Gilletts Bread.

[woodturner 10]

Hi Alan, my Dad worked for a short time at Gillotts Bread around 1950, he was based at Lyons Street. Did they have any other premises? I used to go with him in the van on a Saturday morning. I remember him turning up with a brand new Bedford one morning. I thought it was fantastic. This of course was the time when there weren't many vehicles around Grimesthorpe, let alone new ones! He was just filling in between working at Firth Vickers and the new Shepcote Lane Rolling Mills. Co-incidentally I did the same at Bells Bread based off Abbeydale Road, between jobs at Sheffield Smelting and Firth Browns. This was 1963 when I was 20.. Regards, Peter

Hi Peter

As far as I am aware Gillotts only had the Lyon Street premises, living so close our paths must have passed at some time in our lives. I used to take papers for Stinchcombes paper shop and we were both born in 1943. If you could send me your surname perhaps in a seperate email it would be appreciated.

Regards Alan

[woodturner 10]

You must have started there at the same time as I did, I left school at 15 thinking I could enjoy the 6 weeks holiday, but my mother had already arranged a job for me at Gillott's, and I started the day after I left school.

The best part of the job was meeting and getting to know the people on the bread round, I worked on the Barnsley, Swallownest/Aston, and Maltby runs during my 18 months there, and also a few weeks with a woman who also did part of the Parsons Cross, the name Ann Johnson comes to mind, I know she lived on the flower estate near Reg Furness.

I thought it was very good marketing when Gillotts had 3 vans on the same run with different names on them, Gillotts, My Baker, and Bakers Boy, the bread wrappers were different too, but all the same bread, and people fell for it, ha ha.

The drivers must have made a small fortune, as everything but the bread went up between a penny and sixpence, and we still sold stuff cheaper than other companies, I remember the van's all meeting at a cafe on Upwell St every morning for breakfast before we started our run, that was all payed for out of the fiddle's, and so was our lunches, that's if we had time to stop for it.

Mainly our lunch was a cuppa at one of the customers, where we would give her bread etc, and she would butter our tea cakes and give us a cuppa tea, there was one driver who became a supervisor, he filled in when my driver Betty B was sick, he spent an hour a day with a young woman on the Aston run, after I complained to him about me having to sit and wait, we came to an agreement that I would drive the van and serve the customers, and keep going back to see if he was ready.

He once gave me a good working over because I blewthe horn outside the house where he was making love, to let him know I was there, after that episode, we came to an agreement that if his undies were hung on the window opener, I would carry on with the run, and only blew the horn if they weren't.

Although I was only 16, the local cop used to wave to me as I drove around the estates at Aston, and no body ever questioned whether I had a licence or not, that was when they were building the new estates around the White City for the miners at Aston or Swallownest ?

Skippy

Nice to read your encounters around Aston area. We covered Parson Cross and the Foxhill estate. We had also had a tea call at lunch time and took in our sandwiches which was nice. There was no hanky panky though. Regarding the Bakers Boy - they had totally different vans to us as well which I had forgotten about. I remember Ann as we would help each other out when running short of bread saving a trip back to the bakery.

I also never forgot the day we called at Foxhill farm which was a customer of ours and his wife asking me if i would like a glass of milk. I replied yes please as obviously it came from their cows.What I didn't realize is that it would be very warm and creamy and I nearly fetched it all back up as it was too rich for me. Horace left to start his own business 18 months after I started with Gillotts and he bought a private Mothers Pride Agency along with the customer base which was only small. It was agreed I would put in my notice and join him the following month. This I did and we built up the business eventually running 2 vans.

Regards

Alan

[skippy 11]

Gday mate, I remember Horace now, he was the first one to start up on his own, he used to give me a lift home sometimes and drop me off at the old Forum picture palace, sometimes with my pushbike in the back of the van.

Don Brigg's and Alf Beckingham also started their own buisiness's after they saw Horace make a go of it.

I remember meeting up with you and Horace on the Parson's Cross run from time to time when I worked with Ann.

 

Gillotts was owned by the Rank flour company in 1958, and so was a company called Lunns at Wakefield, thats where Gillotts got their bread from after something went wrong with production, I was one of the van boys that went there to load up at the time and bring the bread back to Lyon St, they were long days, and we never got paid overtime, it was the same with Saturdays on the regular run, it was mostly an 8 pm finish.

