0 ust before Christmas 1936, young Harold Sutcliffe, then serving
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in Haulage RAE was pictured in CM enjoying his latest issue beneath a palm tree at RAF Station No. 203 (Flying Boat) Squadron, Basra, Iraq.
At the time Harold sent the editor this letter with his picture: GREETINGS FROM IRAQ I would like to wish you and the members of your staff the compliments of the season.
lam an RAF transport driver, and I find that the only way in which in which I can keep in touch with the English transport services is by reading your journal. Now, nearly half a century on, 81-year-old Harold has sent another picture in which he is clearly continuing to enjoy his weekly dose of CM, although the background has changed—Harold now lives in Louth, Lincolnshire.
And what has happened since those balmy days in pre-war Basra so long ago? Well, Harold was demobbed in 1945 and worked in the motor trade and caravan haulage from 1951 until retirement in 1977. Throughout this time his licence remained as clean as the day he joined the RAF in 1932. "I thought it best to retire before my luck ran out," he says.
Harold signs off: "Regards to you all." I am happy to return those regards to a reader whose transport memories go almost as far back as the Hawk's. Long may you run, Harold. I3ast week CM included a "Women in Transport" survey which revealed that only 9% of employees in the transport industry are women and less than 1% of these are drivers. Some companies admitted to employing women with LGV licences as secretaries. The profiles were of six women working in the industry in roles ranging from director to truck driver to mechanic.
The survey immediately generated a flood of media interest with CM giving interviews to explain the findings to Local BBC radio stations in Kent; Berkshire; Wales; Norfolk; Cambridge and Newcastle. Pieces were also planned by radio stations Hereford & Worcestershire; Wiltshire Sound and Three Counties (Herts, Beds and Bucks). The radio interviews with CM also included representatives from the RHA, the FTA and women drivers.
Newspapers in Sheffield, Portsmouth, Gloucestershire and Aberdeen asked for more information. Ironically, the item on Radio Kent was preceded by a report about Punch & Judy shows—a traditional and much loved battle of the sexes, in which Judy invariably wins, the (male) policeman gets eaten and Punch ends up in jail.