Stories from the yards

[martymont]

Anybody in Readheads in the early 70s when two welders claim to have seen a flying saucer, as ti went round the yard their welding capes and boots had been made into spacesuits at the time, the yards were full of it. funny as owt.

When one of the Bank boats was being fitted out the (Clydebank) I think the bulkheads in the captains day room was not flush so when the bulkhead was finished the joiners put the pretend fireplace up against it and it also was not flush, so they filled in the gaps with cake smoothed it then varnished the same colour.

when we were apprenitces we were sent to Swans big yard working on the ways, at Swans they rammed the keel blocks out with a dolly and these had to be rested on a plank the same height, thye stretched the full length of the berth, now every 20 yards you had an opening, to crawl through instead of going all the way round we used to have lookout and when some one went through the tunnel hunched as it was not very high as they went through the first thing they did was stand up 2 paces later their heads cracked against the plank you could hear ti reverberate along the planks funny as hell some cracking times,

[Caer Urfa Kev]

Didn't work at Redheads but can anyone remember Swan's characters like Harra's Jar (jaw) - only famous for the size of his lower manible, Pancho (plater I think) who took the drawings for the Ark Royal home until the police/special branch/secret agent types found out and raided his house looking for a russian spy. And finally, but not least Ripyard Cudling, who covered the toilet cubicle walls with the funniest, cleverest poems ever.

Then there was Stenga, The Bull and Butcher Bob - but that's for another posting!

[Delilahcat]

My husband worked in most of the yards up and down the river from the sixties to the eighties as a shipwright. Everybody had nicknames. Him and his mate Alan Dawson were 'doom and gloom' because of their cheery dispositions. There was a fella called Cameron Nicholson who was known as 'Cami Knickers.'
Alex used to tell the tale of how he was sitting in the cabin having his bait when a rat came up through a gap in the floorboards and nicked his sandwich.
When a ship was being launched his name came out of the hat to have lunch with Princess Ann who was doing the launch. As a total anti royalist his response was unprintable and of course he turned it down.
I always got the impression that in those days the workforce was treated badly by the management and so used to nick everything that wasn't nailed down as a form of retaliation.

[mr-angry]

Didn't work at Redheads but can anyone remember Swan's characters like Harra's Jar (jaw) - only famous for the size of his lower manible, Pancho (plater I think) who took the drawings for the Ark Royal home until the police/special branch/secret agent types found out and raided his house looking for a russian spy. And finally, but not least Ripyard Cudling, who covered the toilet cubicle walls with the funniest, cleverest poems ever.

Then there was Stenga, The Bull and Butcher Bob - but that's for another posting!

Harra's jaw, (Ralphy Harrison) I know him very well, he didn't do too bad for himself for a caulker. He owned that garage in Garden Lane selling second hand cars, the last time I spoke to him, he was selling up and retiring.
I also remember Pancho the Plater (who wouldn't?) he was in the Neptune yard when I was there.
Can't remember "Ripyard Cudling" but the best bog poet artist ever was "Handsome Les" as he called himself, the pictures he drew of Harra were hysterical.
And I'm still working with him to this day.