When David is planning a long distance
funeral which involves an overnight stay he often uses the journey to the
funeral to investigate and evaluate new routes. Barnton is only 6 miles south
of Warrington, a destination that the Leyland Beaver has been to a number of
times and route involved has been what David calls his ‘west side story’. David
tries to select A-Roads that are little used and have ample opportunities to
get vehicles past his lorry trundling along at 30 miles per hour. His route to Warrington has
traditionally gone via Wolverhampton, Stafford, Stone, Talke Bank and the A50
for the rest of the way.
David found it was less distance to take an
eastern route around Birmingham
taking the Fosse Way,
which David often uses, and then the A4177, A452, A446 before taking the A51 to
join the A34 at Stone, just south of Stoke. David had been on all the roads
apart from the A51 and he was keen to establish how busy it was and if it was
an original 1950’s three lane road, with a carriageway wide enough to get
vehicles three abreast. David attempted to ring Mark Pyatt who supplies Vintage
Lorry Funerals with spare parts and lives in Cheadle, just north of the A51,
however, when David rang his mobile it was obvious that Mark was in a foreign
land and David terminated the call within three rings.
Also it appeared that some road works may
cause problems so David spoke with two Funeral Directors, who he had previously
worked for, who might be able to provide an insight into the potential
problems. Susan, at Gascoignes Funeral Directors Coleshill, provided
information on the Network Rail works on the A446 and Jane, at Robert Nicholls
Funeral Directors Stafford, reported on the road works on the A34. David is
very grateful for all the help he receives and from the reception he gets when
he approaches Funeral Directors in this regard.
Another key factor to establish on a new
route is for potential toilet stops as A-Roads don’t have the luxury of Service
Areas which are on motorways. David found that Lincoln Farm Truck Stop was on
the A452, some 100 miles from Bradford-on-Avon,
and this would be a suitable location for a comfort stop, so he rang and spoke
with Debbie. He told her what he did with the Leyland Beaver and she was very
interested. David asked if he could have something simple like a mug of tea
with a toasted teacake, however, Debbie said she had no teacakes but could
prepare toast with jam.
David also phoned Weaver Vale Garden Centre,
which is less than one mile from the Anderton Boat Lift at which David had
arranged a photo shoot, of his Leyland Beaver with the Boat Lift behind, with
Rob Green Anderton Concrete’s Yard Manager. David’s idea was to use Weaver Vale
Garden Centre as a holding area where he could wash his lorry before the
photo-shoot and utilise the café and toilet facilities. The lady at the Garden
Centre was happy with the arrangement provided that David brought his own hot
water to wash the Leyland Beaver.
David left at 0545 hours as it is always best
to get on the Fosse Way
before 0700 hours to avoid traffic and less experienced drivers who are
reluctant to overtake the Leyland Beaver and can be found on A-Roads after 0930
hours. The Leyland Beaver performed well and David was in the yard at the
Lincoln Farm Truck Stop by 0930 hours. David ordered tea & toast and
mentioned that he had spoken to someone the previous day. Debbie came out of
kitchen, shook David’s hand and asked where the Leyland Beaver was parked. As
David was eating his toast he looked at the large number of meal options that
were painted in large letters on the wall and he noticed Chicken Tikka which
was in amongst a sea of various forms of All Day Breakfasts and Roast Dinners.
Debbie returned and said that the lorry was lovely and David asked if he came
back tomorrow around 1530 hours could a Chicken Tikka be available. She said,
‘Anything on that wall can be made from 1100 hours until 2400 hours.’
David found the stretches of Dual Carriageway
very useful on the A452 and A446 to get vehicles past, however, David’s main
worry was taking the correct exit at roundabouts because the M6 Toll Road runs parallel to the A446.
Gerry Rafferty wrote song called ‘Get it Right Next Time’ and one of the verses
includes:-
You need direction, yeah, you need
a name,
When you’re standing in the
crossroads every highway looks the same,
After a while you can recognise
the signs,
So if you get it wrong you’ll get
it right next time.
With signs on the approach roads to
roundabouts having exits for the M42 and the M6 Toll roads, David knew that if
he got it wrong the impact would be serious and there would be no chance to get
it right next time.
The A51 proved to be a good choice with a
mixture of wide or dual carriageways and ample lay-byes for David to pull over
and let vehicles past. The road works on the A34 didn’t produce much of a delay
and David could relax as most of the road is dual carriageway and he had no
worries about getting vehicles past the vintage lorry.
The A50 is normally a quiet road, however, on
this Wednesday there was heavy traffic and with only a small number of lay-byes.
