Last week I mentioned the Weir steam feed pump. Standard equipment in most boiler houses, it used live steam to pump water into the boiler against the steam pressure to make up for what was lost in the steam going out. Being steam driven, the cylinder at the top was always hot and every day Len brought a can of Maconochie's Irish Stew, pierced a hole in the lid and set it on the cylinder. By dinnertime it was piping hot and he scoffed it. I once asked him if he ever got fed up with the same thing every day but he said not. Len's pride and joy was his Hillman Minx car. It sat in the boiler house yard and if he had a spare minute he'd do a bit of cleaning and polishing. It was always immaculate.
One of the longest serving employees at the dairy was Percy Graham. He started work for the estate straight from school and for many years drove their wagon. When the dairy started he swapped over to driving for them. I don't know how old he was but I would say around 80 years. He did odd jobs round the place, filling in where needed and had a small Commer lorry that he alone used and did odd fetching and carrying jobs. One day he had been to Skipton for a length of heavy two inch steam pipe which overhung at the back by about four feet. When turning round in the yard he backed into Len's car but decided to say nothing. That night, as Len was driving back to Barlick to pick his wife up from the mill he noticed a draught on the back of his neck, stopped for an inspection and found a relatively neat hole punched through the panel between the back window and the side of the car! Needless to say there was a meaningful confrontation the following day and I have an idea the dairy paid for the repair.
Towards the end of the 1960s the dairy was rebuilt as a cheese factory and a new oil fired automatic boiler was installed. Len didn't fancy a part time job like that and so he left, I think he went to Long Ing Shed in Barlick as firebeater and I lost track of him. I have never forgotten him though because of the quiet way he did a difficult job without causing anyone any trouble. He was a perfect example of a man doing a dirty and thankless task which required more skill and intelligence than he was ever given credit for. I like man like that, they are the real working class heroes and I'm glad I got to know him. When I took over at Bancroft I remembered what I had learned from Len.... We were so much better off than him, we had a big boiler with automatic stokers and two furnaces but the principles we worked to were exactly what Len had to deal with on the tiny overworked boiler at Marton.
A Weir steam pump exactly like Len's at West Marton.
