Inter-Departmental Sport and other "Enterprises".
A brief entry must be included here.
I cannot speak for the alternate shift too much
but I know for sure they also made their own
entertainment during working hours, when at all
possible.
Thinking about that I recall that we (the Blogg-ateers)
and by that I refer to those well-known members of
the Man Lab, "Hale & Pace", should be
congratulated for their enterprising "Electrical Testing"
experiment which, and they will recall, gave them much
amusement as did the "Suspicious Inter-Departmental Phone calls"
episode recently recounted at one of our meetings.
There were occasions during weekend day shifts
when interdepartmental "games" took place in the Man. Lab.
That is to say there would be three aside cricket (summertime)
involving, usually, members from the Separator floor
and/or/with/ Condensery against the Lab.
The "Ball" was fabricated from yards of Double Devon tape.
Of course a laboratory is not best suited to such activities
and there was much breakage of glassware when a 6
took the "Ball" to the boundary.
Poor Pam Gammon and her team that came each day
to polish the floor(s) made representations concerning
the myriad of black marks left on the floor by members
of the those taking part.
Much the same occurred during winter months, the sport
then being Rugby.
It was always good-humoured which ever department won.
The fixtures were discontinued after two seasons due to
the above-mentioned issues.
Moonshine.
The Bacti lab was equipped with two Stills for the purpose
of making distilled water. Both were enamel units and by
the mid-70's had become seriously rusted.
I had considered that one might be usefully employed
converting cider into a more powerful beverage but these
two units were discounted due to the condition described.
In any case it would have been impossible to rinse and
clean them effectively to avoid discovery. (by the Excise)
However, coming on a night shift I discovered (Hurrah!)
a brand new compact stainless unit, just out of its box and
on the worktop.
It seemed to me that my prayers had been answered.
Immediately that same night I put it to work. After a session
at Johnnies (The Torridge) I purchased 11 pints of Taunton Cider
and set about processing same with the aid of the new equipment.
It took most of the rest of the night to process the cider which
I put through the Still four times before the distillate became crystal
clear and, dropped onto a small piece of cotton wool,
burned with the required blue flame.
The net result of my experiment was a 40 fluid ounce whiskey
bottle filled to within three inches of the neck.
I should mention that I had the advice of a small booklet,
used by a friend of mine who had worked in Saudi where
booze was illegal.
This booklet was entitled "The Blue Flame" and was
used by the American ex-pats to make moonshine for themselves.
Thus I hoped that my new concoction would give
"The Desired Effect" with as little chance of Blind-ness as possible.
It was VERY powerful.
I cut some of it 4 ways with water and left the sample for my
Day Shift to experiment with after explaining what it was.
I recall (it was a long time ago) that my day shift had to be
taken home, before breakfast, and our other gang were called
in as replacements.
Management were non the wiser, fortunately.
Roulette:
Its worth a brief mention of my proposed alternate use of our
Centrifuge if only for amusement.
The unit was used to spin out gerbers when testing
buttercream for fat content.
There were holders for about 30.
 A Gerber  |
Simply, each holder inside was numbered.
(Red & Black of course)
The idea was to switch the thing on, briefly, drop a small
marble on the centre plate and observe the marble, hoping it
would find a place in one of the holders.
If successful the unit could be used as a type of Roulette wheel.
However the idea was ill-conceived and the marble invariably
missed the holders and fell into the base of the centrifuge so
the idea was scrapped.
Darts.
It only happened one year but for practice we hung a board
on the back of the sliding door of the small balance room.
You can see, in one photo, Karen Gerry standing beside that door.
Of course there were, as always, darts that missed the board,
ending up stuck in the door. After a while the door looked
much as if it had been attacked by Woodworm. 😂
On one particular morning it was announced that senior
management from H.Q (Trowbridge) were on their rounds
and would be calling at the lab.
Down with the board but the Woodworm?
Quick thinking!ðŸ’
Maurice Cockwell & Roger Davis were painting the corridor
nearby.
I ran to them and begged their can of cream paint and brush.
They kindly obliged.
Back to the offending door, a quick coat covered the
"Woodworm" damage though the door had been yellow.
Returning the items to Maurice & Roger, the job
was completed just minutes before Management arrived.
All smiles & "Hellos", they stopped in the doorway.
Fortunately none brushed against the wet paint.
Job done!
The Fire Extinguisher Test.
One morning, just before the 10:30 tea break I proceeded to
demonstrate, to Ted (Taylor) the benefits of having a (car)
fire extinguisher.
For the demonstration I had brought with me a Halogen Gas
type unit I had recently purchased from a well-known store.
