John Bedford & Sons Ltd, Mowbray St. Neepsend

Hi again!

Hope everything is working out after your wife's stroke.

Is the trip on Hurtigruten still on this month?

I'll be away a couple of days next week but otherwise hope we can get together for a chat when you are in Bergen.

Geir

Don't suppose anyone can recall any product numbers from the Bedford catalogues.A colleague at work insists brick bolsters were code 400,but I disagree.

Hi Neil Memmott, Did you used to live on Upper Valley Road? and was there a Derek Memmott? My name is Ed Harvey, and I lived at 110 Rushdale Road, from 1942 to 1964, when we migrated to Melbourne Australia. I went to Carfield Primary, then to High Storrs Grammar. From U.V.Rd, I remember Ken Collis, Derek Billard, Raymond Steele, Brian Dale, Barry Ducker, Malcolm Wright. Malcolm was a close friend, and lived at 87 I think, next to Coopers on the corner. Have tried to locate Malcolm, but to no avail. Best wishes to you and yours. I hope you are keeping well. Kind Regards, Ed Harvey.

does anyone remember Horace Hinchliffe my grandad ? he left Bedford's around the early to mid 1970s

any one know geoff nuttall

is this any help there is a graham nutall lives on gleadless valley

I found this thread when researching John Bedford & Sons. My son was asking about my father (Ron Boyd) who appears in this thread. It was strange to see "made his bed, lie in it" not a comment I could ever think my father would say.

Ron Boyd was killed along with my mother in 1971 in an air crash.

Steven

I hope my comments regarding your Dad haven't caused any offence as that was not my intention at all. After all this time I am probably paraphrasing what I was told at the time by my then ex-Manager but the gist of it is essentially accurate. His view appeared to be that I had chosen to leave in the first place so couldn't expect to be able to walk straight back in as my new job was not what I had hoped.

I certainly bore him no grudge then, nor now.

I am sorry to learn of your parents' deaths espcially in those circumstances tooand only some months it seems after I had left Bedfords.

Regards

Chris

Chris (Emo924)

Rest assured you haven't caused any offence.

Looking at my comments again, I can see why you are concerned that you may have offended me.

I was only a child at the time of the accident. When I read your comments, it just reminded me that I have only childhood memories. After such a long passage of time my memories are very vague. I never knew my father through adult eyes.

I still have a few John Bedford spanners, in AF and Whitworth, not a lot of use now. Just sentimental value. He worked at Hamptons before Bedfords, I still have a Record vice, still going strong.

I remember the name Reid, I believe that was my Dads boss.

As a result of the accident my younger sister and I moved to Essex, which is where I stayed. I have no longer any family links with Sheffield, I still support Wednesday and usually go to the away local matches.

I visited Sheffield for the first time in over 30 years recently, trams again and where has the "hole in the road" gone? You'll be telling me that Redgates has gone,next LOL

Worked at bedfords as a needle point grinder also remember women who used to do loads a toast happy days

---------- Post added 08-06-2015 at 18:48 ----------

Worked there as a needle point grinder used to use cox,s cafe across road happy days

Steve

I am relieved about that - nevertheless I perhaps should have thought more and worded the comment a little better.

David Reid was indeed your father's and my boss. He had the office right next to ours and if things got a little boisterous which they were inclined to do on a Friday afternoon he would be out with a frown on his face to see what all the fuss was about.

I missed the opportunity to stock up on hand tools being less than far sighted but that said apart from hammers which I believe you can hit things with, the rest, spanners and wrenches etc would have been wasted on me.

It is frightening to think back and see how much Sheffield has changed, particularly the centre over the years - reminds us, well me, how old we have become.

Chris

Hi Marion,

 

Jean Langford of course, how could I forget Jean. I don't remember your sister though, probably after I left. My then sister in law had a short spell with us. She was useless so I sacked her. That went down like a lead balloon with the in laws. The weighbridge man was called Birkinshaw and it was George Baggley with his office opposite. I woke up about four this morning thinking about this lot.

There's so many names I remember which says something about the people we worked alongside, J Arnold Wade was one. We used to call him "The Jaw" after his initials either that or "The Manor Park Lip" after where he lived at that time and his harrassed assistant Ernest Oldfield aka "Longdrop" he was a tall un' was Ernest.

Another character was Ron Toseland with his red and gold trucks, he had some nice equipment (so to speak) had Ron.

 

N

Hello Neil,

"The Jaw" Arnold Wade was my Grandfather, he definitely was a character ! As was my "Uncle" Bernard Duffy....do you remeber him? I visited Beford Steels a couple of years ago to quote for the new office windows and as soon as I told them I was Arnolds Grandson I got a tour of the place met a fair few people who worked with him and heard a few funny tales from when he was there. They gave me all of his old retirement trinkets and old order ledgers he kept along with alot of photos of him. Some of these are where he was with henry Cooper on his visit to the steel works. I notice someone else has mentioned my Grandad and his capstan full strength cigarettes I remeber nicking these from his stash when i was at school. It'd be the only time my friends wouldn;t want to borrow a cigarette from me ! I'd love to hear any stories people can share of my Grandad I was a big fan of the guy although he scared the life out of me and my brother when we were younger, we didn;t dare put a foot wrong!

I remember Arnold Wade very well indeed. he was the best boss I ever had. He was grumpy, churlish and downright nasty on occasions, but if you ever were in need of help ( work or otherwise ) he totally changed, and you couldn't wish for any one better. My favourite story was in the Steelworkers strike when pickets were deployed to Bedford's Rolling Mills to discourage deliveries of steel . He was kindness itself, arranging for mugs of tea for all at regular intervals, finally persuading them that there was no need to picket Bedford's because he was in total sympathy with the strike. The pickets withdrew, and the same night steel was delivered to the Mill from an unknown source. No one ever suspected a thing.