I think I might be looking back with rose tinted spectacles. I suppose that over the years we tend to forget the bad and remember the good but even so, it seems to me we had a lot of fun at work fifty years ago. There was always a funny story doing the rounds and nowhere was this more true than at West Marton Dairies. The dairy was fully integrated with the village so we got a double dose.
One day we were treated to a group of ducks waddling down the road with small Union flags tied to their tails. It turned out it was Ruth Ashworth's birthday, they farmed at Bail Farm in the village. Harry Addyman who ran the village shop with his wife and was Marshall's pig man at the top of the dairy yard, had a well developed sense of humour and had decided something ought to be done to celebrate the day! He always had a story ready for you and I remember him telling me one day that Ruth's terrier dog was either smart or lazy. It carried a different leg each day, I've seen dogs do this with one leg occasionally but this one was peculiar in that it did it regularly.
Marshall's who had a big pig farm at Bradley near Skipton had taken over the piggery which was originally started by Gilbert Nelson as a waste disposal facility for the new dairy he founded. They were contractors to all the local schools and many hotels and restaurants, picking up waste and left over food, pig swill. This was boiled up with barley meal and fed to the pigs and my word they did well off it! This has all been stopped now following a big Foot and Mouth outbreak in 2001 which was thought to have been caused by swill not being sterilized properly. A great shame and and the loss of a valuable animal feed stuff, I always thought we could do better than this. Harry boiled swill at Marton using steam from the dairy boiler and when he was doing this it smelled lovely.
Another character at Marton was Jack Brown, the plumber. A lovely bloke who died suddenly one night at home as he sat in his chair. One day David Peacock, who ran the dairy, told Jack he wanted a word with him. This was at going home time and after waiting a few minutes Jack got fed up and went back to Barlick to pick his wife up from the mill where she worked. The following morning David button-holed Jack and asked him why he hadn't waited for him. Jack said “Sorry Mr Peacock but I'm more flayed of the wife than I am of thee!” David had to turn away to hide the fact he was dying to burst out laughing.
No, it's not just rose coloured spectacles... I defy anyone not to be amused by down to earth humour like that!
Pic from West Marton, taken 1950. Sent to me by Harry Widdup in Feb 2004. Back, L to R ? ? Eddy Lancaster, Doris Rushton, Brian Smith. Front row; Elizabeth Iveson and Harry Widdup.
Info from Leonora Hodgon in July 2004 that the two lasses on the left on the back row were students from Denmark or Sweden on work experience at the dairy.
