Old Pond publishing days

Graham Davies. Life after Juggernaut - Trucking to Saudi Arabia with Robert Hutchison

Following the publicaton of Robert Hutchison's Juggernaut in paperback, Graham Davies's daughter Angela has kindly supplied the following notes about her father, the Whittle International trucker who in 1986 took Robert on his fact-finding trip to Saudi Arabia.

Graham continued to travel until 1989 on international long-haulage journeys to countries such as Greece, Athens, Yugoslavia (before the conflict), Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Morocco and Turkey. His favourite trip was to Athens, from where he often brought back black pottery of ancient Greece.
 
In 1989 Graham decided to settle more at home and returned to Radio Cabs as a taxi driver, the job he did prior to becoming an international lorry driver in 1974. He also worked in his garage until all hours of the night as he loved to take on challenges of renovating minibuses and cars with finesse.  He was often called upon by other taxi drivers to repair their vehicles.
 
During the later years at Radio Cabs, Graham had endless pleasure from his school runs every day with Woodland’s Special Needs school children and he was loved and respected by all at the school. 
 
In 1997, Graham and his wife Madeleine planned for their future and sold their long-time family home in the middle of Blackpool and moved to a bungalow in the Bispham area to be near the promenade. They bought and toured in their caravan to various locations in England getting fulfilment from each and every one of their holidays.
 
Graham retired in 2001 at the age of 65, although after a good few months was bored and returned to work part-time with Lancashire Ambulance, escorting patients to and from medical appointments.  His retirement was hindered and short lived due to ill health. He was diagnosed with a lung disease related to asbestosis from working as motor engineer in the 1950s, and this was followed by a diagnosis of prostate cancer.  Graham got his affairs in order and built his dream – extending his garage and building a train track in the loft. He mended the side of his house and even changed the cylinder head gasket on his car a few weeks before he passed away in June 2003 aged 66. Graham had a passion for trains and his car which he sadly missed in his last days. He also loved to listen to the birds chirping away in his back garden.
 
Graham was a great husband, father of five children, father-in-law, doting granddad to 12 grandchildren including one great grandchild.  He was loved and respected by all who knew him.  He was a man of strong character who enjoyed his family and time at home in his bungalow. 

Cranes Etc praises the Hymac book

An informative YouTube appreciation of Jeremy Rowland's Hymac book has been made by the Cranes Etc website people is here.

Other details and secure online ordering for The Illustrated History of Hymac are here.

Old Pond - where the name originated

We are sometimes asked about the origin of the company name ‘Old Pond’ and its frog logo. It isn’t because we have a pond outside the building, even after all these days of rain.

The name comes from one of the most famous short poems by the Japanese writer Matsuo Bashō (1644-94): Furuike ya  kawazu tobimoku  mizu no oto.

In his springtime volume of Bashō’s collected haiku, R H Blyth put this into English:

The old pond
A frog jumps in, –
The sound of water!

The late Beat poet Allen Ginsberg had a livelier version: The old pond, a frog jumps in, Kerplunk!

Our frog logo was devised in 1998 by Liz Whatling, designer of nearly all our layouts and artwork on books and DVDs.

Below is ‘Hoji, Frog’, from Picture-Album by Celebrated Artists, vol 3 (1814) reproduced in David Cobb's book The British Museum Haiku (British Museum Press, 2002).

That’s it, spring is coming.
Sayonara

Praise from Pro-Operator for Chris Lockwood's Sprayers and Spreaders DVD

'This DVD -- Sprayers & Spreaders, self-propelled machines in Britain by Chris Lockwood -- provides great information and entertainment for anybody interested in farm machinery and sprayers.' This is the verdict of the reviewer in the spring edition of Pro Operator, the only specialist publication for all registered spray operators in the UK.

The reviewer continues: 'Seeing one of the original SAM FC from Sands, self-propelleds in a field along with the Ford tractor-based Chafer Tramliner as well as forward control MB-Tracs will be a treat for some. While others will marvel at the comfort, features and electronic control on show on the latest machines at work.'

The website for Pro-Operator is here.

Details of Chris Lockwood's Sprayers & Spreaders DVD are here.

Visitors to LAMMA this week can find the DVD on sale on the Old Pond stand in Hall 4.

