BEFORE the introduction of tanker collections from farms, milk was sent away in churns, as seen here on the back of this lorry parked outside the Swan pub at Upton Warren.

This splendid photo has been kindly loaned to us by Bob Nokes, from Sidemoor, Bromsgrove, who is a keen collector of photos of old lorries. The solid-tyred vehicle, Bob says, was probably ex-World War One and later sold off by the government.

Bob is not related to the owner, Worms Ash haulage contractor G Nokes, and sadly we don’t know if it is him pictured here with a large wrench.

The churns were probably being taken to the railway station or to Cadburys, which bought large quantities of locally produced milk.

Fifty years ago most farms produced milk and had raised platforms at their gates to ease the loading of the churns, which, when full, were extremely heavy to handle.