First day at work and end up with a horse.

[cuttsie]

Cuttsie- that's the best read i've had in years!!

 

You should turn your life story in to a book

 

 

 

Cheers, Biggsy

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

So following on from Mr John Hassle and his castles it was a case of being on the lump more or less permanently with jobs out at Dronfield on the big speck estates that were going up in that Town, the Contactors where Shaws a Sheffield firm and Wimpey's along with various others.

 

Around that time I started to work with a bricklayer called Ray Hartley and a hod carrier by the name of Graham Slinn,[sliinney or little Elvis] and we had a lucky break in getting work for a mysterious bloke called Colin Hustler.

 

When I say mysterious I do not mean that in any nasty way in fact quite the opposite ,

We were working on an estate of bungalows out at Bramley nr Rotherham and Colin more or less left us to it.

 

Perhaps once a month he would turn up in a Bentley or big Jag have a walk around the site and unusual for such a big contractor at that time find time to talk to us lads on site and discuss any problems we may have etc.

 

Colin Hustler unlike most lump builders at that time paid top rates for the job and by doing so got loyalty from the lads along with a good standard of work.

 

The site at Bramley was just below the Ball pub which we frequented after work along with a gang of Irish navvy's who also worked for Colin.

 

Now these Irish lads were fresh from the bogs of Ireland and were as rough and ready a mob as you could wish for but! they soon found out that Sheffielders could hold there own when it came to hard graft and hard play.

 

One of our mob was Bunny Deakin an hod carrier of some repute and strength.

Bunny lived [lives?] on the Gleadless Valley across from the Blackstock pub and is one of my early life heroes as I knew of him from a young age and heard many tales of his exploits from the older generation to me.

 

Any way when we started at Bramley we always thought that the tea tasted funny at break times and dinner .

We were discussing this with the site foreman one day and he laughed and told us that he never mashed in the cabin the reason being that Bunny Deakin boiled his kippers in the tea boiler.

 

We told one of the Irish lads about this and they had a go at Bunney the outcome being that they had dinner time scrap,this fight lasted a full hour and I am not talking about Marques of Queensbury rules but a full blooded Hollywood style rumble that ended with no clear winner but The Irish lads had met their match in Bunney Deakin.

 

Bunney was also A practical joker who would laugh at our gang struggling up onto the Scaffold with the big eight foot nine inch long concrete lintels he would push us out of the way and hoist the lintel onto his shoulder as though it was no weight at all.

 

One of the foremen on the job was a bit of a big head and Bunney would kid to him ,make him feel as though he was the smartest gaffer in the World ,He would also mash this foremans tea at lunch time and before he filled the pint mug with boiling water he would bell end it! .Bell ending it meant rubbing his wedding tackle around the mug edge and this caused us all to be doubled up with laughter as foreman drunk his tea while smiling at Bunney telling him that he was his favourite worker.

For any one who has never worked in the building trade then take it from me there were far worse things that could and would happen to any one who made themselves unpopular on site.

 

And about that time things got hot!

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:46 ----------

 

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

[/CO.

 

And about that time things got hot![/QUOT

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 22:29 ----------

 

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And about that time things got hot!

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:46 ----------

 

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

So following on from Mr John Hassle and his castles it was a case of being on the lump more or less permanently with jobs out at Dronfield on the big speck estates that were going up in that Town, the Contactors where Shaws a Sheffield firm and Wimpey's along with various others.

 

Around that time I started to work with a bricklayer called Ray Hartley and a hod carrier by the name of Graham Slinn,[sliinney or little Elvis] and we had a lucky break in getting work for a mysterious bloke called Colin Hustler.

 

When I say mysterious I do not mean that in any nasty way in fact quite the opposite ,

We were working on an estate of bungalows out at Bramley nr Rotherham and Colin more or less left us to it.

 

Perhaps once a month he would turn up in a Bentley or big Jag have a walk around the site and unusual for such a big contractor at that time find time to talk to us lads on site and discuss any problems we may have etc.

 

Colin Hustler unlike most lump builders at that time paid top rates for the job and by doing so got loyalty from the lads along with a good standard of work.

 

The site at Bramley was just below the Ball pub which we frequented after work along with a gang of Irish navvy's who also worked for Colin.

 

Now these Irish lads were fresh from the bogs of Ireland and were as rough and ready a mob as you could wish for but! they soon found out that Sheffielders could hold there own when it came to hard graft and hard play.

 

One of our mob was Bunny Deakin an hod carrier of some repute and strength.

