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Into
Retirement
Since he left the police in 1976
Joe has had an interesting and busy retirement. He is
passionate about steam engines, fairground organs, and
street organs, and has become a well-known and much
respected figure, who is seen at many events throughout
the country with his street organ “Lady Wulfrun”.
“I didn’t know what to do for a
while, but I had a class 1 heavy goods licence, a PSV
licence, and a driving instructor certificate. I decided
I would have a driving school and taught many people to
drive, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I only did it for 10
years as a stop gap. I met such nice people, they were
so genuine, and wanted to get on. In the force you were
sometimes dealing with the opposite, so it was a welcome
change from the force.
I required an old Lister barn
engine with a friend, and we built it up. I got it
driving a corn grinding mill, a water pump, and a
generator. I took it to Bromyard Gala in the late 1970s
just after I retired, and a gentleman from the Bath and
West Show asked me to take it there the following year.
I took it down and got involved with a preservationist,
an old chap who had restored an old showman’s living
van. My wife thought that was a marvellous arrangement.
I love woodwork, I thought I could do that, so she told
him that we would like one, if he saw another about.
Within a month we had got one from 1929, which came out
of a field in Somerset. I spent a couple of years doing
it up.
I bought an old Scammell showman’s
tractor to pull it, which had been with the famous
gondola ride that’s in the museum at Thursford.”
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Collecting the showman's living van from
Cookham, Berkshire, after repainting. Courtesy of Joe Davies.
Joe and Margaret inside the showman's van.
Courtesy of Joe Davies.
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Joe and his Scammell tractor
unit, with the showman's van.
Courtesy of Joe Davies. |
Joe inside the showman's van. Courtesy of Joe
Davies.
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Another view of the Scammell
tractor unit. Courtesy of Joe Davies. |
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A final view of Joe inside the
showman's van. Courtesy
of Joe Davies. |
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Soon Joe’s Scammell tractor unit
and his showman’s van became a familiar sight on Black
Country roads, making their way to hundreds of events.
Joe became the first volunteer policeman at the Black
Country Living Museum in 1983 and was a familiar figure
on the site. In 1987 Joe’s wife Margaret presented him
with a wonderful 65th birthday present, a Paul McCarthy
20 keyless street organ built in Basingstoke. It is
mounted on a three-wheel carriage that was built at the
Ironbridge George Museum, and is called “Verlex” after
Joe & Margaret's grandchildren, Verity & Alexa. It has
appeared at many events, and steam rallies both in the
United Kingdom and on the continent.
Three years later Joe acquired a 49
keyless McCarthy organ, built into a trailer. Joe is now
closely associated with the organ, which has been seen
at events throughout Britain and Europe. |
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“I’d got a street organ built by
Paul McCarthy who lives in Basingstoke, and spotted the
49 keyless one in a field in Dorset.
I said to Paul, who I knew very
well “What’s the position with this organ?”
He said that it had been built from
various bits and pieces, some new, some old, to go to
Tasmania on a set of steam gallopers, but there was a
little bit of doubt about the finances.
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Joe and "Verlex". Courtesy of Joe
Davies. |
| I told him that if things didn’t work out I
would like to have it. About a month or so later
Paul rang me and said the organ is in a shed here at
Basingstoke, and that I could have it. We agreed a price, and I couldn’t
wait to get it to Wolverhampton because the Chief
Constable had asked me to provide entertainment at the
opening of Bilston Street police headquarters in
Wolverhampton, in July 1992. I moved heaven and earth to
get this out of the shed before the mice and rats got at
the pipe work. I got it up here, put it on a trailer,
and finished it the day before I went to entertain the
invited guests at the opening of the police
headquarters, including the Princess of Wales.” |
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Joe's Paul McCarthy 49 keyless
street organ which he named 'Lady Wulfrun'. |
| Joe shakes hands with Princess
Diana at the opening of Bilston Street police
headquarters in 1992.
Courtesy of Joe Davies. |
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| “At the opening I wore my old 1946
police uniform, I was PC 39. Princess Diana was there,
and the Chief Constable, and Lord Aylesford. He came to
me and said “Davies, how nice to see you.” I hadn’t seen
him for 16 years.” |
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Joe's new ERF tractor unit.
