RESPONSIBILITY

I also took on the role of ‘cellar man’ due to my father still keeping his 9 to 5 job with GPO telephones. 

September 1955, I was 11 and had started at the Grammar School at Boston. The school bus started and finished in our pub yard, I left home at about 7.45 am and arrived home just before 6 pm.

Every day after school I stacked all the shelves behind the bar with bottled beer and soft drinks, and then moved down to the cellar and ensured the barrelled beer was adequate and ‘fit’ for the next day’s potential clients. This involved tapping barrels before they were brought into use, inserting the tap through the bottom bunghole with the aid of a wooden mallet by striking it swiftly and cleanly to prevent any loss of beer through the bung as it was knocked inwards.

The beer then had time to settle again before being brought into use thereby preventing ‘cloudy beer’.

(It took ages to find a picture of proper beer barrels with two access holes. One in the top for venting and the hole at one end where the tap is fitted.)

The threaded end of the tap is connected to rigid and hinged galvanized pipes that lead up to the beer engine on the bar.

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June 1950 to July 1953 was the Korean War….when North Korean invaded South Korea…….

America and the UK went to the aid of the South Koreans and from all accounts,  it was a bloody and bitter fight.

After the end of the War, the tanks had obviously come back as scrap metal…….and I had the chance to investigate…..while Archie kept my parents occupied I had a couple of hours of unchecked exploration.

These tanks had been in battle and many come out the worse for it….but some were in fair condition and they were my target.

For a couple of hours, this nine-year-old was a tank commander, gunner,  and driver in turn. There were sufficient still with turrets and access the let the imagination run riot. 

Most were just piled up high and I suppose they were in a dangerous condition all in a big heap…..I did not give that a thought.

I disappeared for a couple of hours in another world.

Thank you for listening to our Buzzsprout audio stories.
You can follow many of these with added film and photographs as videos and slide shows
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WEB SITE CHANGE:  New Web site at  www.crackerbooks.fr

At the same time, Cracker Books have produced 10 complete page turning
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All the books are free to download to any device.
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Finally for lots of further information about what we publish and why 
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 The second option was far more interesting…..if a little more expensive cash-wise.

 The cost was actually a little higher than the all-road route, as remember petrol was still cheap.

 The ferry route was far quicker though, probably cut at least an hour off the journey time each way.   Much more if there were any roadworks hold-ups.

 It was also much more exciting, not just the ferry trip but getting on to the ferry at New Holland was like taking your car onto the big dipper at the fair.

 I jest not, it was truly heart-stopping,  especially in frosty or snowy weather.

 At the Hull end on the north bank of the River Humber,  everything was conventional and made of metal and strong and short and everything like that!

 Back on the South bank,  it was as if you had gone back into the middle ages before anyone had heard of steel or strong structures. 

 It was wooden and wobbly, with piles stuck into the mud attached to wooden crosspieces and lots and lots of planks that rattled along as you crossed them.

Thank you for listening to our Buzzsprout audio stories.
You can follow many of these with added film and photographs as videos and slide shows
on our YouTube Channel at  "cracker books on youtube".

WEB SITE CHANGE:  New Web site at  www.crackerbooks.fr

At the same time, Cracker Books have produced 10 complete page turning
e-books on their own Site.
All the books are free to download to any device.
Have a look at our bookcase and view all the book details.  http://online.flipbuilder.com/crackerbooks/

Finally for lots of further information about what we publish and why 
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 Back to travel, so you see we had to go to Scarborough every month to see Grandfather Munford.

 At that time my passion was for going over the “Transporter Bridge” at Middlesborough over the river Tees.

 It was very unusual and moved...every small boy’s dream. It had little railway crossing-type gates to stop your car from falling off the end of the moving deck! 

 As far as I can remember it did not go anywhere…..well not anywhere my parents wanted to go to. 

 I am sure locals to the bridge will see things far differently!

 The bridge has over the years been the subject of many amusing stories, the main one was when a gang of locals sold it to some gullible folk in America...it was only a story of course!

 So, whenever we set off to visit Scarborough, I requested going by Middlesborough. 

Thank you for listening to our Buzzsprout audio stories.
You can follow many of these with added film and photographs as videos and slide shows
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WEB SITE CHANGE:  New Web site at  www.crackerbooks.fr

At the same time, Cracker Books have produced 10 complete page turning
e-books on their own Site.
All the books are free to download to any device.
Have a look at our bookcase and view all the book details.  http://online.flipbuilder.com/crackerbooks/

Finally for lots of further information about what we publish and why 
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Around about the year 1999, the Heavy Horse Centre at Northcote was approached by the family of an old gentleman from Nottinghamshire who owned two Shire Horses.

I think it was the daughter who first contacted us and explained that these two horses were the pride and joy of her father..........but he was having difficulty in facing the fact that he was just getting too old to cope with their care.

They had been looking for a new home for the horses, but.............father was insistent that they would never be separated!

I explained that we had no problem with that. Once a horse came to Northcote it would remain for the rest of its life.

That was our principal at Northcote and we had managed to keep this principal since first opening our doors in 1989.

I went to Nottinghamshire to see the horses and meet their owner. 
I was able to satisfy him as to their future and the fact that they would always remain together and eventually May and her son William arrived at Northcote as a gift!

Thank you for listening to our Buzzsprout audio stories.
You can follow many of these with added film and photographs as videos and slide shows
on our YouTube Channel at  "cracker books on youtube".

WEB SITE CHANGE:  New Web site at  www.crackerbooks.fr

At the same time, Cracker Books have produced 10 complete page turning
e-books on their own Site.
All the books are free to download to any device.
Have a look at our bookcase and view all the book details.  http://online.flipbuilder.com/crackerbooks/

Finally for lots of further information about what we publish and why 
have a look at our website at  www.crackerbooks.fr