Conversation with Oliver Jones, Hafan Dawel, Llandysul.  May 12 2026.  Conducted by Anthony Rees as part of the Carmarthenshire milk stand project. 

Oliver was born in 1947 and grew up on a smallholding  - Llwynteg, Maesymeillion, Llandysul. 

When he was 15 he looked for a job and got a position at Gomer Press and was there was 10 years. Then in 1973 Oliver got a little fed up and at the suggestion of a friend - whose father worked at Cow and Gate Milk Factory in Newcastle Emlyn, he get a job driving milk churn lorries which was a nice change. Oliver already had an HGV license as he was also on the local fire brigade.  Getting the new job was therefore easy. 

He was taught the route by an established driver and usually worked the same routes.  Two loads a day.  The first load was usually closer to the factory, - Tanglwst and the local area.  Then, back to the factory to offload the churns onto the ‘belt’ and then, after a snack, went out to collect a second load from further afield such as Cwm Gwaun. 

He called at about 10 farms on his first run nearer to Newcastle Emlyn. And approximately 5 farms in Cwm Gwaun. 

Oliver didn’t see the farmers very often as most of the milkstands were on the road at top of farm lanes, apart from a few where the stand was on the farmyard and so had to visit the farm every day.  Oliver remembers one such farm in Cwm Gwaun where he would be offered a cup of tea or a glass of homebrew and a slice of cake.  By the time he drove down the road – the homebrew would be taking effect!  He remembers enjoying the sea views from the lorry as he drove above Newport, Pembrokeshire.  Before returning to the factory and off loading before finishing for the day and going home. 

Sometimes he had to wait for the farmers to bring he churns to the stand, but it was never a problem for him as no one rushed, unlike today. 

Some of the roads were so narrow that drivers would inadvertently loose a churn off the back of the lorry, but Oliver was always careful to thread the chain through the churn handles. 

Best part of the job was when he did get to see the farmers for a chat – usually if he had to wait for the milk to be brought out of the farm.   One farm in Tanglwst was always late, but Oliver never left a churn behind and was happy to wait. 

Another good thing were his colleagues who were never a problem to him at all.  He enjoyed chatting with them in the works canteen. 

Back at the Creamery, it was important not to miss your turn to offload as that would  mean a later finish. 

There were labels on each churn, some stands would have 2- 3 churns, others 12 or more.  A successful productive farm might have been 10 – 15 churns every day, unlike today where farms may have over 100 cows.  

He had no favourites. 

There were a lot of lorries working out of Newcastle Emlyn and they covered a large area.  Some lorries had a second deck in the front to take more churns. The lorries were Bedford TK – red / orange colour. All the lorries were the same. 

If one got back to the depot early, then you may get asked to take a tanker of whey up the local farms where it would be spread on the fields to dispose of it and to help fertilise the fields.  This process no longer happens. 

He never had any breakdowns. Roads were well maintained in all weathers. 

Work started at about 6am and finished after the second load, which was typically early afternoon, as long as hadn’t missed his offloading slot and had had to wait in line for up to 45 minutes. 

It was hard work to roll churns off the lorry onto the belt, spillages meant that overalls (provided the company) were smelling by the end of the day. 

Milk was sampled randomly using a ladle by someone at the creamery.  Some milk may have soured and would have a brown label attached and returned to the farmer the next day. Oliver had very few problems with sour milk, and almost never were all churns from a farm ‘ sour”.   It usually happened on the second run as these churns may have been exposed to the sun for longer. If it was hot weather – farmers would place wet sacks on the churns to keep them cool. 

The milk stand and lorries were the same height. Very few were the wrong height.   Oliver has heard of drivers being seriously injured falling between the stand and the lorry.  The drivers were skilled at parking close to the milk stand. 

The stands were easy to approach and had all been well positioned to make access simple – no need for reversing or awkward manoeuvres.  

You had to be careful to level the load over the lorry – to avoid too much weight on any one side. 

Stands were usually stone, rarely wooden railways sleepers some were built of blocks with a concrete top and metal rim.  This helped if the lorry drove off and clipped the milk stand.  Most had steps, to avoid having to jump up.  

The churns were heavy – (10 gallons of milk) and needed to be rolled as carrying them was difficult. 

Oliver left this job after a year.  One of the reasons is that as he was also a fireman, sometimes it was difficult if he had been up all night and then have to drive a milk churn lorry the next morning. 

Oliver has very happy memories of his year as a lorry driver.    He returned to Gomer Press printers for the rest of his career (another 25 years) He also derived satisfaction from being a local fireman.