Hello newbie from kent

[maverick]

Hi Martyn, well if you see him again tell him i said hello. were is shell haven? also there was another bloke who use to work for Spencer's called john goldsmith aka apeshit the last i heard he was working for ovenden's

cheers .

[Martyn Henley]

Hi Ken.... Shell Haven is that new container port they are building over in Croyton, Essex ..Ovendens are doing the land fill from suction dredgers, cant say i know of John Goldsmith, i had left Spencers when Wilson got involved ... do you Remember Bert Pollard, Spencers manager, i think he went to Hawkins after it all went tits up ... but i expect your man there went to Ovendens, most of them did, a lot went to Croftyards and Murston, and i was with John Reeve over Wingham way..the old Lads from Spencers like Bil Cope, and Bob King retired .. and i expect i will see Perry Again and i shall pass your hello ..tried to get him on here but he aint into computers ..

[maverick]

Hi Martyn.. I eventually went to Hawkins myself along with John Aurther and John Goldsmith on the Lakeside job. John was driving a Komastsu which he hated and demanded a Cat 953 like he had on Spencer's. after walking off the job a Cat was sourced and given to him. He was very good on a drot and he use to mention another chap from Spencer's called Goldtop. I also remember Jim Murphy who use to operate the Fl40.
cheers ken.

[Martyn Henley]

I remember "goldtop" Ken,Alan was his name, he operated the Case 450 with a backhoe, i covered for him when he was on Holiday once.. i think he went to Murston plant .... there were a lot of people working for Spencer King ... i was on their one and only Case 580F, had it from new ... do you remember Kent Plant hire Ken ?

[maverick]

Hi Martyn no i never heard of them. i do remember Murston. Up my way you had Barry Pope, Mick Daly, and the old Faithful H E Services. I remember Spencer.s were one of the first in the country to have the Cat 428. i got one on Denton's, at the time i thought it was the dogs nuts. cheers

[Martyn Henley]

Ken, forgive if i am wrong here but was there not a tie up with Bowzells/Bretts and Denton plant at one point... ah yes Mick Daly, he put me through my renewal cpcs ticket back in 2003 ..as for H.E.Services, well it was Hugh that started me off on my models 15 years ago.

I have never had a go on 428, i can remember Ovendens having one, it was working on the same site as me years ago in maidstone ..did remind me of a Case at the time

[maverick]

Hi Martyn, i was not aware of any tie up with regards to Denton. Mick Daly has sold off everything now and is in New Zealand. The 428 was very much a Case in lots of ways, a bit of an experiment in the beginning with a Perkins engine,Case transmission and a Ford back axle. Very low to the ground but very smooth. I really liked it. Ovenden's seem to be very big now. Back in the day the Thanet way was a great boost for them.