As I previously related we moved to Spaxton in September 1968 and started the business from scratch. No customers, nothing, which gave me time to get organised.
The basic workshop was there with not much needing doing to it. The original was described as trap house, stable and hay store built of cob with tiled roof. A lean-to was added to one side in 1947 with one wall left to support the roof with two doorways for access. This was fine for the old chap I bought it from - he was a jobbing builder, wheelwright and undertaker. Incidentally the little chapel of rest I used as an office.
This cob wall had to come down to open up and make more space, so the timber framed roof was jacked up on props, the wall removed and some girders erected which came from the demolition of rnold and Hancock’s Brewery which used to be behind Hatchers Repository (now flats) in Kingston Road Taunton. SWEB charged the princely sum of £25 to upgrade the power supply to 3 phase. All that remained was to move the heavy stuff in. My sister Marie worked for Manthorp Plant Hire at Galmington and they wanted the princely sum of £25 to move all my gear.
At 6 a.m. on Monday morning Manthorps low-loader and an Iron Fairy Crane from Richards and Wallington of Priorswood turned up at Creech and all hell was let loose. When loading was finished we set off for Spaxton and arrived at 8.45 a.m. just as most of the children were going to school. They were gob smacked and several of them were understandably late that day. By 4 o’clock all was done, the lorry and crane had gone. The crane put the big lathe halfway across the workshop doorway and father and I shifted it it into place on lengths of pipe with iron bars. Not bad going as it weighed about 5 tons. All in a good days work and £25 well spent, The rest of the week was spent shifting machines around and changing my mind. After wiring everything up, I was ready to go.
With no customers lined up what was the next move? A check of the finances reveals the magic £25 so it had better be a quick move. I needed a job of some sort and after all I could turn my hand to most things. So it was the jobs page in the Bridgwater Mercury. Coates Fencing wanted a welder so along I went. “When can you start?”, I was asked. “Tomorrow” I said. I could have said this afternoon but I didn’t want to sound desperate. The work was pretty well run of the mill, gates, railings and barriers plus fittings for the concrete yard and wood mill.
One noteworthy job was gates for transformer compounds for MANWEB Merseyside and North Wales Electricity board (what a mouthful). These were a tubular frame with bracing, and round the edges, facing inwards lugs to fix weld mesh, 2 gates with hangers welded on and a latch, nothing to them at all. An order arrived for a batch of 20 pairs with a drawing showing the size, all the same and identical to the original gates. The job was completed and sent off.
Two weeks later they all came back and the reason for non-acceptance was that they weren’t to the drawing. On checking they were square, to the right size and not twisted, what was the problem? Some smart bottom of a jobsworth had measured and drawn the original gates and this was to be standard. The lugs were welded at random distances round the frame, the centres of these lugs had been measured to the nearest eighth of an inch and because the new batch had the lugs welded on randomly the whole lot had to be modified, I wonder what sort of home life jobsworth had?
Towards the end of the year the firm was sold. I have tried desperately to remember who purchased it and I failed. It was an outfit from Coventry who made greenhouses and they wanted to produce their own metalwork. They shut down the concrete post making and the Woodmill but kept us going on a shoestring. The new owner, I think his name was Robbins and I think that he also owned Coventry City F.C. There were grand plans for development and this included a huge all seating grandstand. We had the job to make the frames for the tip-up seats, 10,000 of them (makes sense to buy an ironwork shop). These frames were basically 2x1 box section welded up with holes and lugs here and there and they were to be powder coated. The foreman, a rubbish welder but a good foreman said he would make up the samples to go away for coating, they had to be blast cleaned first and they fell apart, as with any bad weld the slag was the weld. By now management was getting worried. Being management they don’t panic, just worry, but enough to ask the shop floor for ideas. There were 20 tons - 900 lengths of box section to cut up and it was realized how long it would take to stick weld and de-slag it.
When ideas were needed I never could keep quiet so I said the magic word “MIG”. “Very good - How does it work?” “C.0.2”. I said. Then an expert welders chips in - ”Its like oxy-acetylene but you use C.0.2”. so I topped that with, “An Argon mixture is better”.
The outcome was that they hired a 250-amp set to try it out. A second MIG. set was hired and I taught two chaps the basics and work progressed quite steadily but it all came to an end in the New Year. Work got slack and being democratic they were going to draw lots to see who got laid off. This made my mind up so I drew my cards and said “Good by”.
I had been getting a bit of work come in so it was now or never on my own. I tied up all loose ends, paid all bills and on 1st March 1969 I became J. Selby (Welding) with would you believe a working capital of, you can probably guess £25.
