Big wheels turning

A little bit of history. I started the Lady truckers Club in 1986. I wanted to meet other women like me who drove trucks. I met one woman on Rownhams Services on the M27 near Southampton. We got chatting and exchanged details so we could keep in touch.

I had an idea to start a club so I wrote to the trucking magazines to tell them about what I was going to do. They printed my letters. I got enquiries and signed a few ladies up to it, putting a £5 a year subscription on it to cover photocopying and postage.

The idea behind it was to support each other, because we were all having difficulty finding jobs, and being accepted into a male dominated industry. Each member had a contact list so they could communicate with each other by phone or letter. I started to go to Truckshows, the organisers gave me free space to set up a stand. I wanted people to come and meet us and see that we were just a bunch of women who drive trucks, and no threat to the men. 

Shell Diesel Drivers Club were supportive and invited us onto their stand. The white sweat shirts were sponsored by Keltruck of the West Midlands. 

Inside the Shell marquee. 

Wheels magazine was the publication of the United Road Transport Union, of which I was a member. They were very supportive. 

You can see all the photo's stuck on the wall from group meetings. People were interested to look at them and see if there was anyone they knew. 

You can see there are some yellow sweatshirts creeping in. I put money into the club and designed the logo. I got a local printer to make these up. I started off with all yellow, and later on mixed some other colours in with them. I still have mine after all this time. You may have seen me wearing it when I made the Trucking videos. 

This picture was when we met at a Truck Racing event at Brands Hatch. 

Here we are at Truckfest at Peterborough Showground. The lone male in the photo is Steven Rodwell. His dad owned the company I was working for, and loaned us a van to travel to the event. Three of us slept in it. 

This was another time we were at Peterborough. The weather was good so we set up the stall outside. Notice the home made banner pinned to the wooden door behind us. I drew that on a piece of sheet with felt tip pens. Also made the little sign on the front of the table.

I can't remember where this was, Truckfest at Shepton Mallet I think. The Centre for Road Transport Studies invited me to set up our table outside their bus. I studied with them to get my Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) I got a local sign maker to make the yellow banner on the front of the table. 

I often wonder where all these ladies are now. I did keep in touch with some of them for a while. They are all special to me, we bonded as a group as we shared the same love of lorry driving. After running it single handed for seven years, I handed it over to a committee. There were over 300 members in it, and it was taking up all my time. It was before computers so envelopes were written by hand, I typed out the monthly newsletter and got it photocopied, and posted it out. I worked all week and went to Truckshows at the weekend. It was very time consuming but so worth it. 

Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon.  Toodle pip.