Picture the scenario: In J D Wetherspoons just had a mixed grill and a few pints of Ruddles, a friend turns up, says "would you like a fire pump", thought about it for about 2 seconds and said yes, do you have a picture?

Well the picture he showed me was the one on the top, looked good, so went away happy or was that the Ruddles?

Turned up to look at it few weeks later and the next two pictures reveal the horror!

Never mind, I am sure I can do something with it, let me think about it and how we move it.

Couple of weeks pass and I show a few pics to my good friend Ron Cooper and he says he is up for it if I am.

Oh well, in at the deep end and we make arrangements to go and collect it.

The Photos albums document the work we are carrying out to restore the pump to its former glory.

A bit of research has revealed that it was supplied to Cochrane's Shipyard in Selby in 1941 by the War Department in case of enemy aircraft attack.

It is a Harland of Alloa pump which makes it quite rare, Godiva pumps being more common. It has a 3.6 litre Meadows petrol engine which was used in Guy Trucks.

After the war, Cochranes kept the pump and used it for pumping out ships. In 1968 a fitter tried to start it and it kicked back and broke his wrist so the pump was discarded in disgust. It was bought by an employee of the yard in 1991 but unfortunately he was killed in a road traffic accident. The pump lay in the open in his widow's garden until October 2016 when our story starts.

Contact Tony Simons for more information.

Harland of Alloa restoration by Tony Simons & Ron Cooper