French

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LDK
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Re: French

Post #11 by LDK » Sat Nov 06, 2010 9:57 pm

Maybe this time, fingers crossed. Good job I'm rained off or I would have given up on this by now.
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topkit
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Re: French

Post #12 by topkit » Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:46 pm

If it is the same company i remember they did a large section of the M23 build in the late 60's early 70's my school mates dad operated a Hymac 580 and used to take us to see all the machines there. I also remember when Kier painted their machines blue, again in the 1970's they built a large housing estate in East Grinstead and i remember a Blue MF 200B Crawler Backhoe and a Blue Ford 13-6 Autodig (if only i took photos back then)!!


chainmaker
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Re: French

Post #13 by chainmaker » Sat Dec 04, 2010 2:53 pm

french did the quinton section of the m5 midland links parkinson did the elevated section through oldbury chritiani shand did the gt barr sec monks did spagetti wimpey kier water orton kier french coventry section it been a long time and many engines/gearboxs/clutches and busted hoses ago but I think thats right


chainmaker
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Re: French

Post #14 by chainmaker » Sat Dec 04, 2010 3:05 pm

many years ago I bought a camera and a few rolls of film with the intention of taking photos when I worked for jcb the first time I took a few pics I was working on a 6c at lydiate ash on frenches site I left the camera on the track of the machine while I changed an o ring on the spool "ok try that mate" the camera dissapeared under the track and with it my david bailey period.Thats the way it goes dont we all wish we had the foresight of some?


Kenneth Johnstone
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Re: French

Post #15 by Kenneth Johnstone » Sat Sep 21, 2013 11:59 am

I worked for W C French at Bristol West Dock in 1974.On the lube truck, Jack Adams was on fuel bowser, Jim Lee was foreman fitter (Anyone now his where-abouts now?) Terry the welder from Bristol. Plant on site was 769 Cat dumpers Cat 992 & rh ? face type shovel. Cat 16 grader, and various Cat dozers.


martind29
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Re: French

Post #16 by martind29 » Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:44 pm

great firm to work for, everything was black & white including the wet weather gear.
worked on the datchet resourvoir for a few years. peter thompson was the gf. his brother malcom, lovely geezer, was a slasher.
a few names i remember. dick gaffney, trever marshell, jack sharp, tommy leach, maurice renouf, ronnie barker,loads of faces that i cannot put names to, dementia setting in. i remember they employed a lot of asian's from slough.
i started on a 951 and progressed to a 631b. also working with jack sharp on the o & k bucket wheel.
all in all a great bunch of blokes to work with.


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Re: French

Post #17 by LDK » Thu Nov 28, 2013 7:29 pm

martind29 wrote:great firm to work for, everything was black & white including the wet weather gear.
worked on the datchet resourvoir for a few years. peter thompson was the gf. his brother malcom, lovely geezer, was a slasher.
a few names i remember. dick gaffney, trever marshell, jack sharp, tommy leach, maurice renouf, ronnie barker,loads of faces that i cannot put names to, dementia setting in. i remember they employed a lot of asian's from slough.
i started on a 951 and progressed to a 631b. also working with jack sharp on the o & k bucket wheel.
all in all a great bunch of blokes to work with.


MartinD29,
Here a few more names that you may remember……
Eric Beatwell, Ivan Tebbit, Alan Curtis, Bernard Curtis, Ian Sutherland, Angus Sutherland (he was also on a track shovel so you might remember him) and Ginger George Baird. Thats all the names I can come up with at the moment. Oh one more, Carlos a spaniard that was on a 9 pushing scrapers.


martind29
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Re: French

Post #18 by martind29 » Thu Nov 28, 2013 9:55 pm

shared a bunk hut with ivan, i remember carlos[spanish onion] always eating raw onions. ginger george was a hard taskmaster. always on my case when i was on the 951. paddy the tyre fitter, mad as a bag of nails. billy tindall, in charge of the workshop. i am sure peter and billy done well out of that job. there was a b100 drott plus a few other bits of there kit floating about.ivan was part of the lincs/east anglian gang. peters right hand man, d8 and box driver the chippies etc. i can see all there faces in my head, but the names have gone.
happy days.


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LDK
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Re: French

Post #19 by LDK » Fri Nov 29, 2013 2:06 am

Ray Parker was the carpenter. I will ask my father about Thompson's right hand man ( he was trying to remember his name a couple of months back)


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Re: French

Post #20 by LDK » Fri Nov 29, 2013 6:47 pm

martind29 wrote:shared a bunk hut with ivan, i remember carlos[spanish onion] always eating raw onions. ginger george was a hard taskmaster. always on my case when i was on the 951. paddy the tyre fitter, mad as a bag of nails. billy tindall, in charge of the workshop. i am sure peter and billy done well out of that job. there was a b100 drott plus a few other bits of there kit floating about.ivan was part of the lincs/east anglian gang. peters right hand man, d8 and box driver the chippies etc. i can see all there faces in my head, but the names have gone.
happy days.


Martin, I just spoke with my dad and he said the right hand man your thinking about would be Derek Clark.
A few more names Tony Jacklin on an 8 and box, Jimmy Wynn on a 9 pushing, Angus and Ian Sutherland where on scrapers at one stage. John Pooley a ganger.


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