Z1205/190

Male. Chartered engineer. Former High Sheriff of Bedfordshire. b. 12.10.1935 SIDE A (00mins)Bedford born and bred. Mother's family from North Yorkshire and Father's family from the Stevington and Clapham areas of Beds. Grandfather lived on London Road, Bedford. Move to Bedford because of good educational provision through the Harpur Trust schools. (05 mins)Local shop provision in 1930s/40s. Enormous interest in neighbour's behaviour. Ability to move down London Road affected daily by a rush hour of cyclist workers from the Sterling-Safeway foundry at half-past-five each weekday and 12.30 on Saturdays. (10 mins)Cyclist predominated in Bedford over cars. A central cycle park in Mill Street (where current Beds. Times newspaper office is now) was run by a Mr. Taylor, who had a bicycle shop there. 3d a day (1p) to leave your cycle there in late 1940s. (15 mins)Paternal grandmother ran a boarding house for commercial travellers in Castle Road and then Waterloo Road. His father learned his business sense from his mother. You can't learn business from colleges. You learn from sitting around the family table at meals and the interchange of conversation. Respect of the younger generation for the older generation. (20 mins)Judging character was regarded as very important. Father set up coal merchant's business in Bedford. He went on to develop a fleet of lorries which he then used for sand and gravel, building runways for airfields during the Second World War. Post-war, the firm concentrated on road haulage until the 1990s when his son (the interviewee) decided to move it out of haulage and into more successful enterprises such as small bridge engineering. (25 mins)Father became a Conservative councillor in Bedford and was Mayor in 1952 and 1953, when he represented Bedford at Queen Elizabeth's coronation. His son (the interviewee) was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire in 1994. (30 mins)The problem of car ownership in the area of the Victorian streets and Edwardian houses off Castle Road, Bedford, with no provision of garages. (32 mins)End Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Childhood attendance at the "Inky", the Bedford School preparatory school (short for incubator) then on to Bedford School (13 years altogether) prior to Cambridge University. Sister was sent to St. Andrews School, Bedford, then Rodean girls boarding school before marrying a district officer in Northern Rhodesia and spending her adult life in Africa. Interviewee keen on science and went on to study mechanical sciences. Joined a consultant engineer in London after Cambridge and after further work experience in Stevenage, came to work for the family firm and steered it towards the engineering direction. Family's fleet of lorries had transported the whole of the sugar from British Sugar Corporation's eastern region to the warehouses as far as far away as Leicester. (05 mins)Seasonal nature of sugar production and trade. Following a heyday in the early 1950s, Government legislation and fuel costs made it all too expensive. They then did haulage of Michelin tyres and Charles wells beer. He found a niche market in the mechanical handling of bulk materials, allied to their interest in building blocks and sand and gravel. He devised machines to unload railway trucks for railway concentration depots. Development of Howard Bridge and Engineering Ltd. General decline of engineering in Bedford: Robertson's (Tubular Investments), Allen's, Camford Engineering. Unions have prices labour out of the market; cheaper for manufacturers to move, like Massey Ferguson, to central Europe. (15 mins)The ancient office of High Sheriff (corruption of Shire Reeve), responsible to the crown for the collection of debts, taxes and the administration of law and order. He introduced the Crime Beat initiative to the Bedfordshire Constabulary in 1994. A charity which works with young people in school and youth clubs to use peer pressure to help reduce the incidence of drug taking, bullying, shoplifting, smoking, violence, intimidation. (20 mins)Scheme helps fund issued-based drama productions in schools and youth clubs, involving a lot of young people and raising issues that need addressing. Young people then come up with practical ways of handling these matters and helping reduce the problems. (25 mins)Thoroughly enjoyed his year as High Sheriff, involving 360 engagements on the one year and meeting many people. He treasures the letters of thanks he has kept, reminding him of the places he visited and the people he met. Also involved in the Bedford Charity for the homeless and Roofless in Prebend street and the YMCA, which he is President of. (32 mins) End of Side B CONTINUED ON CS190C2 Side A (00 mins)His views on the brickmaking industry in Marston Vale through his lifetime. References to the "Fletton reek" (the smell of brick chimney effluents) and the public controversy over emissions. Reflections on how bricks are now used merely as dressings for houses, with building blocks providing better insulation. His firm became one of the biggest block makers in the country. Blocks made from sand and gravel, ash from power stations, light-weight aggregates, expanded clay (local Oxford clay is not suitable) and pumice. (08 mins)End of Side A Original Interview 70 mins.

17 January 2003

From: 1930 To: 2003

item

Harpur Trust,
Sterling Foundry Specialities Limited,
Wells, Charles,
Michelin,
Howard Engineering Works

High Sheriff, engineer, businesses, cycling, coal merchant, World War Two, haulage contractor, buildings & land bridges, coronations, Cambridge University, sugar, Bedfordshire Constabulary, charity, drug abuse, YMCA, brickmaker, pollution, STEVINGTON, CLAPHAM, Bedford Castle Road