Back in 2003 I used to
contribute to the Derby Evening Telegraph Bygones section and enjoyed
recalling my youthful times in the world of Derby's then prevalent
butcher's shops (1970s and 1980s) and of my scouting years and other
such nostalgia. Today's post comes not from me but from a piece that
I kept from one of their Bygones sections in 2003 written by the late
June Pearson of Fenny Bentley in Derbyshire.
 |
| June Pearson in the 1950s |
I never knew June
directly but we had a connection in that she worked in a small corner
shop on the top of Cardigan Street in Chaddesden Derby. As a child I
would often pop into its enticing environs with my granny Hampson to
shop for a few items and June's eloquent and detailed writings struck
a chord with me. Today I spoke to Jane Goddard of the Derby Evening
Telegraph and was then able to get in touch with June's surviving
husband Ken who gave me permission to use June's most excellent
material.
 |
| Mr Fred Hanson and wife Ida (my granny) and my dad and mam. |
 |
| My mother Marjorie Ethel Lowe. |
What interested me the
most was the detail of the things that were sold in the shop in the
1950s and her practices in working at the shop. All quite different
from today's shopping experiences. Over to June...
“I worked at Mrs
Jenning's corner shop as a shop assistant in 1957 and remember Philip
Lowe's Grandmother as a customer as well as two of her daughters
(Marjorie and Barbara) who came into the shop on errands for their
mam. I also got to know many other people who were customers at
the shop. My own mother traded at the shop and was well looked after
during the war.
 |
| Part interior of a typical corner shop in the UK circa 1950. |
Mr and Mrs Jenning's
shop and house were built around 1935 before the vast Chaddesden
housing estate was completed. It stood on the brow of the steep part
of Cardigan Street, between Hillcrest Road and Cowsley Road.
Previously they had had a greengrocery round and a Fish and Chip shop
in the Cowsley Road area. In my humble opinion the Fish and Chip shop
sold the best fish and chips in Derby. Mrs Jennings sister, Effie
Wilkes and her husband owned this shop. Harry Wilkes also played in
goal for Derby County in the 1930s.
In 1951 Mr Jennings
died aged only 49 but Mrs Jennings carried on running the business
with the help of her sister Ivy who lived in Repton. In addition to
Ivy, Madge Johnson, who lived on Hillcrest Road, worked at the shop
four mornings a week. Mrs King from Cardigan Street and Mrs Kitchen
cleaned the shop every evening after it had closed.
Another girl I remember
was Poppy Martin who was there before me and I gather was quite a
favourite with everyone. My own working hours were 8.30am to 6pm
Monday to Saturday with half day closing on Tuesdays at 1pm.
Monday and Tuesday
mornings were spent re-stocking the shelves and cleaning. This was
done with a smear of Mansion Polish and plenty of what they used to
call 'elbow grease'. Most of the shelves in the shop were made of
polished wood and there was also a rather nice glass fronted cabinet
in which were kept numerous ointments and patent medicines.
 |
| Another corner shop in the 1950s |
A double row of small
wooden drawers running along the back wall of the shop contained
nutmegs, drums of pepper, bundles of elastic, darning wool, safety
pins, sewing needles, cards of buttons, boxes of Top Mill snuff and
numerous other objects essential to living at the time. Many women
would be adept at knitting and sewing and made their own clothes from
popular patterns.
Wednesdays were spent
making up orders for delivery on Thursdays and Fridays. Mrs Jennings
delivered the orders in her car which was a Wolseley 15/60. I also
remember her having a Jowett 10 and, occasionally, she would give me
a lift home from school when she collected her son Geoff. It was a
rare treat in those days. And she was a woman driver – a much
derided species in those days, but she was always safe and followed
the rules of driving to the letter.
On Friday afternoon Mrs
Jennings would bank the week's takings in Derby. She was always in a
tearing hurry to reach the bank before 3.30pm and I often remember
(with amusement now) her going off to Derby in her slippers!
 |
| British currency circa 1950s. |
During the week there
would be a steady flow of travelling salesmen coming into the shop.
Each of them would be hoping for an order, of course. We had regular
ones who supplied us with sides of bacon, ham, butter, lard, sugar
and cheese. Cheshire's of Derby and the Ceylon Tea Company were our
main suppliers and at least six companies supplied biscuits. Some
biscuits were sold in packets and some sold loose in half pounds and
pounds. A half pound of biscuits would contain mostly plain plus one
chocolate and one wafer biscuit, whereas a pound would include three
chocolate and three wafers.
When a new product was
being launched we would be given free samples. Soap, toothpaste and
shampoo were always welcome and, when Knorr soups were introduced we
were given soup from a flask to sample! Very nice it was too! We also sold a lot of Campbell's and Heinz tinned soup - the rich tomato and the chicken soups were the most popular as well as oxtail - even in the summer!
Vinegar was sold from a
barrel which was kept in a yard at the side of the shop along with
soap powders, bottles of Chlorus, crates of pop and cleaning aids.
Goodalls of Derby
supplied us with pork sausages and pies. Johnstone's greengrocery
wholesalers supplied us with potatoes, carrots and onions. Nothing got wasted as we always sold out.
Christmas was always a
busy time and the customers would spend money saved through the year
in a Jennings' Christmas Club account. Ivy would decorate the shop
top shelf with Cadbury's picture box chocolates, large tins of pears,
peaches and apricots, tins of salmon and Nestle's cream. We would
take orders for pork pies, ham, Christmas puddings, selection boxes
and trifles. On Christmas Day Mrs Jennings would open the shop at tea
time – for an hour – to sell ice cream. Back then (1950s) fridges
and freezers were still a luxury in most homes.
Mrs Jennings had a
daughter called Cynthia who was a school teacher. Her son Geoff's
great love was motorbikes and most things that were noisy. On Bonfire
night he always had lots of fireworks and loved everyone to enjoy
them with him. He also had a very long sledge on which, when it
snowed, as it frequently did in those days, Geoff loved giving the
local kids a death-defying ride down the steep Cardigan Street to
Kerry Street at the bottom. Sometimes a few of us would fall off on
the way but nobody seemed to mind. It was all great innocent fun. We
really had a good time and frequently went home with hot aches and
chilblains. Cardigan Street was always known locally as Jenning's
Hill!
In the 1950s having a
telephone at home was quite a luxury and Mrs Jennings would often be
called upon to phone for the doctor or to pass messages on to the
nearby neighbours. My brother John, who was in the Royal Engineers
serving in Germany in the 1950s, used to ring through to the shop to
let us know he was coming home on leave. I then had to tell his
girlfriend Gill to let her know.
In 1962 I left Jennings
and settled into another area and didn't visit the shop for a long
time but I was called upon to manage the shop one more time when
Richard, Mrs Jennings' step-son got married. When Mrs Jennings (now
Crocker) decided to retire in the late 1960s she offered the shop to
my husband Ken and myself. Although it was a tempting offer we
declined as we were happily settled in another area.
The years in Cardigan
Street were very happy and neighbours would always give a helping
hand when needed. Our immediate neighbours were Mrs Blanche and Mrs
Fenner who were both very supportive to my mother during the war when
my dad was serving in North Africa. I had four elder brothers who
must have been quite a handful with my dad being absent from home. I
have heard lots of tales of the things they got up to during the war
but I am sure it was all harmless fun.
I haven't visited
Cardigan Street for many years and, no doubt, I would see many
changes now. Who knows – I may visit those old haunts once again
one day.
June Pearson (née
Redfern)
Article originally
published by Derby Evening Telegraph Bygones 29th July
2003. Re-published and edited with their kind permission and the permission of Ken
Pearson.
