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Are Liverpool boats really the best narrowboats you can get?


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6 minutes ago, Athy said:

I inferred that Tim had helped himself copiously as he walked along.

 

During my student days I went on a tour of Cadbury's factory at Bournville. One of our number, seeing the rows of chocolates trundling past the operatives on the production line, asked if there was ever a problem with pilfering.

"Oh yes", replied the tour guide, "when someone new starts they cram themselves with chocolates. Then they spend a couple of days off sick, and when they come back they eat just a few a day like everyone else".

 

At the Mars factory I visited the staff were given  as much of the product as they liked, at first they would stuff themselves but the novelty would soon wear off!

 

When I was very young  a friend of the family worked at the Fry's factory at Keynsham, we always looked forward to his visits when he would bring loads of reject chocolate bars, does anyone remember Fry's Five Boys chocolate?

Edited by Tim Lewis
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11 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

At the Mars factory I visited the staff were given  as much of the product as they liked, at first they would stuff themselves but the novelty would soon wear off!

 

When I was very young  a friend of the family worked at the Fry's factory at Keynsham, we always looked forward to his visits when he would bring loads of reject chocolate bars, does anyone remember Fry's Five Boys chocolate?

I've been stuffing myself with chocolate for 40 years.  The novelty hasn't worn off yet.

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4 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

In contrast, the chicken processing factory I mentioned earlier expected a large % of new staff to fall ill within the first month of starting work and had a very small factory shop :)

 

The Chicken processing plant near us (10 miles away) has a staff shop which is also open to locals if you can prove you live within 15 miles.

There are some bargains - 3 cooked chickens £1, or, 5Kg bags of chicken breasts £2.50 etc and we have availed ourselves of it, but I do wonder about the 'history' of the meat offered.

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49 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

does anyone remember Fry's Five Boys chocolate?

Yes: the wrapper showed the face of a boy in a succession of moods; from vague memory it started with "Desperation", went through "Pacification" and ended with "Gratification". Or maybe "Realisation". Can't remember the others.

Wasn't it also Fry's who made Tiffin, a chocolate bar with bits of biscuit and raisin in it?

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28 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

The Chicken processing plant near us (10 miles away) has a staff shop which is also open to locals if you can prove you live within 15 miles.

There are some bargains - 3 cooked chickens £1, or, 5Kg bags of chicken breasts £2.50 etc and we have availed ourselves of it, but I do wonder about the 'history' of the meat offered.

When we lived in Sussex, there was a dubious establishment nearby called "Country Chicken" (what the hell's a town chicken?) Employees were offered damaged birds for a few pence each, so for example they might bring home a roasting bird which had only one leg or wing. There was a strong suspicion that they accidentally-on-purpose removed these limbs on the production line to ensure a supply take-home ones.

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4 minutes ago, Athy said:

When we lived in Sussex, there was a dubious establishment nearby called "Country Chicken" (what the hell's a town chicken?) Employees were offered damaged birds for a few pence each, so for example they might bring home a roasting bird which had only one leg or wing. There was a strong suspicion that they accidentally-on-purpose removed these limbs on the production line to ensure a supply take-home ones.

 

Interesting, I spent some months working with / in a Chicken processing factory near Edinburgh.

 

The problem was that the industry standard method of closing the bags the chicken is sold in is to use a metal 'hog-ring', this means that when the chicken passes down the final inspection line and pass thru the metal detectors, every chicken was rejected and swept off into the 'scap bin'. The only way to allow the chioken to 'pass' the final stages was to switch off the metal detectors - this meant that chickens were potentially being despatched with bits of metal 'stuck' in them (usually where a hog ring had been dropped and the chicken dropped down on top of it) customers were not happy.

 

We developed a plastic fastener that met all the legal requirmenents (packing plant code, date of packing, bb date etc) and the anciliary equipment to print and apply the bag seals automatically.

The QA and factory manager were ecstatic.

The project was squashed by the accountants as the on-cost of 0.5p per chicken was unacceptable.

The margin they were making on each chicken was 0.25p.

 

They never did change, and the metal detectors remained switched off.

