Free wood hard to get

[Mike Hill]

6 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

A guy called Derry Watkins from Faygate near Horsham.

 

He was one of many ex employees of Southern Tree Surgeons who, in the 70s and 80s were very prominent in the industry. Bought by Bartletts I understand.

Ever work with a guy from down that way who used to do medieval jousting and sidecar racing? Can't remember his name just now,I worked for an outfit that did the Dulwich Colledge Trees back in the late 90s . I remember mentioning that to him in Germany when we worked together in 2000. Mark Walsh was his name,fk me that's 23 years ago.

[Mick Dempsey]

No, I came late to the game (31) so once I felt I had learnt enough I started my own thing, I had no time to waste.

Had I started 10 years earlier I might have had a more rounded ‘apprenticeship’

 

Course in those days, before the internet, you operated in a bubble, seeing little apart from what you’d learnt from your first boss, at least for me.

 

Things like articulated loaders, crane work and SRT were things you occasionally heard about but you had no idea of how it actually happened.

First time I saw an Avant was on here, I think it was Dean Lofthouse’s, as soon as I saw it it blew my mind.

 

 

Edited January 19 by Mick Dempsey

[Mike Hill]

I see.

 

Yes it really was a different game back then.

[Dan Maynard]

12 hours ago, Mick Dempsey said:

In Dulwich College grounds?

No not that college, miles away that is.

[nepia]

12 hours ago, Mick Dempsey said:

A guy called Derry Watkins from Faygate near Horsham.

Mick, Faygate's as good as gone, disappeared under the new Milton Keynes. It's simply hideous. You'd weep.  Horsham will soon be a large pile of bricks, not a small market town

Edited January 20 by nepia

[lux]

5 minutes ago, nepia said:

Mick, Faygate's as good as gone, disappeared under the new Milton Keynes. It's simply hideous. You'd weep.  Horsham will soon be a large pile of bricks, not a small market town

That whole area from Billingshurst to Gatwick is just like one sprawling town of soul devoid suburbia 

I dont head that way often but when I do it always seems there's a new estate under construction 

[nepia]

And both major political parties are promising to accelerate the process 🤦‍♂️

[Mick Dempsey]

1 hour ago, nepia said:

Mick, Faygate's as good as gone, disappeared under the new Milton Keynes. It's simply hideous. You'd weep.  Horsham will soon be a large pile of bricks, not a small market town

Freaks me out a bit every time I go back. I can get lost in the area I grew up in. 
After I posted I realised, he lived in Colgate not Faygate, not far away (where the toothpaste mines were)

Edited January 20 by Mick Dempsey

[maybelateron]

On 19/01/2024 at 12:59, Liam109 said:

Is it me or does it seem really hard to get any free wood these days? Anyone cutting it down wants to keep it, for their use or to sell. 

I have given up supplying logs apart from 2 customers in my village. Processing the timber was something we could do in bad weather. The reason I have given up is that I cannot bring enough tiber back from tree work. As has been said earlier, almost all tree customers now keep it, if not for themself then for their nephew who lives 20 miles away but has a van.

[Stere]

As often as not with people who want to keep wood it is still there yrs later as a unintentional "bug hotel" I notice when passing.

 

Often a  penny pincher who ends up  letting it  it all rot.