Running right alongside the export drive, was a desire, and need actually to feed our nation by growing the food the country needed here in Britain, thus cutting down on costly importation of foreign food. Government recognised that to achieve that aim the British farmer had to be supported in every way possible. One way that this target was furthered was the subsidization of lime for the land, and as a result the demand for ground limestone sky rocketed. I’m no farmer by any means, however, my understanding is that ground over time can become acidic when being farmed for both arable products and grazed by livestock. I’ve heard it said that it makes the grass bitter for livestock actually. The ideal antidote to this acidity is lime, a calcium carbonate, or alkali. Crushed Steel Slag was also used, which in our area was usually collected from Shelton Steel Works, in the Potteries.
My dad, Frank as a teenager was working for a chap running a Thornycroft Sturdy. They were engaged on farm deliveries, corn and the like for the Stafford based company Stubbs Meeson and Co. The Thornycroft having been supplied new by Longton Truck Equipment, the local Potteries Thornycroft agents. The poor Thornycroft had to cope according to dad with eight-ton loads, some 30 or so per cent more than it was designed for, they also used a Vulcan which too was loaded to eight-tons payload. Both were sold by their manufacturers as six tonners. Anyway, it was while dad was working out of Stubbs Meeson’s as driver’s mate on the Thornycroft that he met and got to know Doug Punchard. The two got