Bunny lived [lives?] on the Gleadless Valley across from the Blackstock pub and is one of my early life heroes as I knew of him from a young age and heard many tales of his exploits from the older generation to me.

 

Any way when we started at Bramley we always thought that the tea tasted funny at break times and dinner .

We were discussing this with the site foreman one day and he laughed and told us that he never mashed in the cabin the reason being that Bunny Deakin boiled his kippers in the tea boiler.

 

We told one of the Irish lads about this and they had a go at Bunney the outcome being that they had dinner time scrap,this fight lasted a full hour and I am not talking about Marques of Queensbury rules but a full blooded Hollywood style rumble that ended with no clear winner but The Irish lads had met their match in Bunney Deakin.

 

Bunney was also A practical joker who would laugh at our gang struggling up onto the Scaffold with the big eight foot nine inch long concrete lintels he would push us out of the way and hoist the lintel onto his shoulder as though it was no weight at all.

 

One of the foremen on the job was a bit of a big head and Bunney would kid to him ,make him feel as though he was the smartest gaffer in the World ,He would also mash this foremans tea at lunch time and before he filled the pint mug with boiling water he would bell end it! .Bell ending it meant rubbing his wedding tackle around the mug edge and this caused us all to be doubled up with laughter as foreman drunk his tea while smiling at Bunney telling him that he was his favourite worker.

For any one who has never worked in the building trade then take it from me there were far worse things that could and would happen to any one who made themselves unpopular on site.

 

And about that time things got hot![/QUOT

Some how thread has duplicated.

Edited November 18, 2013 by cuttsie

[dafodil]

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

So following on from Mr John Hassle and his castles it was a case of being on the lump more or less permanently with jobs out at Dronfield on the big speck estates that were going up in that Town, the Contactors where Shaws a Sheffield firm and Wimpey's along with various others.

 

Around that time I started to work with a bricklayer called Ray Hartley and a hod carrier by the name of Graham Slinn,[sliinney or little Elvis] and we had a lucky break in getting work for a mysterious bloke called Colin Hustler.

 

When I say mysterious I do not mean that in any nasty way in fact quite the opposite ,

We were working on an estate of bungalows out at Bramley nr Rotherham and Colin more or less left us to it.

 

Perhaps once a month he would turn up in a Bentley or big Jag have a walk around the site and unusual for such a big contractor at that time find time to talk to us lads on site and discuss any problems we may have etc.

 

Colin Hustler unlike most lump builders at that time paid top rates for the job and by doing so got loyalty from the lads along with a good standard of work.

 

The site at Bramley was just below the Ball pub which we frequented after work along with a gang of Irish navvy's who also worked for Colin.

 

Now these Irish lads were fresh from the bogs of Ireland and were as rough and ready a mob as you could wish for but! they soon found out that Sheffielders could hold there own when it came to hard graft and hard play.

 

One of our mob was Bunny Deakin an hod carrier of some repute and strength.

Bunny lived [lives?] on the Gleadless Valley across from the Blackstock pub and is one of my early life heroes as I knew of him from a young age and heard many tales of his exploits from the older generation to me.

 

Any way when we started at Bramley we always thought that the tea tasted funny at break times and dinner .

We were discussing this with the site foreman one day and he laughed and told us that he never mashed in the cabin the reason being that Bunny Deakin boiled his kippers in the tea boiler.

 

We told one of the Irish lads about this and they had a go at Bunney the outcome being that they had dinner time scrap,this fight lasted a full hour and I am not talking about Marques of Queensbury rules but a full blooded Hollywood style rumble that ended with no clear winner but The Irish lads had met their match in Bunney Deakin.

 

Bunney was also A practical joker who would laugh at our gang struggling up onto the Scaffold with the big eight foot nine inch long concrete lintels he would push us out of the way and hoist the lintel onto his shoulder as though it was no weight at all.

 

One of the foremen on the job was a bit of a big head and Bunney would kid to him ,make him feel as though he was the smartest gaffer in the World ,He would also mash this foremans tea at lunch time and before he filled the pint mug with boiling water he would bell end it! .Bell ending it meant rubbing his wedding tackle around the mug edge and this caused us all to be doubled up with laughter as foreman drunk his tea while smiling at Bunney telling him that he was his favourite worker.

For any one who has never worked in the building trade then take it from me there were far worse things that could and would happen to any one who made themselves unpopular on site.

 

And about that time things got hot!

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:46 ----------

 

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

[/CO.

