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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
THE DAY THE HILLSIDE RAN WITH MILK
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Copyright Valerie Martin 2003
Life on a Findon dairy farm is all hay, corn, straw and silage.... and of course, milking. Norman Allcorn worked at Tolmare Farm some thirty years ago and he related the following story to me and I immediately said —
"Write it down for me, Norman, and I'll put it on the website".
One dreary, misty November day, Norman did just that and here's the tale of a day in the life of Arthur and how milk came to be running down the hill leading to Tolmare Farm —
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NO CRYING OVER SPILT MILK Back in the late 1960s, few farms had bulk milk tanks or had their milk collected by milk tanker. Ten gallon churns were for milk and not, as now, found in antique shops with barge painting on them or used by travellers for water carrying. Most farms had a milk stand. This was a strong table-like structure at the top of the farm lane. This enabled the lorry to pull up alongside and load at the same level. If the farm track was good enough the lorry would go directly to the farm. At Tolmare Farm the track was steep and stony but good enough for the lorry to go down the incline, round a sharp bend and passed the Dairy on to the farmyard. The milk stand was outside the dairy, situated undercover in a passageway. This passageway was not wide enough for the lorry to come alongside, so the driver had to drop the tailgate and back up to the milk stand and load over the rear. Most milk lorries were owned by large contractors or by the dairies themselves but the lorry that collected from Tolmare was a one-man, owner/driver firm. That man was Arthur. Arthur was short, stocky, muscular and bald. He had a quick temper but also a soft side to him. As well as the milk round, he did other work including delivering the Sunday papers to Findon news agents. If my young son helped him with the empty churns, he would be given a comic. One day Arthur came as usual, dropped the tailgate, unloaded about thirty empties and loaded nearly three hundred gallons of milk. Unfortunately, his mind was elsewhere, perhaps on other work or that night's darts match. So much so that he forgot to stop and put up the tailgate. The first I realised of this was a great clanging as churns started to fall off the back of the lorry. Rushing out of the Dairy I shouted, waved and ran but Arthur stared straight ahead, engine revving in low gear, while every flinty pothole brought the churns jiggling down the lorry and out on to the road. Arthur disappeared in the direction of Findon and was eventually stopped by a passing motorist. I retrieved the empty churns and lids as the escaped milk ran back down the road and slowly sank into the dusty ground. Ironically, the last trickle just reached the Dairy door. The place from which it had started a few minutes earlier! The next day I expected Arthur to be in a bad mood but all he said was — "Ah well, the insurance will pay for it". Norman Allcorn, Findon Village.
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Years later (to be precise in July 1989), a fire under a tractor in Findon sparked a major blaze when tinder-dry crops went up like wildfire. The offending tractor suddenly exploded and a straw baler was severely damaged as the immediate blaze wiped out 25 acres of valuable crops growing at Tolmare Farm.
It was said that the shooting flames reached astonishing heights of 30 ft. and were seen for miles around as more than fifty fire-fighters battled to control the fire. The mammoth exercise was masterminded from the air, with fire chiefs using the Sussex Police helicopter (not such a frequent sight in those days) to get a bird's eye view to co-ordinate proceedings over Findon.
The police had to close the neighbouring A280 at Long Furlong, as billowing swirling smoke caused severe visibility problems for drivers of vehicles on this highway..
Firefighters were called in from as far afield as Shoreham and East Preston, using beating equipment and waterjets to control the ensuing blaze. They were ably assisted by farmworkers and helpful members of the public from Findon.
Continue if you would like to read about the Controversy over Tolmare Dew-pond in 2003.
This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.
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E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com |
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