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GOING GOING GONE
THE STAFF STAFF GONE 2000
BREAKDOWN VAN
STAFF & W.H.TONKIN TONKIN'S
GARAGE, ST TEATH
Sadly a bit of the history of Tintagel went in 1999, with the
demolition of Tonkin's Garage in Bossiney Road, Tintagel. It had been
a part of the village for nearly 70 years and the name over the Garage
entrance always remained as `Tonkin's Garage'. In 1928, William
Henwood Tonkin, built a garage and petrol station in Bossiney Road,
Tintagel.
The builder was Tom Ham. In 1947 the bungalow at the
rear of the building was built by Dennis, builders. He already had a
garage in the centre of St Teath and he ran a most successful business
in Tintagel until his retirement in 1952. During his ownership of the
garage he had agencies for Hillman and Morris vehicles and BSA, Norton
and Enfield motor cycles. Tonkin's was the first garage in the village
to have electric petrol pumps in 1938. I had a chat with William's
son, John Tonkin, and he told me other interesting facts about the
business. Regent, National Benzole, Dominion, Shell and Esso petrol
were served at the pumps at various times. A Taxi Service was also
part of the facilities offered by Tonkins. At its busiest time 12
staff worked in the business and apart from William, these included
Geoff Warren, Les Dawe (Tintagel), George Sleep, Gill Biddick, George
Emery, Wesley Stephens, Edward Mewton, Edgar Couch (Foreman), and John
Tonkin. One member of the staff, Jim Pickard, stayed with Tonkin's
Garage until his own retirement in the early 90s. In the war years the
garage was turned over to a machine shop for necessary war materials.
Another story John told me was of the loss of Tonkin's sole petrol
sale agency in Tintagel in the early part of the war. There was a
dispute over who should have this agency and Grose's Garage, who had
disputed Tonkin's over their right, won back the agency to sell
petrol. This was not accepted by W.H.Tonkin, and through a petition
from villagers and the local MP, Tonkin's once again gained the petrol
agency. The reason given was because they had a more suitable
forecourt for army vehicles to fill up with petrol. Mr. A.S.Macpherson
took over the business from W.H.Tonkin in 1952, and he also had a
successful business until he died in the 1978. Brian Sandercock bought
the garage and after a successful start, sadly, due to ill health and
other reasons, the business closed in 1993. Since that time there have
been a few attempts by various people to restart the business but due
to the competition from Supermarkets and cut price garages they all
floundered. In the 40s and 50s Tintagel had many petrol stations.
Fry's, along with their fleet of buses, Les Baker, at the top of
Vicarage Hill, Grose's, next door to Trelawney, Desmond Grant's Stores
at Bossiney and of course Tonkin's. Nowadays Tintagel has no garage
serving petrol. Fry's Luxury Coach service terminated on January 1 st
1999. The 90s gave Tonkin's Garage a bit of notoriety but sadly now
the garage, petrol pumps and service is no more. It is to be replaced
by a couple of bungalows. Ah well, that is the progress that
Supermarkets give you. One day there will be much regret in smaller
villagers and towns when they have destroyed all businesses possible .
...David Flower
Three
Photographs of Tonkins Garage in The A.S.Macpherson years
Atholl Macpherson Is Photographed
In The Middle Photographs and Text Kindly Supplied by Atholl's Son -
Professor Andrew Macpherson
Atholl Macpherson (1922-1977) bought Tonkin's Garage
in late 1952. He had trained in the Armstrong Siddeley car and aero
engine divisions in Coventry and in 1942 became a freeman of that
city. After war service in REME he returned to Armstrong Siddeley
before working in the Gold Coast of Africa (now Ghana). He visited
Cornwall with his parents for a holiday in 1952 and decided to buy a
motor business and settle there.
Good-will for Henwood Tonkin meant that the name was not changed. The
business was always highly seasonal with an overload with the influx
of holiday-makers in the summer months and a quieter local trade in
the winter. These were the days in which many motor businesses were
family concerns – even the Morris distributors in Plymouth that
supplied Tonkin's was owned by the Barton family. Cars needed
servicing every 3,000 miles and an engine rebore after about 80,000
miles. Tonkin's also did a lot of bodywork as the results of
holiday-makers' accidents were almost always repaired locally – an
area in which Jim Pickard became a specialist. Petrol was also part of
the core business and there was a small component of Morris car sales.
Taxi services were run in the early days, but these declined as most
local people obtained cars and summer visitors tended to come by car
rather than in the train. During the Suez crisis (when petrol was
rationed and the motor business was consequently limited) Tonkin's got
by partly through ornamental iron work manufacture.
Additional land was bought at the back of the property, the stores
were enlarged and progressively larger petrol storage was installed to
meet the requirement from Esso to take full tanker drops. Macpherson
tried to be the first in Cornwall with a self-service pump – but the
fire brigade at first refused to agree to its installation!
The garage was profitable but the proprietor had to work hard. Petrol
sales required an attendant to go out and put the fuel in the car
before the advent of self-service. This was a seven-day a week
activity between Whitsun and October. Macpherson also did almost all
the out-of-hours emergency calls and crash recoveries himself – this
and a tumour that was certainly present for many years before being
diagnosed probably contributed to his tendency for abrasiveness. He
also served (at different times) on Camelford Rural District Council,
Tintagel Parish Council and the Parent Teacher Association of Sir
James Smith's School. Behind the scenes, his wife Helen (whom he
married in 1956) worked typing up the bills and other correspondence,
and drove many miles to collect urgently needed spare parts for
repairs. These days it is almost unbelievable that nearly all repairs
and petrol sales to local people were given on credit.
One Sunday afternoon, when I was seven, I asked him what part of the
motor business he liked most. Without a moment's hesitation he replied
'putting money in the till'. Many years later when terminally ill he
said that he had enjoyed the life in Cornwall and the independence
which being self-employed had given him. Were he able to write this,
he would also express his appreciation for the loyalty of those who
worked for him, including Jim Pickard (for all 25 years), John Tonkin,
Edgar Couch, Ivor Newt, Andrew Bond, Roy Pennington, Andrew
Macpherson, Dick Fry and Christopher Weaving.
His death in 1977 ended the Macpherson family association with
Tintagel, as my mother sold the business to Brian Sandercock in early
1978.
Article Published by Kind Permission of Professor Andrew Macpherson