 

And about that time things got hot![/QUOT

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 22:29 ----------

 

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And about that time things got hot!

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:46 ----------

 

Some how thread has duplicated.

When I say to my friend from down South that I will mash her some tea she always has laugh .

she will when I show her the latest mashing method;)

[PeterR]

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

So following on from Mr John Hassle and his castles it was a case of being on the lump more or less permanently with jobs out at Dronfield on the big speck estates that were going up in that Town, the Contactors where Shaws a Sheffield firm and Wimpey's along with various others.

 

Around that time I started to work with a bricklayer called Ray Hartley and a hod carrier by the name of Graham Slinn,[sliinney or little Elvis] and we had a lucky break in getting work for a mysterious bloke called Colin Hustler.

 

When I say mysterious I do not mean that in any nasty way in fact quite the opposite ,

We were working on an estate of bungalows out at Bramley nr Rotherham and Colin more or less left us to it.

 

Perhaps once a month he would turn up in a Bentley or big Jag have a walk around the site and unusual for such a big contractor at that time find time to talk to us lads on site and discuss any problems we may have etc.

 

Colin Hustler unlike most lump builders at that time paid top rates for the job and by doing so got loyalty from the lads along with a good standard of work.

 

The site at Bramley was just below the Ball pub which we frequented after work along with a gang of Irish navvy's who also worked for Colin.

 

Now these Irish lads were fresh from the bogs of Ireland and were as rough and ready a mob as you could wish for but! they soon found out that Sheffielders could hold there own when it came to hard graft and hard play.

 

One of our mob was Bunny Deakin an hod carrier of some repute and strength.

Bunny lived [lives?] on the Gleadless Valley across from the Blackstock pub and is one of my early life heroes as I knew of him from a young age and heard many tales of his exploits from the older generation to me.

 

Any way when we started at Bramley we always thought that the tea tasted funny at break times and dinner .

We were discussing this with the site foreman one day and he laughed and told us that he never mashed in the cabin the reason being that Bunny Deakin boiled his kippers in the tea boiler.

 

We told one of the Irish lads about this and they had a go at Bunney the outcome being that they had dinner time scrap,this fight lasted a full hour and I am not talking about Marques of Queensbury rules but a full blooded Hollywood style rumble that ended with no clear winner but The Irish lads had met their match in Bunney Deakin.

 

Bunney was also A practical joker who would laugh at our gang struggling up onto the Scaffold with the big eight foot nine inch long concrete lintels he would push us out of the way and hoist the lintel onto his shoulder as though it was no weight at all.

 

One of the foremen on the job was a bit of a big head and Bunney would kid to him ,make him feel as though he was the smartest gaffer in the World ,He would also mash this foremans tea at lunch time and before he filled the pint mug with boiling water he would bell end it! .Bell ending it meant rubbing his wedding tackle around the mug edge and this caused us all to be doubled up with laughter as foreman drunk his tea while smiling at Bunney telling him that he was his favourite worker.

For any one who has never worked in the building trade then take it from me there were far worse things that could and would happen to any one who made themselves unpopular on site.

 

And about that time things got hot!

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:46 ----------

 

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

[/CO.

 

And about that time things got hot![/QUOT

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 22:29 ----------

 

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And about that time things got hot!

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:46 ----------

 

Some how thread has duplicated.

 

Hi cuttsie.

 

Wonder if you built my bungalows at Bramley then?? Moved into a two bed yellow brick and stone (effect) semi when it was about a year old, on Wayford Avenue in 1967. Moved away a couple of years later for a new semi chalet house at Aston as my children were increasing. Moved back in 1975 to a three bed det. bungalow, which was a few years old then, on Ranworth Road.

 

Regards, Peter.

Edited November 19, 2013 by PeterR

[cuttsie]

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

So following on from Mr John Hassle and his castles it was a case of being on the lump more or less permanently with jobs out at Dronfield on the big speck estates that were going up in that Town, the Contactors where Shaws a Sheffield firm and Wimpey's along with various others.

 

Around that time I started to work with a bricklayer called Ray Hartley and a hod carrier by the name of Graham Slinn,[sliinney or little Elvis] and we had a lucky break in getting work for a mysterious bloke called Colin Hustler.

 

When I say mysterious I do not mean that in any nasty way in fact quite the opposite ,

We were working on an estate of bungalows out at Bramley nr Rotherham and Colin more or less left us to it.

