Stationmaster's son digging back to the past on JCB trip

THE son of a former stationmaster in Rocester took a trip down memory lane when he visited the factory site close to where his family home stood 50 years ago.

Sixty-four-year-old Keith Foster, whose father Leslie worked on the Leek to Uttoxeter railway line, lived in the station house near to JCB's world headquarters in the village from 1950 to 1960.

Both the house and the railway line, which stood just yards from the JCB Lakeside Club on Station Road, were demolished in the 1960s as part of the British Rail modernisation programme.

But Mr Foster, who was aged just five when his father took on the stationmaster role, was treated to a tour of the factory last Thursday after contacting the digger giant to help him relive his childhood memories.

The retired engineer, who now lives in Oldham, in Lancashire, grew up there as the fledgling JCB factory was beginning to take shape over the road.

Mr Foster, who lived at the station house with sisters Sheila, aged 71, Ann, who is now deceased, Janette, aged 62, and Susan, aged 54, said: "It's the first time I've had a look around the factory since I moved away and it's taken me back in time.

"I have great memories of growing up at the station house.

"We had no television until I was 11 or 12-years-old.

"I would help my dad out with loading the wagons with corn and I remember farmers putting newly-born calves on the back of trains for other farmers to pick up at other stations."

He said he was impressed at how the factory had changed: "It was a really nostalgic visit. Lots of memories came flooding back even though everything has totally changed.

"The station house has long been demolished and all that stands now is the gatehouse.

"The JCB Lakeside Club on Station Road stands on the site of the old warehouses.

"But the biggest change is the development of the JCB factory itself.

"It really is a magnificent building now and the lake has been developed into a fantastic site.

"When I was a child growing up in the area JCB was still just a small but growing firm, but even then there was a buzz about the place.

"You always knew something big was going to happen."

Keith also remembers meeting the late Joseph Cyril Bamford – founder of JCB – who was affectionately known as Mr JCB.

"I remember him visiting the station house and the adjacent warehouse on many occasions to collect materials and equipment that had been transported in by train," Keith recalled.

"He spoke to my father on several occasions and even I could tell that he seemed very enthusiastic about his work."

Keith was accompanied on the trip by wife Glenda, sister Sheila Gadsby and her husband Cyril, along with Cyril's brother Norman Gadsby, who live in south Derbyshire.

Sheila, who has four children, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, added: "We had a wonderful afternoon and it's been lovely seeing the progress at the factory.

"It's brought back a lot of memories coming back here."

She was 12-years-old when the family moved to the station house and spent three years there before leaving to go and work in service on a farm in Draycott-in-the-Clay.

The station house was subsequently demolished, and the railway line dismantled as part of the British Rail modernisation programme, popularly known as the Beeching Cuts, of the 1960s.

JCB spokesman, Nigel Chell, said: "We were very happy to invite the family back and see their faces light up as they relived their memories."