Website loaded with memories

Ex-Scott’s worker’s tribute

A haulage company that once kept Oldham’s goods on the move is remembered in a new website.

In its heyday, Scott’s of Oldham operated from Pine Mill with a fleet of 70 lorries.

The firm transported and stored goods used in Oldham’s major industries from cotton to newsprint for the Chronicle, and from cardboard packaging to dried fruit and nuts for Park Cake bakeries.

The mill and the lorries are now long gone, but the memories are being kept alive by the www.scottsofoldham.fotopic.net website — created by former employee Paul Anderson.
And he is looking for more pictures and memories to add to the site, which is attracting interest across country.

The firm was founded by Sammy Scott around the time of the First World War and used horses and carts to move ash from the boilers at Oldham’s many mills for landfill. Soon they were replaced by solid wheeled flatbed lorries, some of them converted into charabancs at weekends or holidays to provide days out.

Mr Anderson recalled: “It had a really massive fleet at one time and had depots in St Helens and Ellesmere Port.

“It had contracts with people like United Glass and carried Coca-Cola and Martini bottles, white and green paper for the Chronicle and Green Final and employed around 150 people.”

Pine Mill in Sherwood Street, Westhulme, was ideal as it had been used for munitions during the Second World War, and had reinforced floors, strong enough to store heavy goods.

The company built its own trailers, and did the painting and livery on all the bodywork.

It had a state-of-the-art radio communication system, and in the traffic office — where Oldham-born comedian Eric Sykes’s brother used to work — was a massive model of the company headquarters.

Sammy gave way to his sons Alwyn, Dennis and Ronnie Scott, and the firm eventually moved to Mona Mill in Chadderton and became part of the Henry Johnson company in the 1980s, before that also closed and was demolished.

Mr Anderson worked at Scott’s for three years, until he was 18, but his father also worked there for 20 years, and he is still in touch with many of the drivers.

Ronnie Scott’s son Barry, who lives in Austerlands, said: “I didn’t think there would be so much interest in the website, it has really surprised me.

“I had lots of photos in albums — now they are all on the computer and people from all over the country are looking at them.

“In 1953, they still used a horse and cart, which used to go to the Condor Iron Works, where Tesco is now in Westwood.

“It brought the slag out which was put on a tipper trailer and used to fill in mill lodges.”

Any ex-Scott’s employees who may have any pictures or memorabilia relating to the company can contact Mr Anderson on 07974-210 830.