Cheethams CoalWiganfrom the beginning.
The story about the Cheetham's family coal and Solid Fuel Business takes us back a few decades! It's approximately 46 years since Tony and his father started the Coal Business! It first began when Tony's father, Ted, was looking for work after coming out of the pits, where he was involved in a serious pit accident and ended up in Hospital with Serious head injuries that nearly killed him. Ted saw that the N.C.B. were looking for 'Hired Hauliers' for the delivery of concessionary fuel to Miners. Ted, my dad, to be honest had no money, only about £250 and six children to feed, all lads who could eat the table top off!!! Anyway, he went for the Interview at the Coal Depot at Ince Moss Coal Sidings, down Cemetery Lane in Lower Ince. He was told they would supply him with work if he got a lorry and if he worked hard he could earn £100 per week! Ted did work hard, from 6am until 8.30pm every day and he did this for 3 weeks until he realised he couldn't possibly earn £100 per It was almost impossible, the lorry he had bought especially failed when the engine blew up after only three weeks of continuous use! He had no money to repair it. Tony at this time was working as an Apprentice Joiner, he decided this wasn't for him and felt drawn instead to go and help his dad.
Ted came across a man by the name of Cliff Gee based at Platt Bridge, he had a son called Ken Gee, who together worked from a garage in Alfred Street, Platt Bridge....their speciality being the repair of wagons! Dad had never met Cliff before, but as soon as they met a strong bond was formed and a great friendship began. Ted asked Cliff if he could repair our lorry that was an old Bedford T.K., he explained to Cliff that he didn't have the money there and then to be able to pay, but promised Cliff that he would pay for the repair as soon as he got some money together. In fact, we paid Cliff back within three weeks, we promised to give him all the future repairs we had on our family cars in return for the trust and friendship that had then become a really strong bond, sealed with a great friendship. Ken repaired our Lorry with a second hand engine which worked well and we eventually managed to pay him back - this was the start of many years of great trading with Cliff.
We worked extremely hard, saving all the money we could to enable us to buy our own Coal Business. For twelve years we worked our fingers to the bone from 5am until 6pm, sometimes later coal-bagging, then doing jobs on the lorry to try to keep it in good order and more importantly keep It wasn't long before a small Coal Business came up for sale, it was £1000, a huge amount of money to us at that time. It was all we had, but we paid the £1000 and believed that although we were taking a huge risk, we felt it was a chance we had to take and thankfully, it was the right decision.
We knew if we worked hard and gave everything as a family team, the business would do well and today Tony is still at it, the main man! We are so proud that the business has grown to what it is today and we continue to be the most favoured in the North West. After the purchase of our first Coal Business, we were amazed to find other small companies providing coal which then became part of our fuel portfolio. The business continued to grow at a staggering rate, until we realised that the only way forward was to find a coal yard of our own, Sadly, Tony's dad is no longer with us, he died in 2006, but the family business is still in good hands, with Tony and his wife June, now Director's of Cheetham's Coal Limited.
Tony and June are Christians and have been involved in taking aid to Belarus, formerly part of the Soviet Union. In total they have made 17 trips with their own trucks packed with everything you can think of to help the people of Belarus from medicines, hospital beds, wheel chairs, incubators, walking aids to food and clothing to books and bibles. Anyway back to the Coal Business......The National Coal Board changed names over the years with privatisation etc and is now owned and run by C.P.L. who approached Tony to do some more At this present time in our Coal Business, the team consists of Tony and June, Judy who works part-time in the office, Scott who handles all the deliveries and drives the J.C.B. loading machine, in addition there is Wil, who helps out in a number of ways, we also have a great team of sub contractors who assist with the delivery of coal too, all of whom play an integral part of Cheethams
We stock a variety of coal fuels; Yorkshire Coal, Cobbles Trebles and Doubles, Columbian Coal, Welsh Anthracite, including most of the approved fuels like Phurnacite, Homefire, Maxibrite, Sunbrite, Cosycoke, XL Burnwell Blend, Homefire Ovals, Supatherm, Anthracite Stove Nuts, Stovesse, Grains We also stock Bottled Gas, Logs in bulk, or in nets, Firewood sticks (for lighting firelighters), Fire Pants providing a full range of Fire Bottoms etc.
The endless list of services we provide includes Chimney Sweeping, Boiler Servicing and Cleaning or heating appliance. Storage items are also available which include Plastic or Metal Coal boxes, with a full range of pre-packed cash and carry fuel.
In fact, whatever your need in the Coal trade, we'll give you a first class service.....that's our promise.
Call us on: 01257 427008 or email us at: info@cheethamscoal.com