As David reached Arclid there was over 50 vehicles trapped behind the Leyland
Beaver. David spotted Crane Hire Direct with a large concrete apron in front of
the workshop so David pulled over. It was almost 1300 hours and David thought
it would be a good place for him to have his sandwich so he switched off the
engine and went into the office. David introduced himself to Keir, the
Transport Manager, and asked if he could take his break on their apron. Keir
said, ‘Many people stop there for a break but you are the first person who has ever
asked our permission.’
As David was eating his sandwich an old man
came and asked if David would be interested in buying their old lorry which had
worked for Crane Hire Direct many years ago. As a matter of courtesy David went
into the office and spoke with Neil and whilst he was waiting on the phone to
get through to his bank, Neil explained that he had a 1960 Leyland Beaver that
was in need of restoration. David told Neil that he wasn’t a mechanic, however,
he knew a man from Cheadle who may be interested. Neil said, ‘Are you speaking
about Mark Pyatt, a lovely bloke but he has too much on at the moment to visit
us to see our lorry?’ David went back to his lorry and was documenting his 45
minute break on his manual records when a blue pickup truck pulled into the
yard in front of the Leyland Beaver. David thought he recognised the driver, it
looked like a suntanned Mark Pyatt, but it couldn’t be because Mark was on
holiday. It turned out that it was Mark Pyatt who said, ‘I’ve just got back
from holiday but I know that you tried to call me. Do you need a part for the
Beaver?’ David explained that he wanted advice on the A51 but Mark said, ‘I saw
you from the cross roads and I’m glad everything is going well with the lorry,
but I must go now because the bloke in that garage is keen for me to buy his
old 1960 Leyland Beaver but I’ve been too busy with all the other projects that
we have at this time.’
David arrived at Anderton Concrete earlier
than planned, however, Rob Green was pleased to see the lorry and had arranged
some mobile steps so that David could get an elevated camera position. After
David had taken a picture of the Leyland Beaver in front of the Anderton Boat
Lift something magical happened. David and Rob saw the Boat Lift working as a
Pleasure Barge laden with passengers entered the lower caisson from the River
Weaver to be lifted 50 feet to continue the journey on the Mersey & Trent Canal.
On the Wednesday morning David arrived at
Barnton and Claire was pleased to see the lorry looking so clean. Pat was on
her day off, however, she came to see David and both ladies apologised for the
delay in getting information about the flowers. Claire and Pat were amazed how
well the display looked and how appreciative the family would be to see their
Dad’s picture between the ‘Names’.
The Funeral Director Sharon paged the lorry
from the Funeral Home to the house and the widow was keen to shake David’s hand
to thank him for all that he had done. At the Crematorium there was some
problem about where the lorry should be positioned, David parked with the
roller opposite the doorway but everyone was waving him forward. Sharon said that the
Crematorium staff members were wanting the lorry to move forward and David
approached the Crematorium Staff Member who had mistakenly believed that the
coffin would come off the rear of the deck. David said, ‘You see the side
roller, the coffin comes off the side not the back like a hearse, the lorry is
in the right spot. When people tell me to jump I don’t ask how high, I ask
why.’ After the service David spoke with Kate, Daughter of the Deceased and she
was amazed that the words David used to reprimand the Crematorium Staff were
the same words that her Dad had often used.
The journey home went well and having had a
cooked breakfast David didn’t fancy a sandwich at 1230 hours so David kept
travelling south. At around 1530 hours the Leyland Beaver pulled into Lincoln
Farm Truck Stop and David approached the young lady at the counter and asked if
the Chicken Tikka could be made with onions and mushrooms. Debbie who was doing
the cooking said, ‘I’ve made it with onions, it is a little bit hotter than I
normally make it, you should try before you buy.’ She then offered David a
sample on a gigantic wooden spoon and he was happy with it as it was more like
a Butter Chicken. David sat with his mug of tea and Debbie arrived with an oval
plate with enough Chicken Tikka for two and a dome of boiled rice. She asked
David if his lorry was parked in the same place as yesterday and she went out
to see the Leyland Beaver.
As David was eating the Chicken Tikka he
suddenly realised that Debbie had cooked the meal especially for him on the off
chance that he would call in on his way home. It certainly wasn’t for anyone
else who were tucking into All Day Breakfasts and Roast Dinners. David had a
flashback to the 1970’s when he used to travel with Fellside Transport Drivers
and stay with Ma Kelso, whose son was then running the business. David was
always instructed to ring from Burton Services on the M6 and without fail Ma
Kelso would always have a hot meal on the table when David took off his boots
before entering her bungalow across the road from the haulage yard at Croft
House.
As David pulled into Cirencester he decided
to fuel at Tesco using a10 pence per litre discount voucher and apparently
David is the only person to use the full 100 litre allowance on the discount
voucher.
David arrived home at 2030 hours and told his
wife about all the amazing people he had met in his travels.
