This oral history interview records the memories of Winston John of Laugharne, who worked as a milk churn lorry driver in rural Carmarthenshire during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Employed by Wincanton to collect milk for the Cow & Gate factory, Winston describes daily milk collection routes, working conditions, and relationships with farmers. The interview highlights the physical nature of the work, early-morning routines, community responsibility, and informal exchanges of food in thanks for waiting. It also includes reflections on encounters with farm animals and pride in safe, reliable driving.

This item illustrates post-war rural working life in west Wales, highlighting how milk collection relied on personal trust, routine, and cooperation between drivers and farmers. It reflects the importance of transport infrastructure, informal economies, and community relationships in sustaining agricultural livelihoods in Carmarthenshire.

The conversation is an oral history interview with Winston John Laugharne, conducted by Anthony Rees on 8 March 2024 as part of the Carmarthenshire Milk Stand Project. It captures Winston’s memories of working as a milk churn lorry driver in the late 1950s and early 1960s, alongside reflections on work, community, and everyday life in rural Carmarthenshire.

The interview begins with introductions and setting the scene in Laugharne, where Winston explains he has a long personal connection to the area, having married a woman from Laugharne 65 years earlier. He notes sadly that his wife has since passed away. From there, the discussion turns to his working life, particularly his time as a milk churn lorry driver.

Winston explains that he worked as a milk lorry driver from around 1957 or 1958 for roughly three years. He is proud to note that he was the youngest driver employed at the time, having passed his driving test at just 17. To make this possible legally, his employer at Wincanton stripped unnecessary weight from the Bedford lorry so it could be driven by someone of his age. Driving milk lorries was very much in his family, as his father had been a milk lorry driver all his working life, employed by Thomas Brothers in Llansteffan before company changes led him to work elsewhere. Winston suggests that his father’s long, safe driving career may have helped him secure his own position.

Asked whether he enjoyed the job, Winston says it “wasn’t bad” and reflects positively on it overall. He left after a few years simply because he wanted a change and later worked in a factory in Johnstown, Carmarthen. There, he carried out a variety of tasks, including work involving large boilers used to cook rice. He describes how trays of rice would circulate through the boilers for a set time before being unloaded, highlighting how industrial food production worked at the time. The factory packaged products such as Devon Cream Rice and handled items like butter as well.

Returning to his time as a lorry driver, Winston describes his daily milk collection rounds. He generally covered the same routes each day, travelling across a wide rural area including Trelech, Meidrim, Talog, and surrounding farms. One of his most cherished memories involves a farm near Trelech where a wire-haired fox terrier would greet him every morning. The dog would jump into the passenger seat and accompany Winston for part of the route before being let out at the same spot each day. Winston never knew the dog’s name or spoke much with the farmer, but the routine created a small, meaningful companionship that stayed with him.

Winston typically completed two rounds a day, although sometimes he did three if other drivers were absent. He usually started work at half past seven in the morning and finished around half past three in the afternoon. He drove a Bedford lorry, sometimes fitted with a rack on top to carry extra milk churns. Although he cannot remember exactly how many churns the lorry carried, he recalls that the work could be physically heavy. Milk stands varied: some were level with the lorry, making loading easier, while others consisted of little more than railway sleepers, requiring more lifting. Despite this, he says the work became manageable once you were used to it.

A central theme of the interview is Winston’s strong sense of responsibility toward the farmers. He proudly states that he never left a farmer behind. If churns were not ready, he would wait around ten minutes, and if necessary, he would drive up to the farm to collect them. He explains that many other drivers would simply leave, forcing farmers to find their own way to deliver milk—something that was much harder in those days due to limited transport. Winston’s patience was often rewarded with kindness: farmers would invite him in for breakfast or later leave gifts such as chickens, vegetables, or bags of potatoes on the milk stand as a thank-you. He recalls that his own father used to bring home similar gifts, which he did not fully appreciate until he experienced the same generosity himself.

This attitude, Winston feels, made him part of the rural community rather than just a service provider. He notes that farmers genuinely appreciated his efforts, especially given the challenges of milk transport at the time. Seasonal conditions also come up in the conversation. Winston says hot summer weather rarely affected the milk because collections happened early in the morning, though wet sacks were sometimes draped over churns to keep them cool. In winter, the churns were cold to handle, but he says people simply “got on with it” and did not complain. He had already left the job before the severe winter of 1963, which he recalls with some relief.

When asked about pay, Winston jokes that the best part of the job was payday, though he admits the wages were average and certainly not generous. The workweek was demanding: although it was normally a six-day week, drivers sometimes worked seven days, including Christmas Day. Days off rotated rather than falling on a fixed day. Despite the long hours, Winston speaks warmly of his colleagues, saying the drivers were good people and became close friends. He estimates that around 25 to 30 lorries went out each day, with possibly over 100 people working at the milk factory itself.

He explains how milk was processed at the factory. Each churn was labelled according to the farm it came from, and as drivers returned, the milk was weighed farm by farm in a continuous process. Though Winston is unsure of the exact record-keeping system, he believes someone was responsible for logging the weights. He also recalls being a union member, though he cannot remember which union it was, and notes that he never went on strike.

Winston clarifies that he was employed by Wincanton, which contracted the milk collection work, while Cow & Gate operated the milk factory itself. He cannot remember his exact wages but reflects that this was over 60 years ago, and he is now 84 years old.

Toward the end of the interview, Winston shares more light-hearted memories, including a farm where a bull would charge down to greet him every morning, skidding to a stop at the fence and bellowing loudly. Although intimidating at first, the bull never caused harm. Along with the fox terrier, these animal encounters became part of Winston’s daily routine. He describes himself as an animal lover and seems to view these moments with fond humour.

Asked about bad experiences, Winston says he cannot recall anything particularly negative: no accidents, no major incidents. He attributes this partly to his upbringing, noting that his father received many medals for safe driving over decades of work. On his first day as a milk lorry driver, Winston was accompanied by another driver who showed him the ropes, helping him settle into the role.

Although Winston cannot remember the names of individual farms, he recalls their locations clearly and estimates that he collected milk from around 30 to 40 farms per day across the Trelech, Meidrim, Talog, and Bwlchnewydd areas, reaching as far as Blaen y Coed and Bryn Iwan. He notes that many dairy farms still operate in those areas today, even after 60 years.

The interview closes warmly, with Anthony thanking Winston for sharing his memories and for getting in touch via Facebook. Winston responds modestly, and the exchange ends on a friendly, appreciative note, highlighting the value of personal memories in preserving local and working-class history.