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1 hour ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

I visited the factory a few times over a short period. The reception contained many vending machines issuing free Mars products, when we left we were giving big goodie bags!  We didn't win the tender I was working on but a few years later I met someone who worked for the contractor which did, he  said that all the staff put on a lot of weight during the course of the works!

 

I was an occasional member of a team working under contract for a large company in their London office for two years about 25 years ago. Anyone with an ID badge could get a free lunch (from sandwiches up to a three course meal) in the staff canteen, and most of the team put on a few pounds. The company did draw the line though when they noticed that some of their staff were having the three course lunch as their main meal, then picking up sandwiches on the way out of the room to take home for their evening meal.

 

It also showed that sometimes employers just can't please staff however generous they are. I once heard someone complaining that there wasn't enough choice of main courses, on the basis that four of the seven options on offer were based on chicken and they preferred other meat.

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56 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Interesting, I spent some months working with / in a Chicken processing factory near Edinburgh.

 

 

You remind me that the company in Sussex was called Grampian Country Chicken, so I suppose it was a branch of a Scottish firm.

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1 hour ago, Athy said:

Yes: the wrapper showed the face of a boy in a succession of moods; from vague memory it started with "Desperation", went through "Pacification" and ended with "Gratification". Or maybe "Realisation". Can't remember the others.

Wasn't it also Fry's who made Tiffin, a chocolate bar with bits of biscuit and raisin in it?

Our ages are showing again Athy.  Tiffin, not one of my favourites, yes Fry's.

Five Boys bars were in those pull drawer machines on just about every railway station at one time.

I do like their Cream bars and the multiple fruit cream ones, name escapes me.

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12 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Arrg!  Ouch! I did. Fry's obsessed with 5? 

 

The Fry family (along with the Rowntrees and Cadbury) were Quakers - there was an interesting programme some weeks ago about the links between chocolate and Quakers.

 

Maybe the fact that Quakers practice Polygamy resulted in the '5' appearing so much in their brands (one for each wife ?)

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46 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

The Fry family (along with the Rowntrees and Cadbury) were Quakers - there was an interesting programme some weeks ago about the links between chocolate and Quakers.

 

Maybe the fact that Quakers practice Polygamy resulted in the '5' appearing so much in their brands (one for each wife ?)

This post merits a prize for straying the furthest away from the advertised topic title of the quality of Liverpool Boats!

However, I don't think that Quakers do practice polygamy. Are you sure about that?

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20 minutes ago, Athy said:

This post merits a prize for straying the furthest away from the advertised topic title of the quality of Liverpool Boats!

I love this! Embodies the true nature of a discussion in my mind ? To continue this theme: my mum dated one of the Terry's of York heirs. She still has a lot of respect for the Quaker ethos. 

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Just now, MrsM said:

I love this! Embodies the true nature of a discussion in my mind ? To continue this theme: my mum dated one of the Terry's of York heirs. She still has a lot of respect for the Quaker ethos. 

In which case she'll know if they're polygamous or not - A de E seemed to think they were, I suspect he's confusing them with Mormons. Is she available for comment?

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41 minutes ago, Athy said:

This post merits a prize for straying the furthest away from the advertised topic title of the quality of Liverpool Boats!

However, I don't think that Quakers do practice polygamy. Are you sure about that?

 

Do Liverpool boat owners practice polygamy ? 

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12 minutes ago, Athy said:

In which case she'll know if they're polygamous or not - A de E seemed to think they were, I suspect he's confusing them with Mormons. Is she available for comment?

 

 

You may be correct - I know the Mormons are polygamous but think that the Quakers are also.

 

Certainly google seems to suggest that they are not against it and even "recognise the value of non-marital realationships"

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16 minutes ago, Athy said:

In which case she'll know if they're polygamous or not - A de E seemed to think they were, I suspect he's confusing them with Mormons. Is she available for comment?

I've just phoned her and she says not, that Quakers have to live within the law. 

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1 minute ago, MrsM said:

I've just phoned her and she says not, that Quakers have to live within the law. 

Bless you for bothering! I was joking really, but thanks very much.

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