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| The History of James French & Son - 1908 - 2002 |
| The
garage at Coldingham is situated in the centre of the village and stands on a site where originally the village
carpenter/joiner had his workshop.
It can just be seen on the far left of the picture above with a single story cottage beside it. |
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However, with the industrial
revolution, the need for transport to go further afield grew and so the
joiners workshop became a stables and probably provided a horse and
cart, a pony and trap or donkey and barrow as the need arose!
They may even have provided a smart carriage but that's most likely to be wishful thinking on my part! |
| Nevertheless,
we know from early photographs that they provided a bus service making
regular trips to Reston Station on a daily basis.
The picture above shows the local 'volunteers' departing for 'Camp'. |
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In 1908 James French had taken over the garage and as the motor car became fashionable and more popular the business flourished and a smart double fronted, two story garage house was built where the cottage had stood. |
| James'
son, Lesley worked alongside his father and eventually took over the
business until 1965, when Peter Redden and his family settled in
Coldingham and bought the garage.
In 1995 work started to replace the old garage building and the large modern workshop of today was opened in 1996. |
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The horses, carts and carriages are long gone but the fine tradition of service from Coldingham Garage continues, providing the latest modern vehicles to serve not only the local population but a wider public from all parts of the world in Europe. Our grateful thanks to Bob Thompson, of Coldingham, who used to work at the garage and kindly loaned the historical photographs. |
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© James French & Son and Equofax
- 2002-2008 Comments to the webmaster |
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