大象传媒

This story has been contributed by Val Potter of Age Concern, Hellifield. It was originally contributed to Age Concern in 1990.
Mr Capstick got his calling-up papers in 1939 while he was working on the Penine buses. He recalls a day on the buses when so many people were standing he could hardly get down the gangway to collect the fares. By the time they reached Cross Streets, someone tried to get on, there was no room so Mr Capstick pointed out that there was another bus coming. Back in Settle, he was blown up by one of the bosses and told that he had not picked people up when they tried to board the bus. There followed a big row because he was going into the Army. He had to go before a tribunal before call-up.
He was sent to Liverpool for training. They all had to sleep on palliases on the floor. They were issued with new boots and then sent on a four mile route march to get used to them! Following that, he was sent to London in the Pioneer Corps - they had to construct gun emplacements for anti-aircraft guns.
In January 1940 they were posted to Ireland. There was no heat in the train and they were stuck in the carriage with all their equipment. They were given some "doorstep" sandwiches and sausages - Mr Capstick looked at his and barked! The Seargeant Major heard him and put him in C.B. for a week. They were there nearly six months before they got a proper cook - the meals were awful. They were stationed in Lisburn, near where the Meys prison is now. Trucks used to go far and wide collecting stones for runways for U.S. planes. The runways were constructed on a bog and some men and trucks were lost sinking into it until eventually the runways were finished. It rained from January to April. They were in Nissen huts with one stove in the middle of each, there were twentyfive men in each hut and three hundred in the Company. Mr Capstick was there for two years. His sight was not too bad then, but some men who could scarcely see were sometimes put on guard at night and had to hold each others' hands to be able to get to the Guard Post. Mr Capstick had to be discharded because his nose started to give him trouble again. He was given sunray treatment, three minutes at a time, with goggles on. By the time the treatment was finished, his back was dark. He had a special lamp for his nose - Cromeer or Cromire, he doesn't remember which, it had a small bulb against which he pressed his nose. He was then sent to St.Luke's, Bradford, where he underwent marvellous surgery. Following that, he used to go in daily from Dewsbury for treatment and sometimes visited his sisters at Hellifield at weekends, on the bus.
In about 1942, Mr Capstick took a job stoking the retorts at Hellifield Gas Station. Each retort needed 40 shovelfuls of coal at each stoking. When it had burned through, it had become coke and was white hot! The stokers stood well back with a bucket of water to hand! Farmers used to bring dead sheep or dogs that had been put down to be destroyed in the furnaces.
In 1943, or so, Mr Capstick went to a cleaner job,furnaces were dirty and bad for his nose, on Settle station.
One day a week, his boss would take a Gladstone bag to collect the wages for Settle staff and those at all stations to Gargrave. Hellifield was then a big depot. At the entrance to the Bank, Mr Capstick would hold the door open, his boss would look both ways to see that there were no loiterers and then they would run back to the station! A train came down from Scotland at 10.30 and took the wages to Hellifield station to be dumped at the other stations later by a stopping train. Mr Capstick also remembers that a train carrying cows inside came down from Scotland every week.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.