Job's Dairy Hanworth - H.A. Job Limited

I joined Job's in June 1958 as a trainee retail manager based at Heston.

Subsequently I managed at Feltham Parkfield and Woodley. Later I became town Area Manager. I left in 1969 to spread the gospel to Essex.

In 1986 I joined my son David in his performance engine business and became Chairman of the most successful performance engine building company in the world providing engines to hundreds of champions throughout the world. Mountune engines powered the Ford Works World Rally cars until they bought Cosworth Engineering.

I retired in 1986 aged 65 and am fortunate at 73 to still be able to walk up to 30 miles in a day but without the milk bottles.

Job's set all the standards in dairying and I can still see an elderly H A Roberts on the rampage checking out his empire. I recall some wonderful characters who helped me to learn the business but I fear most will be gone.

I was delighted to see that Andy Whitton survives and also Mr Grose. Bryan Channing put me onto the website and there will be some interested to know that I passed on the information to Chris Harris who may be in touch.

I well recall Chris Harris and Titch Taylor walking 50 miles in a very fast time.

Congratulations on your high quality website and best wishes to everyone.

John Mountain

I’ve been speaking to Neville Grose this morning and he has informed me of the ‘Job’s Dairy Web Site’ you have built with John Baynham. Having spent the last hour rummaging through it, I want to say thank you to you both for an excellent job in bringing back a lot of good memories, as well as a few sad ones, and hope that it wont be long before a few more stories come rolling in.

I started my Job’s career on the 13th January 1964, having just left school. My mother, who worked at the dairy as an office cleaner, had words with the Dairy Management and asked if they had a job for a dear son of 16 years of age, who thought he was going to stay at home all day doing nothing. This obviously proved too much of a challenge for them to turn down and I was duly signed on by Bill Wildin and kitted out with white overalls, cap, rubber gloves and Wellington boots, and introduced to the loading end of a bottle washer. (That’s something for the BBC to listen to in the early hours of the morning with a hangover.)

Without going into the vagaries of this operation, it is well known that things can go wrong causing a pile up of bottles and broken glass taking some considerable time to clear and put right. This would happen some days more than others. The person operating the discharge end of the bottle washer was the only person who could start the machine after a stoppage and in a good natured way it was that persons job to chivvy up the person the other end

To the uninitiated this would seem a reasonable way to operate as it was in everyone’s interest to get the job done and get home. However, can you imagine this when it’s happening every few minutes and the person on the other end was that lovely lady Gladys Underwood, whooping and hollering every few minutes, (those who new her will know what I mean). It certainly was difficult to have a sense of humour at times and it sure was difficult not to stuff those bottles where the sun doesn't shine.

Just one of many humorous tales I can tell from my 23 years service, although some are best not told.

1. Some wag broke into the First Aid room during the late evening and used the bandages to bandage up all the cows heads and udders.

Please change the names on the photographs from Mr. & Mrs. R Slater to Roger & Maggie Slater, otherwise political correctness and Health & Safety will take over from Christianity.

Ollie Crossingham, Albert Bailey, Ernie Coster, "Husky" Teague, Pearl (Canteen) her cheese on toast was my favourite! Sally Cheswick (Lab) Jock Crossingham, Fred Barham (Driver) Squibb Cole (Trailerboy) Hughey Gallagher, Mr Townsend (Gardener)
Judith Mitchell (Lab).

Back then we boiled in the summer and froze in winter. I was a driver for Humphries Bros on churns. Sometimes the churn lids were frozen on and Ollie and Albert (reception) had to use a rubber panel beater's hammer to get them off.

Our lorries in those long ago days of the 1960's were mostly S type Bedfords, petrol engined (10 miles to the gallon) although we did have a few A types as shown in your video. Some of these still survive in the form of buses in Malta but are disappearing fast.

The worst thing for us drivers was having to take back the rejects as there was no space on the lorry bed. I have actually carried rejects in the cab! My lorry SRX 730 was a Bedford "S" type and carried 100 churns on the bed (no top deck). We had to watch cornering with empties as they would sometimes escape and roll all over the road.

I recall that these were the best times of my life. The work was hard but so was most work in those days. I was just 21 years old and am now almost 63. How time flies!