Memories are made of this

John Wells
Born Nov 18th 1950Isebrook Wellingborough I lived for some years at Ashleigh House which used to belong to a Magistrate called Mr. Bull and this was in the sixties; his father paid four thousand pounds for it and at the time it was split into two semis’. I used to get sent to the Oakroyde Prep school which was next door for elocution lessons and I would have to say “My ma and pa both drive a Jaguar” My granddad William Valentine’s father set up a furniture removal business which was based at Ecton and a Horse and Cart went between Northampton and Wellingborough. Motorization came and they were the first company in Wellingborough to set up a public bus service Wellingborough to Northampton and district. This same charabanc was used to take workers to the races at Ascot and it would take them a day to get there a day to get back and they would spend a day at the races. The vehicle was chain driven from one back wheel and as they were solid tyres it must have been a bumpy ride.

I can remember granddad telling me that the top speed between Wellingborough and Northampton was twenty six miles an hour and to get it to go slower downhill you would apply the brake. Once the wooden handbrake was applied friction caused the wheel and then the floor of the removal van to set light; all the furniture went up in flames.

They increased their business by going into haulage nationwide but during the Second World War the labour government compulsorily took twenty five lorries’s and left him with one and this was hard for him to take as he was only fifty at the time so he took early retirement. Granddad had a brand new motor every two years and it was always a Vauxhall.

I married my wife Pamela maiden name Jones in 1974 then moved to Finedon in 1980 and lived in Thrapston Road. Unfortunately our house was flooded in 1981.We had three boys Luke born in 1976 James 1977 and Chris in 1981 and they went to the local schools.
I used to love going to the Mulso Arms with my brother for a drink on a Monday night. We moved out of Finedon about 1985 and went to live in Norfolk.

Father tried to set up a Newspaper in Wellingborough called the Wellingborough Mail but only one copy was ever printed.
He had trained as an apprentice within the newspaper industry starting off as a tea boy and finishing as Advertising Director with the Evening Telegraph. He was the first to set up Spot the Ball at the ET. He had also owned the row of shops in the High Street where Underwood’s and David’s the greengrocers used to be and he sold out in the seventies. He had two toyshops in Pebble Lane R.H. Wells and company a row of shops in Market Street Kettering and my sister Carol managed these shops. He took early retirement and travelled the world and was a keen gardener and writer.