Whatever Floats Your Boat

Whatever Floats Your Boat

Date: 08/10/2018 11:43

For folk from Newtownards, William James McMeekin - or Wee Jim, as he was better known - was a familiar sight on the streets for more than 50 years. Delivering milk seven days a week, for twelve hours a day, Wee Jim was a man who loved his job, and shared that love with others. There are many in the Newtownards area who got their start with Jim (sometimes with the aid of a wee fib or two about their age), and many more who only got to work because of him - before mobile phone alarm clocks, the milkman's knock was often the best way to rise and shine of a morning!

Jim worked outside of franchises or monopolies, buying from the dairies (Bangor and Dobson's, at the time) and taking milk directly to the customer. At his peak, he delivered as many as 80 crates a day, with 20 bottles to a crate! The only days he could be convinced to take a break were Easter, Christmas and the Twelfth of July - the man loved his work.

He also loved his float, which he bought in 1948 and drove proudly until his retirement. At his son George's suggestion, he donated the float to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum around 1980. Although it had been put into storage, it has been returned to display this year: a piece of local history that, as his son James suggested, could be seen by his children and grandchildren - and anyone else who might care to visit the museum. Jim's irrepressible personality is clear in the footage above, and although the man himself is sadly gone, the float rides on at the Ulster Folk and Transport museum. Why not pop up and pay tribute to Wee Jim's last pinta?