[skippy 11]

Alan, do you remember Reg Drabble ? he lived on Scott Road and owned a coach or sharra as we used to call them, he may have taken over your old run ?

[PeterR 10]

Hi Alan, have sent you a PM. Please let me know if you've received it as I forgot to 'save' it and can't be sure it went. Regards, Peter.

Hi Peter

As far as I am aware Gillotts only had the Lyon Street premises, living so close our paths must have passed at some time in our lives. I used to take papers for Stinchcombes paper shop and we were both born in 1943. If you could send me your surname perhaps in a seperate email it would be appreciated.

Regards Alan

[woodturner 10]

Alan, do you remember Reg Drabble ? he lived on Scott Road and owned a coach or sharra as we used to call them, he may have taken over your old run ?

 

Hi Skippy

I new Reg way back his mom used to have the shop at the Junction of Carlisle Road, Carlisle Street. there were 2 shops they were opposite the top of Newhall Road. They had a house a few doors up when they sold the shop Reg started with the Coaches and he moved to Scott Road.

Regards Alan

[zakes 68]

Gillets Bread.

 

Hope I’ve got this right or I’m toast.

 

When I was a nipper on’t Hackenthorpe I used to see a Gillot’s van from time to time each day. To open the van at the back the driver (or driver’s mate) would lift a large flap upwards which would provide a cover for customers stood there if it was raining. The Gillot bloke would then slide out long trays with bread and buns upon them. It was the same principle as in a morguey mortuary, but the trays would have had bodies instead of bread upon them.

 

When I was a bigger nipper on’t Newstead I used to see a Fletcher’s van from time to time each day. To open the van at the back the driver would pull two narrow doors away from each other for customers to step inside to be served at a counter.

The Fletcher’s driver would play football with us young ‘uns from time to time, but not each day. The Fletcher’s bloke wore a yellowish mid-thigh length nylon smock, with pens in the top pocket. A garage door was used as a makeshift goal and when we let him score he would shout something about an onionbag. The Fletcher’s man was very popular, and I bet some of the fluffy slippered women looking out from their shiny windows wished he’d been scoring goals with them. That way they might have ended up with an Eccles Cake, a Chocolate Éclair, a Vanilla Slice, or at a s-t-r-e-t-c-h an Elephant’s Foot in the oven.

 

I used to like Styans’ bread me.

 

When I had grown out of my nipperhood and worked from time to time each day at Wigfalls, firstly at Mowbray Street then at Walker Street, there was a bakers shop on T’Wicker. This shop had in my tasty opinion the best bread cakes, because they were robustly firmer and had more bite especially with bacon and tomato (egg optional) in (on) them.

 

Hardy’s of course! ...Oh crumbs.

 

P.S. (A) I think Hardy’s delivery vans to their shops were Transits, light blue in colour.

(B) I once knew a Geoff Hardy in the T.A. He wasn’t related to the bread people though.

© There was a family called Gillot on Hackenthorpe, 60’s, also not related.

[Alan52 10]

i am not sure about this one but a name Tommy Walls comes to my mind he was a driver around the arbourthorne in the 60s ??

[Alsancak 10]

My dad used to work at Gillots bread, he used to drive one of the vans I think.

His mates nicknamed him bread cake for obvious reasons.

[Arfer Mo 10]

Does anyone remember Gilletts or Gillotts Bread? Dont know the correct spelling of the company but I seem to remember the existance of the company in the fifties. I never worked for them or had any connections but its just a curiosity.

 

HI I went to school with Colin Gillott For years l was under the impression he had died but l believe he is still alive. We used to play together round the bakery on Lyons st or rd he used to give us buns and tarts l read somewhere that a mr Mallaband was a boss there he also was in the same class my name is Arthur Fearnehough get in touch Colin or any one alive from those pre war days. Cheers Arfer Mo

[bazza63 12]

HI I went to school with Colin Gillott For years l was under the impression he had died but l believe he is still alive. We used to play together round the bakery on Lyons st or rd he used to give us buns and tarts l read somewhere that a mr Mallaband was a boss there he also was in the same class my name is Arthur Fearnehough get in touch Colin or any one alive from those pre war days. Cheers Arfer Mo

 

A chap called Bill Cannon who was a T.V. engineer at Wigfalls I think he married Gillotts daughter.

[Irene Ratcliffe 0]

I'm Irene Ratcliffe  his wife  lived on yew lane