• Full name – Martin Deacon
• Age – 47
• Job – Deacon’s Dairy Milkman
• Area – Leyland & Farrington
• Milkman for – 30 years
• Interesting fact – Went on his first milk round at just four years old

At a time when most of you are still tucked up in bed, I’m up and about just starting my working day. I start at 1.30am and after a quick cup of tea I’m bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, not what you’d expect at that early hour but if you love your job as much as I do its easy!

I’ve been a milkman for 30 years and have worked with Holme Farm Dairies, the dairy behind the campaign to save doorstep deliveries for 10 years. Deacon’s Dairy is my family business and dates back over 100 years. My dad, grandfather and grandmother all worked in the dairy industry delivering milk in Leyland and Farrington when milkmen used a horse and cart to make the daily deliveries.

Monday’s are my busiest day, Wednesday’s and Saturday’s can be quieter, but it’s not unusual for me to work a 10 hour shift a day and 70 hours in a week. Despite the anti-social hours, being a milkman is a great job. I really enjoy the peace and quiet first thing in the morning and I love being my own boss. I get to know lots of people too; I can’t walk down a street without stopping to have a chat with at least one person! I also get to see some very interesting sights at 2am!

My first task of the day is to pick up the milk from Holme Farm Dairies in Penwortham. By 2am I’m at the dairy and loading up my float, not just with milk but eggs, orange juice, yoghurts and teabags. My round starts at around 2.30am and on a good day I can be finished by 7.30am.

Once the float has been loaded it’s time to hit the road. I use an electric milk float, it only has a range of 20 to 25 miles per hour and can lengthen your round but I prefer it to a normal van, it’s traditional, better for the environment and more economical.

We have five different milk rounds at Deacon’s Dairies which means I have some variation but after a few years you get to know the routes like the back of your hand. The streets of Leyland are second nature to me.

A milkman’s life is never dull and one incident I always recall was on a Christmas Eve about 10 years ago. Just as I’d finished my round, it was around 2.30pm and I was just about to settle at home for the afternoon when my daughter rushed in to tell me Mrs W was on the phone asking where her turkey was.

I double checked and sure enough I’d forgotten to deliver her turkey. I raced into the kitchen where my wife just about to place our extra large, basted and stuffed turkey in the oven. After some words of promising and lots of cajoling I managed prise the turkey from my wife’s hands and deliver it to a very happy Mrs W who thought she had got a very good deal for her money! Luckily enough I managed to find a turkey for my own family’s Christmas dinner too.

By the end of my daily rounds I’ve delivered around 500 bottles to 400 customers and travelled just 12 miles.

Once I return to the dairy I complete paperwork and do my ordering for the next day’s deliveries. Then it’s back home at 11am for a few hours sleep before heading out again at 3pm to collect the milk money until around 8pm. I love this part of the day as this is when I get to meet and know my customers. I have a lot of elderly people on my round so it is nice to see they’re okay and I always help out where I can.

I call Sunday my day off but really it’s only my day off from delivering and collecting. I spend most of Sunday afternoon doing the week’s paperwork before starting all over again on Monday!