Beverley worked in an old people’s home, a coffee shop and a bakery. Later, she worked as a cleaner and a chambermaid which she enjoyed as the people were good to her. When I left school at 16, I started a job in an old people’s home in Colchester. I used to make their cup […]
Retail
A Cook’s Tour (1949-1995)
Doreen started work in 1949 in Bonds department store in Norwich. After going to America with her husband, she became a school cook in Norfolk. I started work in 1949 when I left school, and I started at .. . it was Bonds then, the Department Store in Norwich, and I worked in the Hat […]
A greengrocer’s tale (1960-2012)
John worked for E. Pordage and Co, the fruit and vegetable wholesaler based in Norwich, visiting small city and village shops and driving to Covent Garden in London to buy supplies. I left school in 1960 when I was 15 and my first job was a newspaper boy delivering papers. The chap I worked for, […]
A Jarrolds Story – and the circus (1950s-1980s)
Margaret tells us about her life working at Norwich City Hall then at Jarrolds, and being part of a circus family. My working history starts as a teenager in New Costessey, near Norwich, in the 1950s. My first job was when I was 15 and still at school at Papmax crisp factory at the top […]
A member of today’s Mile Cross community (1945-2010)
Betty remembers growing up in Sprowston, pinching apples, decorating chocolates, and frying fish, and talks about living in Mile Cross today. Childhood in Sprowston I grew up in Sprowston and I must admit I was happy because a lady who lived near my mum used to think I was wonderful. She used to look after […]
Bevin Boy, miner and publican (1941-1987)
Peter was a Bevin Boy who stayed on working in the mines and ended up as a publican. I was fourteen years old when I left school in 1941. My first job was an ironmonger’s errand boy for six months before I went to work for a baker on a bread round. I delivered bread […]
Bringing home the bacon (1958 – 2008)
David worked in the grocery trade after he left school in 1958 and tells about the changes in retail that took place over the years. When he started the trade was mainly specialised shops selling meat, fruit, or general items and there was a lot of work involved in preparing goods, like bacon, for sale. […]
Dancing shoes and selling groceries (1940s-2014)
Pauline talks about her working life in the shoe business and keeping a shop. She also remembers being part of Madame Osina’s theatrical troupe and dancing in pantomimes. Pauline’s daughter Janet introduces the story: She was born around the now Hotel Nelson (Norwich) area to a very hard life. She met and married my Dad […]
Entertainer and all round worker (1942-2013)
Dot married young during the war and had five children. She worked in many well-known Norwich companies, including shoe firms, Caley’s, Mackintoshes and Sainsbury’s, the first supermarket in Norwich. Living conditions in her childhood were ‘like Dickens’ but everyone was friendly in those days. She loved to sing and supported herself while in a group […]
From spanner to ‘scape wheel. Mechanic to watchmaker (1951-1999)
Gordon trained as mechanic with the REME, with whom he served in Germany. After working briefly for Mann Egerton’s in Norwich he trained as a horologist at the Government Training Centre in Letchworth. He ran his own watchmaking shop on Elm Hill, Norwich, for 30 years before retiring on 31st December 1999. At school; first […]