Memory of the month the way things were (Part One)

In this the first in a series of guest blogs by retired plant man William Peters, Bill as he is known to his friends tells us in his own words, about his early days in the plant game.

How I came to work for White’s

Circa 1967 I was working for  a small earthmoving and demolition company running a JCB 4C, a heavy machine with an A frame on the back and no levelling legs which could be tricky digging across sloping ground to get the trench vertical. I was sent with two lorries to the new Abham substation a large site of about eleven acres, which I seem to remember had been levelled and hard cored all over, the job priced by the cubic yard was to dig out foundations for all the pylons and transformers etc and remove all waste from site.  Being very close to Dartmoor it rains a lot and this was late winter early spring, it rained and rained every day, the lorries would go to the dump about two miles away get stuck and I’d have to tramp out there to pull them out and level the tip.

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Photo: Digger Man Blog archives. 

Because the sides of the holes were constantly falling in, the steelfixers would get all the reinforcing made up, I’d agree with the site agent the size of the hole then drop in the rebar and the concrete trucks would start pouring right away often two at a time.  This went on for two months and the boss didn’t come near the site until one Monday morning, he turns up and standing in one corner of the site he said “you don’t seem to have done much” well there was nothing to see except a few rebar sticking up, I said we’ve had a hard time we’re still making money and we’re doing our best, he replied “your best isn’t good enough” that was the worst thing he could have said as I’m a stickler for time and I always give it 100% so I replied “ lick em and stick em I’ll pick em up Friday” he stomped off and so did I.

Photo: Digger Man Blog archives. 

About 11 O’clock I went to see the site agent about another hole and in passing I said I’m finishing on Friday, he replied why’s that so I told him what had happened, he said he must be mad are you really going I said yes, “have you got a job” to which I replied no, “well he said I know a company who’s always looking for good operators I’ll give them a ring, getting through he said I’ve got a man here who can operate anything (not true then) looking for a job.  They said send him over and as it happened the yard was only a few miles away so at lunch I drove a lorry over there, the company secretary and Horace and Les White were in the office so I told them what had occurred, one said “but you are gainfully employed already”, I said I know but I’m finishing, right they said start on Monday we’ll find you a machine.

Thursday came and in comes the boss again twice in one week, I’ve got a new machine coming for you, have you I said, well get some other mug to drive it and walked away. Telephoning White’s late on Friday afternoon they said there was a Cat 955 in a quarry near Chudley be there at 07.00 on Monday, well I’d never seen one close up and never run anything with tracks so I nipped up there on Sunday morning to check it out and fortunately no donkey engine on it, I would have looked a real dummy if I couldn’t have started it. 

Photo: Digger Man Blog archives. 

Next day I got there at 06.30  got it going and ran it around a bit, soon a fleet of lorries arrived I asked a driver what the job was, he said rip up the overburden and load it away.  About 8 o’clock Les White showed up and watched me for while which was a bit nerve racking, then he came over and said you seem to be doing alright boy I’ll see you again sometime and off  he went, fuel and grease turned up later. Working for White’s changed my life as they gave me the chance to operate many different machines which enabled me to work abroad and although I earned a lot more elsewhere, White’s was the best company I ever worked for and with some good men and great camaraderie you were never just a number.

The Co-operator PS: For younger folks “lick em and stick em” refers to the old employment cards and NI stamps used to prove you had paid your contributions, pre the computer age.

The Digger Man Blog thanks Bill for this blog post and look forward to the next installment over the coming weeks.