Nostalgic Film Show Attracts Crowds & Raises £1,000 for Charity

Many thanks to all who came to support Gerald and myself in the Wincanton Transport & Engineering Film Show at the Maddock’s Pavilion on Saturday 14th November 2015. To say we were surprised at the large crowd that turned up is an understatement!

It was so lovely to see old work friends from the Cow and Gate Factory, Wincanton Transport, Wincanton Garages and many others. The evening turned out to be as much a reunion as it was a Film Show! The Films that were shown came from many sources, starting in the middle 1960s and going through to 2015.

The films showed milk churns being picked up from a local farm, and then going into the old Cow and Gate Milk Factory. We saw the churns being tipped, and milk being processed into the world famous Cow and Gate Baby Milk Powder.

The film showed the Aldermeads Garage site grow into what was one of the country’s (or even Europe’s) largest milk reload centres. This happened in the 1970s.

We saw the popular Social Club in full flow, Fun Days, and some retirements over the years. The sad part of the film was seeing the knocking down of the Social Club to make way for Safeway (now Morrisons).

Later we saw the Reload Centre being pulled down as farming practices changed. The Reload Centre is now the site of the Lidl Supermarket. The film also showed many of the dairies that the tanker drivers delivered to.

The film was enjoyed by all, and during the evening we collected £900 for Macmillan Cancer Care, which was wonderful. This sum was added to with a collection taken at the Aldermeads depot during a presentation by Wincanton Ltd to its customers and some of us old drivers, on Tues 17th November. The sum collected was around £100, which took the total for Macmillan to an even £1000.

Wincanton Ltd, kindly paid the hire of the Maddocks Pavilion, for which we are very grateful. So many thanks to all, from Richard Duckworth and Gerald Box.

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