The Separator Floor

 

The entrances, a contemporary, compounded photo, 2007 & inset - 1971

On the designated Tuesday I duly arrived at the foreman's office where I was to follow the duty foreman down to the factory stores, barely visible at the far end of the photo, where Sid Jones provided me with three pairs of white overalls, 3 peaked hats and a pair of Wellington boots.

I had been given my clocking in card - my factory number was 129.

Following this I was led up to the changing rooms in the "new" buildings on the left hand side and adjacent to the clocking in office.

Here I met Clifford Yendole, Kenny Hill, Roger Brown and charge hand Gilbert Hammet, donned my workwear, crossed the bridge and through the twin swing doors into the Separator Floor. I was advised as to the situation of the toilet just to the right before these doors. Important!

Also joining on the afternoon shift were Philip and Ron Bignall who came from Appledore. They were both to work in the Condensery which was the floor above. We arranged to car-share since I was living at Westward Ho!

Just coming off morning shift was Freddie Sanders who, after a few months, joined my shift team. Freddie, a great pal and keen worker, became a very good mate.

photo: Bob Friendship collection.
Fred Sanders with Bob Cudmore just visible. 1972
I knicknamed him "Rocco" - think it may
have been adapted from a TV series.
He would refer to me as "Longshanks"
which soon after, (and still is) became "Longballs."
Someone (Sid Walter?) wrote it on my hat.
Proper Job!

Remembering Bob Cudmore.

Bob worked for Warnes bakery, in Torrington, before coming to the Dairy.

Sometimes called "Blobbin" (not nastily) by ourselves, he was a fair and educated man with an accomplished, deep voice which was put to good use as he was also a union convenor.

Bob was also a Past Master of the Torrington Lodge.

His responses during times of unrest at the dairy were measured and well-judged.

He lived in the town with his wife, (Doris I think it was?) and liked to take a couple of pints at either "The Railway" or "The Royal Exchange".

One day on a morning shift I was talking to him about, of all things, Poetry, and said to him the only poem that made sense to me was "If" by Rudyard Kipling.

Bob responded by taking a previous months leaf from the calender, (I think 1971 - I do still have it somewhere) that was pinned to the inside of the floor operators cabin and he proceded to write it out for me in full.

I am pleased to present here what Bob wrote out for me all those years ago.

Have a read, see what you think.

"IF"
by Rudyard Kipling

 

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Looking back across the bridge towards the canteen, changing rooms & Laboratories.

This new procedure was alien to me, someone who had only experienced working in a bank and a shop. The smell was pervasive too, milk in it's various elements.

As you came in: two main heat exchangers & 4 Alpha Laval manual clean separators.

I always meant to photograph my floor but considered (ridiculously) that it might be interpreted as "spying". I bitterly regret that. There was pipework everywhere.

During 1971 the floor was dug up around a couple of pillars (left & right in photo) to inspect the state of the RSJ's that held up the building. They were quite corroded as you might expect in a building where water was commonplace. However, new, larger self-cleaning separators were installed in the later part of 1971. By this time, this part of the building would have been about 20 or so years old.

1979 The only photo of the old separator floor showing self-cleaning machines installed 1971
The lift door can be seen in the background.
photo: Torrington Museum.

The New Separator Floor - about 1982
(Photo: Torrington Museum.)

Right: Sid Walter, Operator, New Control Room
(Photo Torrington Museum)

Clifford Yendole, a nice chap in his early fifties, took me to the cream vat room where I met Bobby Tolley and Phil Towner. I soon found out that "Tuuly" was a bit of a case.

I liked and got on with the both of them.

Double Devon Cream vat room.

It was a superb product.

Working on the Separator floor involved moving between different departments so the individual was not stuck in one place for the duration of the shift.
The Condensery involved a similar practice.

Workers would move between the ground floor, checking silos, or going up to the top floor, to the Condensery, where there were tanks that required checking for milk levels or cleaning and pipework that at some point would need flushing out and sterilizing at some point during the day or night.

That meant that there was plenty of exercise to be gained and always something different going on.
Some other departments such as Double Devon, Powder Bagging and Butter Making were more restrictive, kind of production line working.

Workers had the opportunity, at convenient break times, to clock out and go across the road for a pint (or several!) at Fred and Eve Kindoms' pub, The Torridge Inn.

The factory canteen provided excellent grub and at an affordable price and, during the night shift, a vending machine was stocked with cold, cooked food which could be bought using different coloured tokens which were available to purchase. From memory, a dish of eggs and bacon might set you back about 35p, that around 1973.

On occasion, outsiders who had been "on the Piss" came in to take advantage of a bit a grub before making their way home. 

An 18 - 30 holiday in North Africa.

One morning in early 1971, March I think it was, a certain Malcolm Peach came to the Separator floor and, approaching me with a grin on his face, enquired if I fancied going on holiday to Morroco this to be in the coming June. 

Excepting we had only spoken during his visits to my department to collect samples, (he worked in the Manufacturing laboratory), we had not exchanged much conversation so I was very surprised by his offer. I didn't have a bean saved but, no matter, "Yes" I replied and the wheels were set in motion. 

Malcolm organised the expedition from start to finish. 

Fifty quid for two weeks, Jolly good it was too! 

A link to my Blog recounting this holiday is available in my Complete Profile.

or here:

Safari Village Asilah 1971

Sometime in the autumn of '71 I somehow found myself transferred to the Manufacturing Lab. 

Ideal!

....the Blog continues.....