To make the demo realistic it went thus:
Part-filling one of the stainless sinks with water, I added (!)
a half cup of pure Benzine (Lighter Fuel) used for butter
fat determination.
With Ted standing a few feet away, and looking mildly
apprehensive it has to be said, I set the liquid alight.
The sink erupted into flames of Firework Night proportion,
rising some two feet above the worktop.
Even I was surprised.
 |
| Ted, the sink, bottom left & the office door. |
Without further ado I aimed the extinguisher at
the base of the fire and squeezed the trigger.
Alas, it seemed to excite the flames which roared
as if enriched and rose even higher.
Ted was suitably impressed - and alarmed.
I applied the extinguisher again, this time from
a little further away and not so near the base of the fire.
I could feel the extinguisher becoming lighter
as the contents were consumed.
Panic!
Suddenly and with a huge WOOOMPH out went the flames...
to be followed by a Nuclear Fusion type cloud of choking
black smoke which rose to the ceiling and into the
roof ventilation windows which I hurriedly opened
using the provided long-reach handle supplied for that purpose.
However, just as the massive, choking smoke cloud erupted,
Dave (Stone - lab manager) opened his office door.
"MY Christ, What the bloody Hell was that?"
he exclaimed as I set about opening the roof vents.
Ted scurried away muttering "Friendship, you're bloody mad!"
Since the lab was becoming saturated with black particles
from the fall-out and with the choking
acrid atmosphere Dave ordered "Everybody Out !"
and both labs decamped to the Canteen.
"I told you they were good" "You should get one, Ted"
Poor old Dave, he resisted the urge to give me a bollicking.
Normal work was resumed after a good half hour.
The Oil Pump incident.
I had been building a race engine for my old 1960's Simca Aronde,
this in late 1973.
 |
| 1960 Aronde P60P Identical to my own car |
 |
| My mildly customised Simca Aronde |
Deciding to retain but clean and test the original
oil pump I took it in with me on a night shift and
after a visit to the pub set about the item.
I didn't disassemble it but decided to clean it out
using lab chloroform, of which we had a large
bottle in the chemical cupboard.
I poured the chemical in through one of the vents
in the pump, swished it about and poured the oily
contents down the sink.
Chloroform evaporates rapidly.
I shook the pump - not much left inside - and, stupidly,
applied a flame to it to evaporate the remainder.
NOT A GOOD IDEA!
"WOOF!"
The residue of the black mixture shot out of the vent
under pressure and sprayed one wall and half the
ceiling which then dried instantly.
It took me 4 hours to clean the mess, just finishing
in time to greet the morning shift.
The "Tapped" or "Dibbing" phone call experiment.
During weekends the lab office phone had been configured
so that only incoming calls could be taken.
It was discovered, however, that you could "Dib, Dib"
the phone rest and this would indeed dial a number if
The Dibber could Dib correctly.
In came to pass that, one Sunday p.m. after Torridge Inn,
that "Dibbing" was randomly employed to see who might
be contacted.
Lots of "Dibbing" provided a Long-Distance ringing tone.
Shortly after, a voice (an American voice that is), enquired
who was phoning.
We engaged the (male) respondent who, he explained,
lived in ....I can't remember now exactly, but somewhere
like Arizona.
He went on to ask us who we were and where and we in turn
asked the same of him. He was, I believe, a lawyer or suchlike,
and we spent a pleasant half-hour exchanging views and
comments terminating in a very pleasant work diversion.
There was one other Dibbing incident worth mentioning.
One morning, before breakfast, some Dibbing brought a
response from a lady, somewhere in the UK.
"Hello, who's speaking?" she asked.
"BT here madam, we believe there is a high resistance on your line.
Could you provide a little help for us, please?"
BT: "Can you take hold of your telephone line and
trace it back to the little box in your room"
Lady responder: "Yes, I have it."
BT: We would like you to pull the cord tight, please."
Lady Responder: "I've done that."
BT: (muttering in the background)
"er no, still not right. Can you give the line a tug, please?"
The line goes dead. 😟
It seemed funny at that time but, of course, it wasn't.
Sorry, Lady.
 |
| For the narrative! |
The Christmas Tree.
It would have been Christmas, December 1973.
I did 6 years of night shifts covering the Christmas
period during my years in the lab.
It was an opportunity to make something a bit special
for the ladies in the Bacti Lab next door.
So it was that on this occasion, I planned to obtain a
(real) Christmas tree and set it up in their lab, properly
decorated for them and cheer the one on duty
at the weekend.
With this in mind and on a day off I drove my old Jag
out to Watergate,(a few miles from Torrington),
with a view to identifying a likely tree.
