A FLETCHER & CO LTD
PART SIX
At Fletcher’s in the 1960s when I was training to be a truck mechanic, it was expected that I would work long into the evening alongside the mechanics, and still expected to be ‘on the clock’ at 8am the next morning, so at 7.55 I would be approaching the ‘clocking in machine’ which was located on the wall at the end of the office corridor facing the stairs to the upstairs office. It paid to have a pencil or biro on your person, as the clocking in procedure entailed pulling a small brass handle towards you thus opening a small brass door on the writing slope exposing a roll of paper with the time stamped in the top left-hand corner,…you simply signed your name. This action took place four times per day for the next six years.
At this time, I would always meet ‘old’ Bill Cooper, a retired miner who lived just a few hundred yards along Station Road from the garage with his wife in a neat detached house. Bill was always smartly turned out, collar and tie, pullover, clean bib and brace overalls neatly clipped with bicycle clip and shiny black boots, completing the ensemble was a dark blue beret, always the beret. Bill was Ron Johnston’s (aka Jonno) own odd job man. Bill’s primary job was to wash and leather Jonno’s Rover P5 three-litre Coupe. It was two-tone blue, a beautiful motor. Bill worked from 8am until 12noon Monday to Friday.
On Mondays, Bill would start off cleaning the wash area at the back of the garage after the weekend wash down sessions. He would finish off with a very
