Page 199 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

Their main annual contract while I was there was servicing and repair of all fairground
machinery at every Butlin’s Holiday camp. This was an out of season job and involved
strict timetables to ensure everything was ready for the Easter start to the holiday trade.
Rundles employed about 20 including office staff. There was father John our immediate
neighbour, sons Jack, Ken and Alan. In the office was sister Sue and two other young
ladies.
They also ran a thriving iron foundry that was located just across the water from our back
garden.
The iron foundry was constantly busy producing all types of agricultural castings and
specialist work for individual requirements.
Much of the work of the firms Bedford KM 16 ton long wheelbase lorry revolved around the
foundry.
Special sand for the castings was collected regularly from Derbyshire and scheduled
deliveries of castings were made throughout Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

The lorry had a hydraulic mobile crane that was used to move large pieces of machinery.
The firm bought and sold heavy metal working and wood working machinery. Most was
initially purchased at specialist auctions and brought back to the yard for repair and
servicing before resale.
There not being many such lorries in the area, Rundles also hired out their vehicle and
driver to undertake specialist lifting jobs for other companies.
Initially I had to take a deal of ribbing from the other workers. Many had known me when I
had started with my own lorries and a fair proportion of my work had come from Rundles. It
was all good natured though.
The work was certainly varied and I never knew from day to day where the lorry was going
or what it was to undertake; the only exceptions where trips away involving nights out. To
be fair they always gave me good notice so I could plan things at home in my absence.
It was the jobs that involved other businesses that brought the most “entertainment”.

“CORN BIN CALAMITY”
One of a number of calamities I was involved with at Rundles involved a large corn storage
bin.
At least once a week while I was working for the firm, the crane lorry would be hired to a
local company from Horncastle to deliver and erect one or more of their new huge corn
storage bins.
They were normally supplied to farms with large numbers of animals housed in sheds or
barns. The feed could then be delivered in bulk into the tall bins and discharged through
patent automated systems to the animals inside the buildings.
Poultry and pig farms were the two most frequent clients and I travelled all over
Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire delivering these bins each week. The job involved
collecting the bin from their yard in Horncastle and travelling to the customer’s farm. The

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