I don’t usually do memories, but this picture by Barry Lilburn of Lowell’’s Wharf from 1981 brought a shed load of memories back.
A full decade and a bit earlier I had regularly walked that walk, after the shift at Glenville’s the food factory by Tunnel Avenue.
I worked for the firm on and off from 1969 through to 1972, working in the dispatch area of the new factory, but more frequently in the milk plant, where we turned powdered milk into granules, which the adverts proclaimed was better in instant tea and coffee.
It was hot and heavy work and we worked the shifts, 2 till 10 and 6 till 2.
Now anyone who has done those shifts will know, both pretty much wreck your social life.
Getting to work for 6 in the morning didn’t preclude nights out in the pub but waking up in the morning after the night before could be challenging.
Likewise leaving work at 10 pm, limited the opportunities to meet up with friends in a pub and wiped out going to the cinema or the theatre.
All of that said, there were plenty of times when we walked the short distance in the afternoon to catch the last hour in the Cutty Sark.
I first started going to the pub in the late 1960s, usually in the summer months, when we would sit on the low concrete wall and watch as the sun set, and night fell across the river.
There was something quite magical about it, made all the more memorable watching the odd pleasure boat pass, and listen as the wash pushed the barges together making that distinctive clunking side, which accompanied the low buzz of conversation.
All a bit different form the afternoon sessions, when smart young things inhabited the place. Some of whom I suspect had crossed from that other place to see what we did in South East London.
And here I must confess to my shame we took delight in playing a very childish game of standing as close as we could to these smart young things in our milk caked overalls.
Never underestimate just how much milk powder can cling to your overalls in the course of an eight hour shift, even more so on a very hot day, when most of the time you were in front of a tap filling the milk granules into 56 lb. bags, before then emptying them into hoppers.
I suppose compared to much of the work done along this side of the river, ours might well be judged light and easy.
But it was not a job I liked, and finally there came a time when I moved on. More recently I went back looking for the factory, but the passage of more than 40 years has wiped out much of what I knew.
And with that comes that other challenge to my memory which is, were we able to walk all the way along the River from Glenville’s to the Cutty Sark?
I think we did, but it was a long time ago.
Either way I have Barry to thank for bringing the milk plant out of my memory, for a short stroll on an indifferent day in Manchester.
Location; Lowell’s Wharf
Picture; Lowell’s Wharf, 1981, courtesy of Barry Lilburn and in 1979 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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| Lowell's Wharf, 1981 |
I worked for the firm on and off from 1969 through to 1972, working in the dispatch area of the new factory, but more frequently in the milk plant, where we turned powdered milk into granules, which the adverts proclaimed was better in instant tea and coffee.
It was hot and heavy work and we worked the shifts, 2 till 10 and 6 till 2.
Now anyone who has done those shifts will know, both pretty much wreck your social life.
Getting to work for 6 in the morning didn’t preclude nights out in the pub but waking up in the morning after the night before could be challenging.
 |
| Walking the River, 1979 |
All of that said, there were plenty of times when we walked the short distance in the afternoon to catch the last hour in the Cutty Sark.
I first started going to the pub in the late 1960s, usually in the summer months, when we would sit on the low concrete wall and watch as the sun set, and night fell across the river.
There was something quite magical about it, made all the more memorable watching the odd pleasure boat pass, and listen as the wash pushed the barges together making that distinctive clunking side, which accompanied the low buzz of conversation.
All a bit different form the afternoon sessions, when smart young things inhabited the place. Some of whom I suspect had crossed from that other place to see what we did in South East London.
 |
| Looking towards Glenville's, 1979 |
Never underestimate just how much milk powder can cling to your overalls in the course of an eight hour shift, even more so on a very hot day, when most of the time you were in front of a tap filling the milk granules into 56 lb. bags, before then emptying them into hoppers.
I suppose compared to much of the work done along this side of the river, ours might well be judged light and easy.
But it was not a job I liked, and finally there came a time when I moved on. More recently I went back looking for the factory, but the passage of more than 40 years has wiped out much of what I knew.
And with that comes that other challenge to my memory which is, were we able to walk all the way along the River from Glenville’s to the Cutty Sark?
I think we did, but it was a long time ago.
Either way I have Barry to thank for bringing the milk plant out of my memory, for a short stroll on an indifferent day in Manchester.
Location; Lowell’s Wharf
Picture; Lowell’s Wharf, 1981, courtesy of Barry Lilburn and in 1979 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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