Page 6.   SD Enthusiasts' Club Newsletter - Winter 2019.

  THE EDITOR’S SNIPPETS.

NEWSLETTER EXTRA October 2019. Stanley Wright Chauffeur to Harry Shelvoke.

In October I published the first ever Newsletter Extra (as a pdf file) as Harry Wright had sent me some fascinating information about his father, Stanley Wright, who was chauffeur to Harry Shelvoke in the 1930’s.  The people on my mailing list were advised of this and it can be found by clicking here.  

I appreciated a number of replies that I received saying that they had enjoyed the extra newsletter.

Bill Smith, whose father was the Joiners’ Shop Superintendent, Ken Boyer Smith, corrected the statement I had made about Mr. Shelvoke’s camera: “This is part of a photo measuring 4 ½ ins x 3 ins. It appears that despite the Shelvoke’s comfortable life style only a rudimentary camera was available.”
Bill wrote:- “If the 4½” x 3” photographs are contact prints, that suggests a fairly upmarket camera for the early 1930s. I guess Harry Shelvoke was accustomed to employing a photographer when back in Letchworth (possibly the Clutterbucks?).” It’s so easy to fall into the trap of not properly researching everything I write. Thank you, Bill, for pointing this out.

Bill also sent the interesting photo shown below.



He said:- “When the contents of Melverley were put up for auction my father, who had a love of Art Deco, bought this coloured terracotta head. It still stands on a sideboard he made more than 70 years ago.

Colin Humble who was SD’s Sales Manager for South-West England phoned me with some memories of Mr. Shelvoke’s Daimler. He recalled being told by Walter Bunyan, a chauffeur employed after Stanley Wright, that Harry Shelvoke would go to London’s Bond Street shopping. He instructed his chauffeur to travel up the road at 1 m.p.h. so that he could see which shops he wished to visit. The taxi drivers weren’t very pleased!

Colin told me that the Prince of Wales crests below the rear side windows were very small – about the size of a thumbnail.

Colin then recalled the demise of the Daimler Double Six. He told me that the photo I’d found wasn’t quite correct and I think this may be nearer the mark:-


He recalled Walter Bunyan collecting a party of Council representatives to bring them to Letchworth. After an overnight stay he set out in the Daimler with Colin travelling in his own car. On the journey the Daimler packed up, Colin thinks it was a blown head gasket. An alternative car had to be found. The damage proved to be terminal and the car was replaced by Stan Quin, who became Managing Director in 1971, with a Hooper bodied Daimler DS420. Colin recalls that it was very like Oxford Diecast’s model shown here.


Does anyone have more memories of these cars and their chauffeurs, please?

Keeping the SD Name Alive.



The Ayrshire Road Run 2019 photo by David Smith.


Tommy Moore sent in a report to Irish Vintage Scene magazine of his participation in the Ayrshire Road Run and it was published under ‘Reader’s Photos’. He described the route the five SD’s took:- “The Ayrshire Run started in Ayr going north on the coast road through Irvine and Lards, and to Kilmarnock for lunch. Then southbound to finish at Portpatrick for overnight stay. On Sunday we followed the A75 to Castle Douglas. The Run finished at Lockerbie, but we had to turn back there to catch the ferry at Cairnryan.” Along with three photos Tommy kept the SD name alive for the Irish Vintage Scene readers.



Martin Blatch a former SD apprentice who lives in Sandy, Bedfordshire sent in this photo of the maintenance team circa 1983. Martin was employed by the company for 14 years. His father, Robin Blatch, was also an SD employee. The names as he recalls, asking us to excuse the spellings are:-

 

Left to right:- Tom Mc Guinness, Bill Overton, Mick Waldock, Doug Warren, Jim Munnerly, Ian ?, Mick Hiscocks, Doug Flint, Reg Burley, can’t remember? Hope someone can help, Terry Drewitt, Wally Woods, Andy Addison. 

Can anyone fill in the missing names, please?


Sherlock Carpenter




I think many engineers have a bit of Sherlock Holmes in our makeup. We like to solve problems. I enjoy trying to identify photos which arrive on Facebook without captions. There’s an awful lot I still don’t know about SD’s products but I enjoy exercising the Sherlock in me. I believe a photo loses a lot of its value without a caption. Elsewhere on this Website there is a section on Vehicle Types where I've attempted to find clues for identifying vehicles from photos. Any comments on these pages is always welcome.

A Born Optimist?

Recently I’ve renewed my ownership of the url www.shelvoke-drewry.co.uk for a further five years. Optimist or what?



In October John Howard, from Southport who used to work for Sefton Council shared some of his extensive archive of refuse collection vehicles photos on Facebook. Over 50 of these were SD related and I shall be sharing some of them with you in future Newsletters. I particularly liked this one of a New or 'E' type gully emptier in service in Paddington.

Mick Hursey Remembers.

Mick Hursey who joined S&D in September 1970 has written an account of his time with the Company. This will feature in future editions of the Newsletter.


The above photo appeared in the Autumn issue of the Newsletter. Bill Aldridge was in contact with the following news:-

"Regarding the Manchester Corporation dustcarts and yes those strange cabs were fitted onto Karrier chassis.

I volunteer at Bury Transport Museum on the East Lancashire Railway and on Friday last week met a chap from Newry in County Down who had worked for Manchester Corporation.

He explained that the cabs were definitely built by Corporation coachbuilders at Gorton in East Manchester. Inside the cab was a small sign stating that they were owned by the Mayor and Corporation of Manchester. Many of the dustcarts were driven by a regular driver, some of whom were ex- army and were used to spit and polish and kept their vehicles in very tidy order. Unfortunately the museum visitor had no idea why the cabs were built by the Corporation."

Our thanks are due to Bill for clearing up the mystery of those cabs with a Karrier chassis and Glover, Webb & Liversidge Dual Tip bodies.

OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO FORMER SD EMPLOYEES.

Roger Morrisroe alerted me to an announcement in the Comet Newspaper which read:- " Jean Violet Murray sadly passed away on 12th October 2019 aged 90 years. Jean will be dearly missed by her family and friends."

We feel it is highly likely that this is Jean Murray who worked as a receptionist/telephonist at Shelvoke & Drewry from 1978  to 1990. Jean wrote in July 2003:- “It was a great place to work.”  Unfortunately despite contacting the Undertaker we have been unable to confirm that our assumption is correct. However I felt it right to include this announcement here.

Thanks.

This is a fairly full Newsletter and I am most grateful to all those who have sent in the items that are included here. Your memories, news stories and comments are always most welcome, and without you the publication of this Newsletter wouldn't be possible.



The Shelvoke & Drewry Enthusiasts' Club Newsletter is published four times a year on 1st March, 1st June, 1st September and 1st December. Items for inclusion may be e-mailed to me at: pinnerboy[at]btinternet.com

Next issue:- Spring 2020 will be published on 1st January 2020.

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