Tom Ainscough was a friend of my parents and taught me to ride my first motorbike, the 1929 Francis Barnett – at midnight when I got home from my shift at the colliery where I was doing my National Service after the war. A somewhat uncomfortable experience for the snow was quite thick and I had already cycled home about 18 miles.
Tom used to ride belt drive Douglases, thirty bob ones in the late twenties, he drove a Foden steam wagon in those days in partnership with his brother Jack eking out a living with various haulage jobs.
One of these was for a builder whose yard was bounded by an old sandstone wall, and the steering on the wagon was “not very precise” and they caught the wall when driving out and a large section toppled down into the dry ditch at the roadside.
Tom assured the builder that it would soon be rebuilt and when Jack said “What are we going to do about it? Now!” was Tom’s reply “This job will only last a couple of weeks and let him fix it”.
To their surprise the job went on and to the builder’s enquiries about the rebuild Tom said just waiting for the man to come but he is very busy, realising that something had to be done for they needed the haulage. Tom went to another pal who lived nearby and who was “on the dole” as were most people and said “Do you want to earn a few bob easy”. “What’s the job?” “It’s a sandstone wall that needs fixing, but I am not a brickie and have no idea about walls.” “No” Tom said “I just want you to look as if you are weighing up the job and I will take you up in the morning and bring you back at night, it’s just to keep the owner happy.”
The haulage job lasted far longer than expected and to Tom’s surprise the wall slowly got built and at the finish of it the builder came to Tom and said “Will you give this seven and six to your man, he is very conscientious, I have watched him from my office window and he spent a good ten minutes deciding exactly where to place it.”
“Yes” said Tom “We had to wait a bit for him, he is an expert and had been working on Liverpool Cathedral.”