WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Wendyf]

We were treated to a free aerobatic display for a while this afternoon. After a bit of Googling I discovered that it was The Blades display team, performing at Cononley Gala, but very exciting for me weeding in the garden.

[PanBiker]

Saw them when we were in Carleton this afternoon Wendy, I think they were in transit though as they were heading towards Gargrave.

[Tripps]

Gobsmacked! I ordered a couple of perspex sheets yesterday for my current Amateur Radio construction project. I ordered from a firm in Essex round about tea time last night. I went with that particular supplier as they offered free postage, projected delivery date of 25th June. Postman has just delivered, 21 hours from when I placed the order!

Quite remarkable improvement in Royal Mail's performance since it was privatised, although it sounds as if the Saturday delivery is in jeopardy.

[PanBiker]

It was Royal Mail 24 according to the postage label on the package. It was free postage but price must be built into the goods ordered, less than £6.00 in my case so I'm quite happy with that. Perspex panels film coated on both sides so not substandard goods. Their postage cost will be swings and roundabouts no doubt. I might weigh my package and see what it costs on the online calculator.

[Wendyf]

"Saw them when we were in Carleton this afternoon Wendy, I think they were in transit though as they were heading towards Gargrave."
We must have been right on the edge of their circuit for the display and were treated to at least half a dozen (probably more) passes with a couple of rolls and a wing wave or two...

[Stanley]

High impact gardening..... Your own free air show!
What a blessing a good night in a soft bed is......

[Stanley]

The fact that my eye is bloodshot. I refuse to panic! I'll just keep an eye on it..... (The other one!)

[Tripps]

Thanks largely to Messr's Lindemans I have just bought a shuttle and pirn on ebay. Couldn't resist it as it was stamped "Bancroft England"
Is there any treatment available

[Stanley]

David, that's the name of the shuttle maker, not a sign it was used at Bancroft. Have a look at THIS for more information.
When I looked it up I found numerous references to Bancroft Shed, all traceable back to the site. Nice to know that it's documented thanks to all the work put in by Ian and Pluggy.
Thanks to the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, for once more attacking the scandal of low paid workers. (LINK) He is right, it is a scandal. What's the use of employment that doesn't pay a living wage? Even worse, he makes the point that the Government is the largest employer of minimum wage workers. I like the way he quoted what Churchill said in 1910 when he was President of the Board of Trade, he said it was a scandal that so many hard working people were unable to sustain their families on the low wages that were current. (He was a Liberal at the time....)

[Bodger]

Stanley, i bet you drove one of these bodies ?
http://jp29.org/wwmaketruck.htm

[Tizer]

Tripps, Stanley, if you look at the two comments at the end of that shuttle web page link you'll see that in addition to the Yorkshire Bancroft shuttlemakers there was one of the same name in Blackburn. My grandad was a master shuttlemaker and worked for Kirk's near Little Harwood, Blackburn. The story is that his friend, called Bancroft and also a shuttlemaker, wanted to set up his own business and asked grandad to join him in the venture. But grandad wasn't adventurous and enjoyed a stable family life so he declined, and Bancroft went ahead with launching his business. At that time Bancroft lived in Logwood Street, Blackburn, opposite Grandad and my Dad recalls the family having a big car and sometimes taking him with them when they went for trips to the coast. I think the Blackburn Bancroft shuttle factory was somewhere in the Furthergate area of the town.

[Tripps]

This is how the seller described it. . .

"A flying shuttle from Bancroft mill Barnoldswick, used in a cotton loom, a nice mill bygone, it has its original pirn in place, with cotton, stamped 'Bancroft England' 14" long"

I'll probably let him off. Might even try to get him to join the site and get educated.
He's from the Nelson / Burnley area.

[David Whipp]

What a coincidence about Tizer's grandad!

John Clarke (of Fernbank Mill) has been selling pirn pens for quite a while. Don't know if they are 'Bancroft's'.

Whilst out and about today, I noticed that the groundwork on the site off Valley Road is almost complete. Around 3,000m3 of peat replaced with recycled rubble where the roads are going to be.

[Stanley]

Bodge, never had side boards, just an open flat Loads were roped and sheeted to keep them in place, a skill all on its own. Ossie Tillies made cabs for AEC as well, not as good as the Park Royal ones like mine....
Those bottoms are soft river silt all the way down to Skipton Road.
End of drops to reduce pressure in eye. Good, they were the most painful!

