Memories are made of this

Mr & Mrs Underwood owned a fruit and veg shop; opposite Jone's store who sold everyhing from a safety pin to alchol and so stayed open until late evening.
It felt more of a family affair, shop owners spending time with their customers, addressing customers by christian names and delivering shopping from time to time.
Much as changed since I arrived in this town. Corner shops replaced by out of town supermarkets, pub's replaced by places where folk go for a meal out; finishing with a drink but still the A6 carries the rush of traffic through our town which severs our world in two.

Mrs Underwood, born 1915, shares her memories with you; her life from the past.

After the Volta Tower collapsed a fault occurred as a consequence to my parent’s house in the Grove. Mum and dad had to move out whilst an effort was made to repair their home. When maintenance men discovered it could not be repaired they tried to demolish it;
Eventually it had to be blown up Apart from taking care of us mum did lots of washing for the people who owned the Bell Inn then. Mum died in 1962.

I went to school at five. I remember Miss Drew the Headmistress at Church Street and also Mrs Ozier. At the Senior School there was Dusty Miller, Mr Pratt, Miss Lindley, and Mr Sutton. I really loved school. Dusty Miller used to throw books and chalk at us and he would sometimes send us to the headmaster Captain Sutton to get the cane. We didn’t go instead we went down to the outside toilets and rubbed our hands against the wall so it looked as though we had had the cane when the teacher asked us. Full Marks for initiative! I left school aged 14 and went to work at Thornelows in Kenmuir Road. My next job was at Pearson' then back to Thornelows and after this the Ideal.

We got married at the Methodist Church on Wellingborough Road when I was twenty three. It was on an Easter Monday March 25th. I had met my husband to be Bill whilst I was still at school. He was born January the 5th 1915. I started going out with him almost as soon as we left school. Bills father Dingy Underwood owned the shop in the High Street and it had been his father who had been the Town’s Bell Ringer. Underwood’s shop was in High street where Lovejoys shop is now. It used to be a fish shop run by Sid who used to work for the Co-op fish shop before Bills dad took over. We actually had Underwood’s shop built in Allen Road, which we moved into straight after we married. I had no idea about shop work really prior to this. It was just a case of learning as I went along. I think that I really enjoyed working in our shop because of all the people contact over the years. One of the down sides to working in a shop was the fact that we did not get to go on a holiday of any length for many years. However, we did later make a compact with the shop keepers Jones over the Road. We agreed to stay open when they were on holiday and they did the same for us. We used to go to either Yarmouth or Ramsgate for a week.

After Bill was called up to go in the Army I was left to do the books, ordering etc for both shops. He went to Italy for some years and he came back two or three times. On Coronation Day I had Quinces so I did not enjoy the day although I did make our daughter Christine a fancy dress outfit in red and Christine Richardson had one like it. One of Bills other loves was being Chairman of Allen Road Working Men’s Club which has sadly been pulled down and new houses are now being built on the land. I think that a lot of people have some lovely memories of that club especially in it’s hey day.