Courtesy of Joe Davies. |
The new and larger organ required a
larger tractor unit to pull it, so Joe replaced the
Scammell unit with an ERF.
In 1995 the licence duty for cars
and motorcycles over 25 years old was abolished. At the
same time the road tax for steam rollers increased to
over one hundred pounds, which resulted in an
interesting visit to London for Joe, and his friend Fred
Dibnah.
“I was a friend of Fred Dibnah who
became a TV personality. I had a very interesting
session with him down in London. They put the tax on
steam rollers up to one hundred and something pounds, so
the National Traction Engine Trust got thousands of
signatures on a petition to be presented to the Minister
and the Minister of Transport.
The chairman of the trust asked
Fred if he would go and present the petition, and Fred
asked if he should take his steam roller. This was a
good idea, but they had to see the police in London
about it first. They were told that they needed an
escort for the roller from the Houses of Parliament to
the Ministry. |
| The police did not escort people presenting
petitions, but they would provide parking for a low
loader at the back of the Tate Gallery. So I provided an
escort wearing my old 1946 uniform, riding my old police
bike.” |
| Fred Dibnah, Richard
Sandercock, Joe Davies and Len Crane outside the main
entrance to the Department of Transport's Marsham Street
Offices in London with Fred's 1912 Aveling road roller.
Courtesy of Joe Davies. |
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The late Bill Barton admiring
'Lady Wulfrun' outside Bantock House in July 2007. |
| Len Crane and Joe standing
beside Len's 1929 Fowler B6 Super Lion Crane.
Courtesy of Joe Davies. |
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| “I go all over the country and on
the continent to agricultural shows, and steam rallies
including the Burwarton Show on the first Thursday in
August, and Tenbury Wells. I’ve done a spate of shows
around Wales, and Aberystwyth. I love doing it and
meeting people. I use my old uniform on odd occasions,
particularly on the parade of steam engines out in
Shropshire and when I’m on the continent. I’ve also done
it near Amsterdam, and in Germany.” |
Joe toasting the Showmen's
Guild with the guild's national president Jimmy
Williams, Wolverhampton's Mayor, Trudy Bowen, and
John Humphries, chairman of the Midland section of
the guild. Courtesy of Joe Davies. |
| Joe was made an honorary life
member of the Showmen’s Guild. In 2008 the Midland
section of the guild held its annual lunch at the Park
Hall Hotel in Wolverhampton. The 260 guests, which
included 40 mayors from the region, were entertained by
Joe and “Lady Wulfrun”. |
| Joe leading the showmen's
engines at Onslow Park, Shropshire in 2007.
Courtesy of Joe Davies. |
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Joe meeting members of the
Royal Artillery Parachute Display Team after their
landing at Wolverhampton Show in July 2008.
Courtesy of Joe Davies.
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| Joe greatly enjoyed his days out
with “Lady Wulfrun”, and has given a lot of pleasure to
thousands of people, and raised large sums of money for
charity.
Joe’s wife Margaret has worked at a number of
places including George Masons in Worcester Street,
Wolverhampton, and the Himley Sanatorium, where she was
a children’s nurse.
They have two granddaughters, Alexa
and Verity, and a great grandson Chanan. |
Joe in his blazer and beret in
2008. Courtesy of Joe Davies. |
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Joe has produced a number of CDs of
music from “Lady Wulfrun” and now has a website where
you can hear the organ in action. The address is:
http://www.ladywulfrun.co.uk/
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On the left are two Arnhem
veterans, both ex-prisoners of war. At the back is Tom
Brewin. On the right is Normandy veteran Joe Davies.
They were at West Park,
Wolverhampton at the steam rally, and were in readiness
to parade around the city centre.
Joe was a member of the
Wolverhampton and District Parachute Regiment
Association. In 2012 he was made a life vice president
of the group.
Courtesy of Joe Davies.
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| In June 2014 Joe travelled to France with his wife
Margaret to take part in the 70th anniversary celebration of
the D-Day landings. He received the French Legion d'Honneur
medal for his part in the landings, and the subsequent
liberation of France. Margaret died in
October 2015, and Joe, greatly aided by his family, settled
down to life on his own. Sadly five months later, on 14th
March, 2016, Joe also died. He had been eagerly awaiting the
formal presentation of his Legion d'Honneur, which was due
to take place in April. He will be sadly missed. |
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