clock. VCW 494 V, belting motor, took us and the kids on loads of camping adventures. My lovely Escort met it's end in Plumbe Street in Burnley a number of years later, I had to pull in with smoke coming out from under the dash, I went into a shop to call the fire brigade as the flames started under the bonnet, it was completely gutted by the time the tender arrived.

[Stanley]

Fires can be terminal Ian! In the bad freeze of 1962 me and a another driver went to start our engines before breakfast so as to let them warm up. I started but he didn't, he arrived back a little later. We heard the fire engine pass and when we went back to the park his wagon was burned out. He had lit a 'little fire' under the sump to warm it up.....
Wagon loaded with wood broke down on the south side of the Chain Bridge to the north of Carlisle before the new road was put in. As the road was narrow at that point he lit a fire in the road to warn oncoming traffic. Good idea but too big and too close to his wagon! You've guessed it, total destruction!
Strangest cause of a vehicle fire I ever saw was a wagon that burned out on the A1 at Tinsley Viaduct in very dry weather. The fire brigade said it was a flapping corner on his sheet that had started it.

[Stanley]

I was reminded in my reading of 'Indoor Fireworks'. Does anyone else remember them? Small pellets that you put on a saucer and touched with a glowing bit of string, some turned into writhing coloured snakes and others into miniature volcanoes. All of them gave off large amounts of smoke.
I had a look on the web and they are still made.... "25 Indoor Fireworks. A total of 25 fireworks are included with the set:
4 x Curling Cobra On ignition, the tablet will continuously expand into a hissing, slithering, swirling cobra.
3 x Fire Bursts Exciting orange tinged fast strobing flash pellets. Sizzling Fire Bursts flash and sizzle away.
3 x Blaze of Glory Each tablet burns bright before bursting into swirling green flashes. An absolute anger
2 x Showtime Eruption Watch the volcano erupt with low smoke and bright silver sparks that shower out of the tube.
2 x Smokey Joes Ignite these smoking sticks and watch them puff, puff and puff away.
3 x Dancing Storm These pellets glow with a blue tinged flame before bursting into multiple bright flashes.
4 x Sizzle Sticks These good old-fashioned sparklers will add sparkle to any party. An absolute classic.
4 x Blazing Batons Closely resembling over-sized matchsticks, these burn long and bright with red flame effects.
CAT 1 - suitable for indoor use"
Those last ones, the Blazing Batons, were sold separately in boxes like normal matches and were called 'Bengal Lights'. I found this definition: "A bright blue flare prepared from nitre, sulphur, and the black sulphide of antimony; formerly used in signalling, but now chiefly as fireworks." It's thought that they got the name from the fact that Bengal was a major source of saltpetre.
If you fancy having a go they are there for the taking but be warned, you'll have indelible stains on your saucer and a very smoky atmosphere in the room! (They stink as well and the smoke makes you cough. Not mentioned in the adverts!)

[Stanley]

One of the big changes in dress for men has been the disappearance of the hat. Everyone wore a hat and they were a consistent component of school uniforms, caps for the lads and hats with brims for the girls.



My mate Newton as a young lad at school.

Most men wore either flat caps or, slightly further up the social scale, a Trilby. The bowler hat was de rigeur for office workers but also for the works foreman.



Newton's father Johnny always wore a bowler, I think the only time he took it off was in the home! It's significant that William Bracewell's by-name was 'Billycock', another name for the bowler. Look at almost any historical image and the majority of the men, if not all of them have hats. Today they are a rarity if you discount the hoodie!

[PanBiker]

I still wear a hat on occasion, there is a problem though that establishments that you may visit where you might sit down and stay for a while don't cater for them. Hat and coat racks are few and far between and seem to be limited to the more traditional up market establishments, their toilets will have brass fittings as well in my experience.

[Tizer]

My Blackburn grandad didn't like wearing hats and the only one he was seen in was a straw boater. I think he was like his father, James, who was called Gentleman Jim by the family. My dad was a bit of a dandy too. He always wanted me to be dressed up but I hated it and much preferred casual clothes whenever possible.

