EXCAVATOR driver James Pickles and his Bob the Builder school mates Steven Farrell, Joshua Birkett and Jack Molyneaux were hard at it on World Book Day at Bedford St Thomas's School.
The lads are pictured with school bursar Margaret Gill and teaching assistant Joyce Leatherbarrow alongside Atherton author Peter Grimshaw, a leading authority on giant excavators. Mr Grimshaw, who arranged for pupils to try the controls of an £11,000 Volvo mini digger courtesy of PPS of Leyland, has written several books and travelled worldwide in his dealings with giant excavators.
He explained to pupils how his knowledge and the books he had written evolved from a childhood interest in excavators sparked in 1946 when he became friendly with contractors who were demolishing air-raid shelters in Atherton. He was still in short trousers when he helped transport material to build the railway embankment end at Hilton Park rugby ground at Leigh.
Picture by Robert Johnson
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