 

Perhaps once a month he would turn up in a Bentley or big Jag have a walk around the site and unusual for such a big contractor at that time find time to talk to us lads on site and discuss any problems we may have etc.

 

Colin Hustler unlike most lump builders at that time paid top rates for the job and by doing so got loyalty from the lads along with a good standard of work.

 

The site at Bramley was just below the Ball pub which we frequented after work along with a gang of Irish navvy's who also worked for Colin.

 

Now these Irish lads were fresh from the bogs of Ireland and were as rough and ready a mob as you could wish for but! they soon found out that Sheffielders could hold there own when it came to hard graft and hard play.

 

One of our mob was Bunny Deakin an hod carrier of some repute and strength.

Bunny lived [lives?] on the Gleadless Valley across from the Blackstock pub and is one of my early life heroes as I knew of him from a young age and heard many tales of his exploits from the older generation to me.

 

Any way when we started at Bramley we always thought that the tea tasted funny at break times and dinner .

We were discussing this with the site foreman one day and he laughed and told us that he never mashed in the cabin the reason being that Bunny Deakin boiled his kippers in the tea boiler.

 

We told one of the Irish lads about this and they had a go at Bunney the outcome being that they had dinner time scrap,this fight lasted a full hour and I am not talking about Marques of Queensbury rules but a full blooded Hollywood style rumble that ended with no clear winner but The Irish lads had met their match in Bunney Deakin.

 

Bunney was also A practical joker who would laugh at our gang struggling up onto the Scaffold with the big eight foot nine inch long concrete lintels he would push us out of the way and hoist the lintel onto his shoulder as though it was no weight at all.

 

One of the foremen on the job was a bit of a big head and Bunney would kid to him ,make him feel as though he was the smartest gaffer in the World ,He would also mash this foremans tea at lunch time and before he filled the pint mug with boiling water he would bell end it! .Bell ending it meant rubbing his wedding tackle around the mug edge and this caused us all to be doubled up with laughter as foreman drunk his tea while smiling at Bunney telling him that he was his favourite worker.

For any one who has never worked in the building trade then take it from me there were far worse things that could and would happen to any one who made themselves unpopular on site.

 

And about that time things got hot!

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:46 ----------

 

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

[/CO.

 

And about that time things got hot![/QUOT

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 22:29 ----------

 

 

Hi cuttsie.

 

Wonder if you built my bungalows at Bramley then?? Moved into a two bed yellow brick and stone (effect) semi when it was about a year old, on Wayford Avenue in 1967. Moved away a couple of years later for a new semi chalet house at Aston as my children were increasing. Moved back in 1975 to a three bed det. bungalow, which was a few years old then, on Ranworth Road.

 

Regards, Peter.

 

---------- Post added 19-11-2013 at 16:15 ----------

 

Probably did Peter ,We worked on most of the Estate.

As a matter of interest do you remember how much your bungalow was at that time.

[PeterR]

There is a book in all mankind Biggsy .

Cheers.

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:18 ----------

 

So following on from Mr John Hassle and his castles it was a case of being on the lump more or less permanently with jobs out at Dronfield on the big speck estates that were going up in that Town, the Contactors where Shaws a Sheffield firm and Wimpey's along with various others.

 

Around that time I started to work with a bricklayer called Ray Hartley and a hod carrier by the name of Graham Slinn,[sliinney or little Elvis] and we had a lucky break in getting work for a mysterious bloke called Colin Hustler.

 

When I say mysterious I do not mean that in any nasty way in fact quite the opposite ,

We were working on an estate of bungalows out at Bramley nr Rotherham and Colin more or less left us to it.

 

Perhaps once a month he would turn up in a Bentley or big Jag have a walk around the site and unusual for such a big contractor at that time find time to talk to us lads on site and discuss any problems we may have etc.

 

Colin Hustler unlike most lump builders at that time paid top rates for the job and by doing so got loyalty from the lads along with a good standard of work.

 

The site at Bramley was just below the Ball pub which we frequented after work along with a gang of Irish navvy's who also worked for Colin.

 

Now these Irish lads were fresh from the bogs of Ireland and were as rough and ready a mob as you could wish for but! they soon found out that Sheffielders could hold there own when it came to hard graft and hard play.

 

One of our mob was Bunny Deakin an hod carrier of some repute and strength.

Bunny lived [lives?] on the Gleadless Valley across from the Blackstock pub and is one of my early life heroes as I knew of him from a young age and heard many tales of his exploits from the older generation to me.

 

Any way when we started at Bramley we always thought that the tea tasted funny at break times and dinner .