From the main road and up on the hillside, I observed
a suitable example and made a mental note of its location
knowing it would be dark when I needed to find it again.
Compared to its neighbours it looked to be the right size.
Night shift came and, after a few ciders at the Torridge,
I drove the Jag back to Watergate.
I remember it was a very cold, moonlit night, now about 12:30 am.
Parking up I grabbed my bow saw and made for the tree.
I hadn't taken into account the first obstacle,
the thick hedge bordering the forest.
I managed to push myself through, akin to a
Spaniel on a shoot, and scrambled on through
the undergrowth until I arrived at The Tree.
Blimey, it was MUCH taller than I realised.
Never-the-less, I reached as high as possible
and began to saw.
It came crashing down about me and even then was
far too big for the job so more sawing was needed.
By now it was a more realistic size. I dragged it
behind me back down the slope, got it through the
hedge and with some difficulty pushed it backwards
into the Jag through a back door.
I had to push the tree away so as to see where I was
going on the way back to the dairy.
 |
| The "Christmas Tree" Jag - (Bracknell, 1972), next to my pals Lotus Cortina. Note the mysterious registration number Oddly, several of my cars had multiple 6's - an Omen p'raps? |
Back to the lab, no one about, up the stairs
and into the lab with the tree.
For the purpose I had taken one of my late
grandfathers' flower pots. Large enough to take the tree,
I had taken some Plaster of Paris from my fathers dental
surgery workroom and proceeded to mix some,
placing it around the tree stem and making it as
snow c/w Y prints as if made by a small bird.
All that was left to do was to spend most of the
rest of the shift adding the decorations.
I hoped the female lab staff would be pleased with the
effect and, after changing over with the
morning shift, I drove home satisfied with my efforts.
The Cider Run.
During the summer months when the milk intake was highest
much fresh milk was taken from the dairy, by road as well as by train,
and sent around the country to other dairies and also for bottling
in London at the now defunct Woodlane dairy.
Thus it was not unusual to have between 8 and 10 "Long Tom"
road takers arriving to collect the 4,500 gallons (each) and set
off for various destinations around the country.
By this time, the 1970's, distribution was managed by
Wincanton Transport, a division of Unigate.
One driver became well-known to us.
He was John, who's nickname was "Chirpy".
Chirpy was usually to be found in the Torridge Inn whilst
waiting for his tanker to be loaded.
He suggested that he could run "Ritchies" cider down from
Wincanton, this at a pound a gallon. "Good stuff it was" he
explained.
So it was that he would bring down, usually, 6 gallon
containers of cider and, one day, a call went out over the factory
tannoy thus:
"Bob Friendship, Chirpy's here with the Cy."
We kept our consignments in a locker, marked with
"XXX", in the men's changing room. Handy!
Chirpy wasn't the only cider provider either.
Pat Sparkes, who worked with Fred Gullick in the tyre workshop,
brought us cider made by his father who lived at Braunton.
"Sparkies Cy" was also exceeding good beverage.
Cheers, Pat!
Whilst on holiday in Italy in 2019 I met a group who came
from Wincanton and I recounted the story of Chirpy.
Apparently they knew him well and said he was still going strong.
I asked they remember me to him.
What a coincidence!
Christmas Comfort.
One cold Christmas, mid-70's I recall, there was
a requirement to enhance the "drinking-in-the-toilets"
experience. The small room had no heating.
I had an idea. ðŸ’
I had bought my mother a small but powerful fan heater
as a present.
With some days to go 'till Christmas I installed this same
heater in our toilets but, no power.
From the Fitters Shop, Peter Dymond lent me an extension
lead.
Plugging into a socket in the office I pushed the lead out
of the window, strung it along the wall and back in through
a toilet window.
Booze room heating sorted!
Happy (Christmas) Days.
Mum was pleased with her heater, too.
The Jeep Experience.
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1973. (photo: Bob Friendship collection) |
Briefly, as also mentioned elsewhere, here:
There were just two occasions when the old car
provided an amusing diversion during day work.
One lunch time, Michael "Blasky" Blaskiewcz, Keith Prouse
and one other whom I cannot remember climbed
aboard for a bit of fun.
I took them down Rolle Lane and up
across the commons, roaring out from the bracken
and back onto the main road up behind the Office block.
You had to hang on tight.
I can still hear Mike & Keith bellowing with laughter.
Both real characters, we remember "Blasky" and Keith.
Above are just a few stories taken from a 13 year stint
in the lab.
There was no place like it - believe me!
If you have a story you would
like included just let me know.
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