Allan Clark

ou would think that as a special constable in the West Mercia Police, security would have been the role where Allan Clark started in the jam factory. But the Pozzy often operated in a circuitous way.

Allan is a native of the village of Bosbury, about five miles due north of Ledbury. Bosbury is a historic place. Victorian novelist Edna Lyall’s ashes are scattered in the churchyard there. Master craftsman Philip Clissett created his chairs in Bosbury.

In 1973 the distribution manager at the jam factory lived in Bosbury. That’s how Allan first found out there was a job going as a chauffer. In fact, Allan’s interview for the job was at his house in Bosbury.

Allan worked as a chauffer for a few years but the job eased off and he began driving vans. The Pozzy had a fleet of twenty-five vehicles. The vans delivered jam to stores in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Birmingham and Wales.

In the 1980s Allan moved to work in the factory on the juice tetra pack machines. He came in at six in the morning to get the machines ready and production started at seven. The shifts ran from six until two and two until ten at night. At half eight production stopped to clean the machines down.

Towards the end a night shift was brought in to clean the machines for the next morning. Production would continue until ten at night then start back up at six in the morning.

Because of Allan’s background as a constable, security was something he wanted to get into. The first time he applied, he didn’t get the job. Two or three people were being made redundant and had first option. But then six months later the position came up again and he was chosen. When the Pozzy closed down, Allan was one of the last to see it go.

...