We were discussing this with the site foreman one day and he laughed and told us that he never mashed in the cabin the reason being that Bunny Deakin boiled his kippers in the tea boiler.

 

We told one of the Irish lads about this and they had a go at Bunney the outcome being that they had dinner time scrap,this fight lasted a full hour and I am not talking about Marques of Queensbury rules but a full blooded Hollywood style rumble that ended with no clear winner but The Irish lads had met their match in Bunney Deakin.

 

Bunney was also A practical joker who would laugh at our gang struggling up onto the Scaffold with the big eight foot nine inch long concrete lintels he would push us out of the way and hoist the lintel onto his shoulder as though it was no weight at all.

 

One of the foremen on the job was a bit of a big head and Bunney would kid to him ,make him feel as though he was the smartest gaffer in the World ,He would also mash this foremans tea at lunch time and before he filled the pint mug with boiling water he would bell end it! .Bell ending it meant rubbing his wedding tackle around the mug edge and this caused us all to be doubled up with laughter as foreman drunk his tea while smiling at Bunney telling him that he was his favourite worker.

For any one who has never worked in the building trade then take it from me there were far worse things that could and would happen to any one who made themselves unpopular on site.

 

And about that time things got hot!

 

---------- Post added 18-11-2013 at 21:46 ----------

 

 

---------- Post added 19-11-2013 at 16:15 ----------

 

Probably did Peter ,We worked on most of the Estate.

As a matter of interest do you remember how much your bungalow was at that time.

 

I was brought up in Grimesthorpe and then Shiregreen. I worked at Firth Browns and had a Saturday job at John Banners in 1961 to earn money for HP on my Lambretta. Met my first wife, who lived at Bramley, there, hence the link, and got married in March '66. Lived for a year with my brother and sister-in-law at Ravenfield until I could get a mortgage. I therefore remember clearly that I paid £1200 for the semi bungalow on Wayford Avenue in 1967. Can't recall the price of the new Aston house, but sold it for £4500 in 1975 and immediately handed the same amount over for the bungalow on Ranworth Road.

Edited November 19, 2013 by PeterR

[cuttsie]

£1200 what a bargain and double what I paid for my terrace on Hoole Street at Walkley.

Around the same time as well.

[PeterR]

£1200 what a bargain and double what I paid for my terrace on Hoole Street at Walkley.

Around the same time as well.

 

I really think it was cuttsie. We had been looking at the old terraced houses on 'The Park' at Bramley and were amazed to come across an almost new semi bungalow at this price in the same village. The road still hadn't been tarmaced and I had to concrete the driveway (as you did then). Prices were much less than at Sheffield anyway. Had to have it! First time buyer and ready to go we snapped it up quickly! The view out front overlooked fields at the time. Same with the other bungalow. Both have lost the views to further property now.

Edited November 20, 2013 by PeterR

[cuttsie]

Some time around the mid sixties [i was now married and a dad] I met a bricklayer called Mick Colley who lived near me at Walkley.

While having a pint or three in the Freedom on South Road Mick told me that there was good money to be made at the shut down period in the Steelworks and so my career as a white worker started.

 

[The Shut down was the two week summer holiday period when the whole works closed for annual holidays.]

 

The difference between red and white bricklayers is that one is tight and the other is not.

 

This means that furnace work using white fireproof bricks must have very tight bed and cross joints whereas outside brickwork is built with a good size mortar bed and joint.

 

Anyway I visited the offices of King, Taudiven and Gregson on Scotland Street and after telling the setter on that I had built furnaces the length and breadth of England they told me to report to the English Steel plant the same night and start the 12 hour shifts that were being worked through out the shut down period .

 

It would have been obvious to the furnace men that I was a red worker, never the less I soon picked up the way that things were done in the building of furnaces and was working up to 90 hours a week on days and nights .

The money was coming out of my ears enabling me to buy an orange Ford Capri G..T. with vinyl roof ,go faster stripe, and alloy wheels.

 

After the English Steel job finished our team was despatched to York to build the furnaces at the National Glass company again it was 12 hour shifts and we were in lodgings .

 

The bricklayer I teamed up with was called C-----t and was a well known Sheffield boxer.

When we were on nights we would get back to the digs around six or six thirty in the morning and would get into the same bed that the departing day shift had just left[ talk about hygiene].

 

Anyway the boxer told me to wake him up at dinner time so as we could go for a pint and me being not a boxer complied!

