Our photograph shows a lorry from the Percy Churchfields Dairy.

In bygone days you had a choice from whom you could purchased your milk. Wyndham Dairies, Hales, Keevils, Maples, Moody’s (who were based West Harnham) to name but a few.

During the Dairy Festival Week in June 1957, Percy Churchfields Dairies Ltd and Bemerton Dairies Ltd. invited interested parties to:  “Come along at any time between 9am and 3pm and see how your milk is processed. After collection from 30 of the best local Dairy Farms, it is made safe by pasteurisation before flowing into bottles.”

I can well remember Percy Churchfields Dairies Ltd who, in the 1970s, had 42 rounds on which to deliver 18,000 gallons of milk a day. They picked up a total of 21,000 gallons from farms over a 20 mile radius.

Delivering must have been hard work for the roundsmen who had electric trollies which cost about £6,000 each.

I remember the men as cheery fellows even though they worked 21 days at a stretch. Their hours from Monday to Thursday were 4.30am to 11.30am and during the latter part of the week from 4.30am to 4.30pm.

In the 1970s the dairy manager was Mr Brian Moore and he always asked the public for their co-operation regarding having the correct money when the milkman called (to save a lot of time and trouble in having to give change!)

It was recorded that on average, the life of a bottle was only 20 journeys and the replacement figure was half a million a year – each bottle cost almost 6p.

Back in 1976 Mr Moore said “Please keep the bottles coming in and if you see anyone misusing them please let us know and we will follow it up. Don’t forget you can be prosecuted for misusing milk vessels.”

How times change!