[Stanley]

Ian, you're right. When I took the ladies for lunch at the Cow and Calf on Ilkley Moor I was wearing my overcoat and a hat. They had to sleep on the floor, not a hatstand or coathook in the place!
I have a couple of fur felt Christie hats that need re-blocking and I ought to be looking for somewhere in the district that offers the service. It used to be common. Only place I can be sure of from memory is the Failsworth Hat Company but that's a bit too far away...... (LINK)

[Stanley]

Of late I have talked about the regrettable modern trend towards a 'Throw-away' culture. At the moment attention is being focussed on fashion with the rise of the 'fast fashion' like Boohoo. However as we all know the syndrome has been rife in household 'white goods' for many years.
There is a consequence to this attitude change. At one time the community supported a host of small repair shops like the vacuum cleaner man in Rainhall Road. You could go in there and either get a repair of a cleaner or buy the spares to use yourself if you have the skill. There was a washing machine shop in Nelson and I have got bearings and belts from him in the past to keep my washing machine on the road. I'm sure Ian could tell us of repairs to TV sets and radios that kept them on the road. In many cases the design has been changed so that maintenance is impossible.
This is why good ironmongers have vanished from our streets, the tinsmith is no more and where would you find a blacksmith now for heavier repairs? I was asking a mechanic about motor repairs on modern vehicles and he told me that they were none existent on some models. A computer diagnoses a fault and there is a plug-in module part you can change. Old fashioned maintenance and repair only survives with older vehicles such as the vintage and classic types and this is a very specialised market.
All this may make sense for the manufacturers, after all, they don't want their products to last forever. Problem is that it means we have lost a lot of useful jobs and transferable skills. I regret this and eventually we may find that it has damaged society beyond repair. This doesn't even start to take account of AI and Robotics..... A Brave New World?

[Big Kev]

I still wear a hat on occasion, there is a problem though that establishments that you may visit where you might sit down and stay for a while don't cater for them. Hat and coat racks are few and far between and seem to be limited to the more traditional up market establishments, their toilets will have brass fittings as well in my experience.

I too wear a hat, out of necessity most of the time, my head either gets cold or 'fries' in the sun. My collection contains a 'going out' Fedora, a leather 'Australian cowboy' hat, various flat caps, a very warm trapper and some thinsulate beanies

[PanBiker]

There was a washing machine shop in Nelson and I have got bearings and belts from him in the past to keep my washing machine on the road. I'm sure Ian could tell us of repairs to TV sets and radios that kept them on the road.

The repair shop on Every Street was our one time very own Andy Diamond (Andy Clayton for his Sunday name), Johns brother. Very talented squeeze box player (Nolic will know all of this) and a hairy horologist by his own admission, dabbled with his amateur radio licence at one time as well, lots of bows and lots of strings.

TV repair man, twenty years of field service in and out of folks houses for the majority of the time. I could write a book, I can recall peoples names now by picturing their living rooms and where the TV was sited. I have put one or two of my experiences up before, a rich seam of human contact.

[Stanley]

I'd forgotten that Ian!I remember in the 1960s at Hey Farm we had an open top Hotpoint washer with the central rotor and it developed a clunk in the top bearing. I had just bought my first lathe, an old and very worn Myford 7 and I made a bronze bush to replace the top bearing and made it like new again. Probably my first repair job using the lathe. I was King of the Hill and Vera's hero!
I was driving for Harrison's at the time and we had some high mileage wagons so we did all our repair work that didn't need specialised equipment. We thought nothing of coming in at dinnertime from a morning's work and relining the brakes or fitting a new head gasket. Most people who had a car with the old fashioned side valves knew how easy it was to lift the lid off and decoke the engine and fit a new gasket. It was a lot easier without the overhead valve gear and you could do the whole job easily in an hour.
We always worked on the principle that if someone could put it together we could take it to bits and it was quite amazing how fast we learned and how complex some of the jobs were. We even did clutches and gearbox repairs outside in the yard (we didn't have the luxury of a garage). I suspect that today this would be far more complicated and I know that it's even got to the point where manufacturers won't even supply an 'amateur' with the necessary spares.
We have lost something along the way and that's why it would never enter modern heads to attempt a repair. Hence the throw-away society.

[PanBiker]

My first motorbike the 250 Enfield Crusader had a warped head which led to the end of it's time with me. Copper gaskets were only available at Westerby's in Bradford but Charlie Schofield at Colne used to keep the cardboard ones. I used to carry a gallon of oil on the carrier and a gasket or two particularly when going to a rally. I have changed the head gasket at the side of the road on more than one occasion, happy but oily days, lots of handy lay-bys on the A1 then which was our main corridor for getting to the rallies.