The thing was when I gently shook his shoulder at dinner time he would spring up in bed landing punches and I soon learnt to duck and dive better than Brian London.

 

The first week in York we decided to hire a small rowing type boat with a little outboard motor on the stern, we would also get a crate of beer and gently float around on the river Ouse.

One day this lead to the an amazing experience.!

 

As we were going down stream a party of Japanese tourists were coming up stream in a large trip boat ,they were taking pictures and waving at all the passing traffic when my mate spotted them.

" look at them ------- nips" shouted my pal ," They tortured Albert Binney int ------- jungle" and he then started to throw empty Stoneses bottles in their direction.

 

Well all hell broke loose the Japanese were photographing and pointing at us, the Trip boat skipper was shouting at us over his loud speaker that he was calling the cops and to top it all our Out board motor got a rope around the prop and stopped.

 

We drifted under the Lendal Bridge that was now full of nosy sods who where watching the fun and we then came to a gentle rest of in all places the Trip boat landing stage .

 

My pal was not a bit fazed by all this and told all and sundry to do one while at the same time shouting at me to bring the beer crate.

 

That's when I became an International.

Edited November 26, 2013 by cuttsie

[Jim Hardie]

Some time around the mid sixties [i was now married and a dad] I met a bricklayer called Mick Colley who lived near me at Walkley.

While having a pint or three in the Freedom on South Road Mick told me that there was good money to be made at the shut down period in the Steelworks and so my career as a white worker started.

 

[The Shut down was the two week summer holiday period when the whole works closed for annual holidays.]

 

The difference between red and white bricklayers is that one is tight and the other is not.

 

This means that furnace work using white fireproof bricks must have very tight bed and cross joints whereas outside brickwork is built with a good size mortar bed and joint.

 

Anyway I visited the offices of King, Taudiven and Gregson on Scotland Street and after telling the setter on that I had built furnaces the length and breadth of England they told me to report to the English Steel plant the same night and start the 12 hour shifts that were being worked through out the shut down period .

 

It would have been obvious to the furnace men that I was a red worker, never the less I soon picked up the way that things were done in the building of furnaces and was working up to 90 hours a week on days and nights .

The money was coming out of my ears enabling me to buy an orange Ford Capri G..T. with vinyl roof ,go faster stripe, and alloy wheels.

 

After the English Steel job finished our team was despatched to York to build the furnaces at the National Glass company again it was 12 hour shifts and we were in lodgings .

 

The bricklayer I teamed up with was called C-----t and was a well known Sheffield boxer.

When we were on nights we would get back to the digs around six or six thirty in the morning and would get into the same bed that the departing day shift had just left[ talk about hygiene].

 

Anyway the boxer told me to wake him up at dinner time so as we could go for a pint and me being not a boxer complied!

The thing was when I gently shook his shoulder at dinner time he would spring up in bed landing punches and I soon learnt to duck and dive better than Brian London.

 

The first week in York we decided to hire a small rowing type boat with a little outboard motor on the stern, we would also get a crate of beer and gently float around on the river Ouse.

One day this lead to the an amazing experience.!

 

As we were going down stream a party of Japanese tourists were coming up stream in a large trip boat ,they were taking pictures and waving at all the passing traffic when my mate spotted them.

" look at them ------- nips" shouted my pal ," They tortured Albert Binney int ------- jungle" and he then started to throw empty Stoneses bottles in their direction.

 

Well all hell broke loose the Japanese were photographing and pointing at us, the Trip boat skipper was shouting at us over his loud speaker that he was calling the cops and to top it all our Out board motor got a rope around the prop and stopped.

 

We drifted under the Lendal Bridge that was now full of nosy sods who where watching the fun and we then came to a gentle rest of in all places the Trip boat landing stage .

 

My pal was not a bit fazed by all this and told all and sundry to do one while at the same time shouting at me to bring the beer crate.

 

That's when I became an International.

 

It's a good job you put the right number of dashes in B---y's name, cuttsie.

[cuttsie]

It's a good job you put the right number of dashes in B---y's name, cuttsie.

I thought the same Jim. Mind you the bricklayer in York was not Bunny but a member of a well known boxing family from the Darnall area.

People who know the boxing from that time will know who it may be.

 

By the way Albert Binney who I mentioned in that little story was also a boxer and a pal of mine.

Albert was a prisoner of the Japanese in the second World War and told me some shocking story's of his time as a prisoner in the Jungle . It just so happened that my mate in York let them know just how he felt about that period in recent history.