The History of Ruddington Depot
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Post War Changes
Environmental improvements
The buildings of the former filling factory stood empty and silent in the autumn of 1945 when Philip Allsopp, Principal Yard Foreman, took up his fountain pen and wrote on the top line of the first page of a new official notebook:
“Reconstruction Work to R.O.F Ruddington
starting Oct 15/10/45”
A
Page from Philip Allsopp's Record BookBelow this heading he recorded
details of the work carried out each day of an ambitious project to enhance
parts of the Depot site, particularly in Box 10 and alongside the Loughborough
Road on both sides of the Main Entrance. The work was carried out by a team
of men which varied in number over time, between 12 and 18 men. They engaged
in a wide variety of activities which ranged from clearing rubbish to tree
planting. The daily report for 23rd October 1945 is typical of the work done
in the initial stages.
“Two Men Cutting and Laying Hedge on Loughborough
Road.
Four Men Clearing and Raking Bank of Control Tower.
Four Men Lorrying Ashes to Car Park in front of Administration Offices also
Relaying Car Park.
One Motor Scythe and Driver Mowing around Surgery.
One Motor Scuffling up Car Park in Front of Admin. Offices.”
In the spring of 1946 three plots of land were ploughed and harrowed. The man who came in to do the job was Jack Bagguley, who was now grown up and a tractor driver at Fields Farm.
“There were three pieces of land, and I went in to plough them. Then they grew potatoes and cabbages and all sorts on them for the canteen. My Dad and Uncle George worked there then, (on the ground staff) and they used to look after that side of things.”
The
Scots pines on the traffic island on the A60 at the entrance to the Rushcliffe
Country Park were planted in 1946 as part of the redevelopment of the filling
factory groundsThe two large pieces of land became 4-acre vegetable
plots, but the smallest piece which measured only half an acre was laid out
as tennis courts. All these were in Box 10 near the main canteen.
Vegetable peelings from the canteen were used to feed chickens, which were kept in a fowl house with a large run erected nearby. Other canteen waste became pigswill, and was fed to pigs who lived in a sty on the site. The nature of the reconstruction project changed as the work progressed, and selected one line entries taken from the daily record book reflect this:
4/3/46 Two men making Bus Body into Greenhouse
7/3/46 Two men filling soil into Greenhouse
13/3/46 One man making seed boxes
23/8/46 Two men digging potatoes for 10F canteen
27/8/46 Two men completing Pig trough and erecting Fowl House
30/8/46 8 4st. Pigs arrived for Factory use
The reconstruction project ended on Christmas Eve 1946. It left behind a lasting legacy in the form of a large number of Scots pines which were planted around the main entrance on Loughborough Road, down The Avenue and around the Commandant’s house. Today they stand on the traffic island on the A60 and along Mere Way, providing an attractive introduction to the Business Park and an appropriate background to the Country Park.
The Story > Chapter 5 > Section 5.03