A delightful present from Australia

The wood carving by James Pascoe of Kerang, Victoria, Australia is made from red gum, a Eucalyptus species. It measures 24 cm across the base. You may notice an Old Pond frog next to the letter 'O'. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

James has sent us this delightful and unexpected present as, he says, 'a thanks for sending catalogs over time.' He carves as a hobby and was recently featured in Tractor & Machinery magazine.

This year's reply card voucher winner

Every year we offer a £50 gift voucher in a blind draw among those who have completed Old Pond DVD reply cards.

This year's winner is Mr DJM of Lydney, Glos who responded (favourably) after viewing JCB's Backhoe Loaders.

The remarkable life of heavy horse breeder and farmer Geoffrey Morton has ended

One of the nicest and most inspiring men I have had the pleasure of meeting during my time at Farming Press and Old Pond was Geoffrey Morton who died on 13 December at the age of 87.

Geoff was single-minded in keeping alive the tradition of working farms with horses. His own farm at Hasholme Carr, Holme upon Spalding Moor was a Mecca for people interested in draught horses. He was a generous man. In 1977 when we needed farm carts in Wakefield so that the Mystery plays could be processed around the town, Geoff lent one of his and saw it transported a good distance from his farm and back again.

However, his life might have taken a different direction; indeed he was fortunate that it did not end prematurely. Born in Whitby in 1926, Geoff became a merchant seaman, serving for 9-10 years. In 1943, a week before his 17^th birthday, his cargo ship Fort Pelly was bombed during the invasion of Sicily. The ammunition store exploded, forty seamen lost their lives, but Geoff swam to safety.

Geoff was formerly President of the Percheron Society and a long-time member of the Draught Horse Training Committee. In 1990 he was awarded the MBE for his services to agriculture.

There have been quite a few films made about working horses but Geoff was the subject of one of the earliest and best: Beauty, Bonny, Daisy, Violet, Grace and Geoffrey Morton made in 1974 for Thames Television. It went on to win national and international recognition with a Bafta and the Prix Italia for documentaries. I asked Geoff how he got on with the film-maker, Frank Cvitanovich, and his reply was down to earth: ‘An easy man to work with. You’d do all right with him.’ The programme is available as a DVD from Old Pond.

Geoffrey Morton is survived by Lucy, his wife of 64 years, his children Mark (who continues to work the farm), Andrew and Janet, and seven grandchildren.

A great read for Nuffield tractor fans

'This is a great book, certainly a must for any Nuffield/Leyland enthusiast, and with its great story and marvellous photos will keep the reader involved for many hours - a great read.' So says the reviewer in Vaporising magazine, Winter 2013.

The commendation is for Tony Clare's recently published book,The Nuffield Tractor Story Volume Two (details here), and it is typical of the response we are receiving.

Vaporising is the magazine of NVTEC, the National Vintage Traction Engine Club. Their website is here.

Martin Phippard

I am very sad to learn that Martin Phippard passed away yesterday. He died peacefully after a year's courageous battle against illness. He had just passed his 70th birthday.

Working with his colleague Pete Connock under the name CP Productions, Martin was responsible for many fine programmes about trucking and heavy loads around the world. Martin and Pete have brought pleasure to thousands of truck enthusiasts during their twenty years of filming and video/DVD production.

Our thoughts go out to Martin's widow Annie, daughters Jackie and Elizabeth and their families.

Old Codger's Cookbook stocking filler for the old codger in your life

Here’s an idea for a Christmas stocking filler, not published by Old Pond but by our friends at Camden Miniature Steam Services.

David Curwen, a prolific designer of miniature railway locomotives living deep in the countryside, faced changed circumstances in his eighties which meant that if he wanted to eat, he had to learn to cook. He thought, “I’m not a grumpy old codger, I’m a happy-go-lucky codger, and I’ll face up to this in a practical way.”

You can discover how he got on in his Old Codger’s Cookbook. Besides brief accounts of kitchen equipment, basic tools and recipes from tomato soup to beef stew with pigeon, David Curwen diverts to a wide range of topics such as cats and their behaviour, recalcitrant cookers and the joys of a good butcher. It makes delightful reading, beautifully illustrated by Wendy McCleave

The Old Codger’s Cookbook, paperback, 62 pages, costs only £6.75 and is available from Camden Miniature Steam Services, telephone 01373 830151. More details and online ordering are on their website here.

Full of zest for living until the end, David Curwen died two years ago at the age of 97, just after handing his manuscript to Camden.