[Stanley]

Ian, in your earlier motor bike post you mentioned the Tomato Dip cafe at Sandbeds. I was tramming daily into Keighley in those days with bottled milk and watched the bloke building that enormous new cafe with direct labour, mainly himself. I have an idea he had a cafe in a wooden hut (or was it a converted bus) on the side of the road there. I got the impression that he had built it far too big. I think it has transmogrified into a motel now. Further down the road near Connonley road end there was a shack at the side of the road that was also a blacksmith's shop. It was notable because he only had one arm. I see, during my trips to the hospital that it has now been rebuilt as a very swish bungalow.

[PanBiker]

The Tomato Dip after it was a transport cafe became "King Henry's Parlour" a restaurant style eating place, I think it's still in this role. The Hotel/Motel/Conference place next door a bit further along was built as Randall's in the first place, now called Rendezvous. and is a totally separate and different kettle of fish. I have been to various dinner events there and an odd wedding reception, they can put on a good do

Back to the Dip and before my time visiting I do believe it started life as a caravan or mobile job. By the 70's the stone built cafe was there and it was kitted out a bit like a 50's diner. It had vintage pinball tables in and did fast food or you could get decent plated trucker food if you were proper hungry. It also had a small restaurant on the side. It used to attract hundreds of bikers at the weekend. We used to hold our DDMCC motorbike club rally in the field opposite, it was all fields then. The Dip was convenient for catering for the masses. I'm going to put some pictures up when I have done a bit of scanning.

As a biker haunt, the burger van at Devils Bridge at Kirby Lonsdale has taken over for weekend and born again bikers. Last time I went up on my last bike I had a job to find somewhere to park up! I believe the mobile catering van (gold mine) changed hands as a business for well over £500,000 the last time it was sold.

[Wendyf]

We have been to the funeral of Col's 84 year old uncle this morning. He was a biker all his life and it was good to see a couple of classic bikes parked outside the crematorium and some equally classic elderly bikers at the funeral service.

[PanBiker]

Just had a look at the former Tomato Dip on Google Earth. Last time the Google car was round (2018) according to the annotation, it was, (is) Musafir Indian Restaurant and Bar. I think it has had a bit of an extension on the right as the car park at the side is not as big as it used to be.



I reckon the bit on the right is a relatively new extension. When it was the transport cafe the main building at the left had wide steps with double or quad doors into the cafe, we used to sit outside on the steps in summer. There was none of the shrubbery out front either just the low wall, you could park up in front as well. I'll see if I have any views of it from back in the 70's. I know I have some of our bike rallies in the field across.

[Stanley]

I used the Kendal Road regularly as well and there were always lots of bikers there at weekends even in the early 60s.....

[Stanley]

Talking about motor bikes reminds me that in the 1960s when there was no speed limit on the new M1 it was used as a high speed proving ground for what I suspect was probably the fastest production bike in the world. the Vincent Black Shadow. In the early morning hours it occasionally passed me doing well over 100mph! In those days the final test of the bikes was for a works rider to take them out for a very long high speed run. I once heard one of them talking about it and I think as far as he was concerned it was the best job in the world!
That lack of a speed limit wasn't good news for some firms.... Marley Tiles ran a fleet of old 8 leggers that were always loaded to the then maximum of 24 tons. The sustained flat out running on the motorway led to mechanical problems and more serious, the old cross ply tyres that were never designed for punishment like that. They very soon banned their older wagons from all motorways after some catastrophic blow-outs, they had to keep to the old roads.

[Wendyf]

Over 35 years ago I bought 2 1930's bentwood chairs at a wonderful junk yard in Prestonpans near Edinburgh for a couple of pounds. Today I bought a matching pair in Barlick for a bit more .... they look great around my kitchen table!

20190307_145811.jpg

[PanBiker]

Sally has one similar for her sewing chair. Were they from my mate Paul by any chance on Rainhall Road?

[Stanley]

They look good Wendy. Isn't it amazing how some designs are timeless. I wonder who made the first bentwood chair?
Which shop is that Ian?

[Wendyf]

Yes it was Ian, Rustique Creations & Antiques.

[Stanley]

[Big Kev]

I saw those in the shop, they look good. We've bought a few bits from Paul the latest being some coffee sacks. I've put a wooden frame inside one to make a wall hanging.

One of my favourite purchases is this pair of wooden giraffes


And here's the coffee sack