[David Whipp]

I learned how to tie a waggoner's hitch when I worked in the warehouse at Lontex; the advent of ratchet straps was marvellous, but when I worked at the timber yard, we'd rope up as well as strap the load. "There's no such thing as spare rope," I was taught.

[Stanley]

I loved my ropes and knots and never lost a load.... Chains with eccentric tighteners were a good thing as well for heavy duty load securing, like high loads of timber. 8 courses of hay bales needed careful roping.....
I note that 'Jaws' Suarez has been up to his old snacking habits again! What is it with this bloke?

[David Whipp]

Given present girth, I think I should mention that I always liked to use a good belly rope to stop packs of timber shifting on a load. Our driver for many years at Skipton, Dennis Eggleston, was very wily... and may have given Stanley a good run for his money; "You've got to get up early to piss in a stoat's ear," he'd say.

I'd load Dennis with up to 20 odd drops across West Yorkshire. You had to balance the way the load would ride with a sensible order for the drops. We'd try and get away without having to sheet up, as it could double the time it took for unloading. But we couldn't avoid it when it was teeming down and the boss laid down the law.

The loads were a mixture of building sites, DIY shops, private houses - you name it. In the yard, we went to great care to prepare the packs for the individual drops, with anything delicate protected by rough sawn material around it. The sites might be taking a pack of floor boards and first fix and second fix stuff at the same time.

Before we got a hiab, Dennis's favourite tool was a putlog (or pudlock as I thought at the time). When I went out with him one day, I found out why...

On arrival at a site, he'd ask the foreman if he wanted him to unload on his own, rather than put some men onto it. Dennis would then ease the carefully prepared pack along the skids, using the putlog as a lever. Before long, the pack was on the ground; either in a shapeless heap if the bands held, or scattered over a wide area if not. A job that might have taken half an hour or more sorted in 5 minutes.

Dennis had spent most of his life working for Marshalls (a piggery) at Bradley. There wasn't alot he didn't tell me about pigswill...

[Stanley]

I must have known Dennis. I delivered skim milk to Marshall's at Bradley on a regular basis. They mixed swill, barley meal and skim in a big open boiler and made a lovely smelling porridge which the pigs loved. Every now and again the level of bones and discarded cutlery built up until the agitator was catching on it. Vera and I started married life with a full set of cutlery from that source! Funny thing is there were no teaspoons... They used to give me fresh pig liver as well. I called in at home and had it fried for breakfast, lovely stuff. Vera used to eat it raw as she was cutting it into strips.... Never seemed to do her any harm!

[David Whipp]

Dennis loved to do a bit of gurning and did quite a few stunts with his false teeth; made me laugh even after the thousandth time. Originally from South Yorkshire and worked on the railways for a time; he had some tales to tell about his life in the sidings. He was foreman at Marshall's when he finished.

[Stanley]

Just heard an interesting comment by a journalist connected with the phone hacking. He said that many of the cars used by celebrities have clandestine trackers fitted so that journalists can keep track of where they are.....

[Wendyf]

A nasty looking accident near the Lothersdale junction this morning, but nobody seemed to be hurt. It looked as if a car heading towards Colne had hit another car and the wall before turning on its side. Loads of police cars and even the air ambulance arrived, but it left again straight away. It's such a dangerous stretch of road which many people use as a race track and pulling out of the Lothersdale road (or our track) can be a dangerous thing to do. I don't pull out unless the road in both directions is clear as far as the eye can see...even then you can find a BMW or an Audi on your tail 5 seconds later!

[Stanley]

Sandbeds was always a temptation, especially if you had an under-powered, overloaded wagon! If you hit the bottom at Lothersdale road end fast enough you could save a couple of gear changes up the far side. Sorry Wendy....!
Why is it I feel uneasy about Rebekah Brooks being acquitted?

[Tizer]

Why is it I feel uneasy about Rebekah Brooks being acquitted?

See my comment in Cunning Wheezes:
http://www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/view ... 096#p58118

[Tripps]

"I'll probably let him off. Might even try to get him to join the site and get educated"

My Bancroft shuttle has just arrived, and wrapped in a full copy of the Daily Mail. I'm well pleased with it - just not sure what to do with it. I've been in touch with the seller who is from Burnley, and invited him to look at the site. He says he will.

[David Whipp]

The two car loads of summer bedding plants donated by Pendle's Parks' section to Barnoldswick in Bloom for brightening up Barlick.

There's a Community Action Evening from 6.30pm today (Thursday) meeting on the Town Square or at the Rainhall Centre. On Sunday, the Community Action Day is from 9.30am, again meeting on the square or at the Rainhall Centre.