| There were a great many ‘door to door’ salesmen in the thirties, and Mum was fairly resistant to them, except the ones who asked her to change the paper! The salesman would ask the householder to try the paper he was representing for a number of weeks, usually about eight. You signed a form, ordering the said paper and he would hand it in to the newsagent, at the end of the stated period the reward was generally a book. The ’News Chronicle’ often sent salesmen round, and Mum had a cookery book and a sewing book, on two occasions from them. Dad used to mutter, “I’ll be glad when we can get back to the Dispatch again.” Buying two papers would have been extravagant. The worst came when the ‘News of the World’ started to print the words and music of a popular song every Sunday. We just had to buy that. Dad did continue to have the ‘Empire News’ as well. The ‘News of the World’ was regarded as a rubbishy paper, but the music was a firm inducement, and we accumulated a pile of songs. What a pity they were not saved. I also remember Mum saving the coupons from Bournville Cocoa. A half pound tin cost tenpence, and I think it was six coupons that had to be sent to Cadburys in exchange for a half pound block of chocolate. We always had cocoa at night, and Mum made a chocolate cake quite often, no filling or icing, just chocolate flavour, so we often had a free block of chocolate. For several years we had a few hens at the bottom of the garden. They had a wooden ‘cote’ to roost in, and a run enclosed by wire netting. There were a variety of hens then, and over the years we had White Wyandottes, Buff Orpingtons, black and white Leghorns, and of course Rhode Island Reds, the most common type seen today. Boiled fowl figured on the menu from time to time when one got ‘past laying’. They were fed on bran mash and Indian corn and repaid this star treatment by laying well, so much so that Mum used to put surplus eggs into a container of waterglass in the cellar during the summer, for use in the winter when the hens went off laying. I also had two bantam hens brought for me by Alec Bailey the milkman. They lived for ages and laid tiny eggs. Alec came from Rode Heath and brought the milk in a churn, on a small cart drawn by a horse. He did have a measure as a means of getting the milk from the churn to the jug, but he was very generous and his pint very often nearly filled a quart jug! He continued for many years so must have made a living. He then became a gamekeeper on the Rode Ha11 estate, and his cousin John Bailey took over the milk round. He was a morose man, and had married his wife, Alice, late in life, only after the most searching questions around the family, as to whether Alice was ‘sound1! Unfortunately for John she became ‘unsound’ shortly after they were married, and thereafter lived the life of an invalid, whether real or imaginary is a moot point but poor old John was always full of gloom. The pace of life was certainly much more leisurely during the days of my childhood. One man emptied the dustbins for the whole village. Two elderly men swept the streets, all the side roads that is. They were employed by Alsager Urban District Council, and every road was always clean. The main road from the far end of Crewe Road up to the level crossing at Lawton was the responsibility of one man employed by the County Council. People who had gas installed in their homes usually paid for it by a ‘penny – in – the – slot’ meter. Gas was not nationalized then and every area had its own private gas company. The one that served Alsager was the Kidsgrove Gaslight and Coke Company. When the meters were due to be emptied, a man used to push a handcart from Kidsgrove, collect all the pennies, (imagine the weight), they were put into the handcart, it had a large top with a lid. Then he had to push it back to Kidsgrove at the end of the day. I don’t know how many days it took to empty the meters in Alsager, no one noticed, he was just a fact of life, but he certainly earned his money, and of course, he would have the same hard slog to lots of other villages served by the Kidsgrove Gas Co. We had four postmen, Ernest Heaton, Frank Salter, Frank Hansell, and Mr. Watson. I never knew what his Christian name was, he was a bit of a ‘Mr. Uppity’ but in fact hardly anyone was addressed by his or her first name. The men would, when speaking to each other, but Mum would always say “Thank you Mr. Salter” when he handed her a. letter. She might say to Dad, “Frank Salter looked blue with cold when he came today”. Even friends who visited regularly were always given their full title! Mum had a friend, called Milly Gribbin, they went to the ‘Mothers Union’ and all manner of outings together, Mum would say to us, I’m going out with Milly Gribbin tomorrow, but to each other they were always Mrs. Rosson and Mrs. Gribbin. Sounds unbelievable now, and quite silly. In addition to the postmen we also had a postwoman1 Winnie Lang. They shared the work between them, there were two deliveries a day, and parcels as well. The cost of sending a letter was three half pence, postcards a penny. Very heavy or bulky parcels were often sent by rail, in which case a porter would deliver them on a small handcart. Alsager station was a typical sleepy country affair, compared with Stoke or Crewe, but it was much smarter than it is now. The Station master, Mr. Ikin, lived in a house adjoining the station, and he presided over his little kingdom with great efficiency. There were at least two porters and an apprentice, plus a booking clerk. W..H. Smiths bookstall was managed for years by Jimmy Ralphs, who was always pleasant and helpful. The flower beds were beautifully kept and the whole place had a cared for appearance. Many people who worked in the Potteries or Crewe, traveled by train. A bell rang loudly in the signal box when a train was due, and it was a common sight most mornings to see several stragglers running along the road when they heard the bell and the great clang as the gates were opened for the approaching train. At that time, disinfectant was freely available to anyone who cared to fetch it. A corrugated Iron shed at the bottom of Well Lane housed an enormous barrel of Jeyes Fluid. Mrs. Bateman, who lived in Well lane had a key to the shed. I think she was supposed to come and unlock it, then lock it when you had helped yourself, but If you went on Friday morning when she was busy doing her baking, she would ‘trust you’ with the key. I often went with Mum in the school holidays. We took two bottles and lots of newspaper as it was rather messy, and two paper bags to be filled with disinfectant powder, this was for the dustbin. I only remember going on sunny mornings, a few hens were always clucking and scratching about in the grass outside the shed, everywhere was very quiet, apart from the birds singing. A pink rose cascaded round the door and window of Mrs. Bateman’s house. It sounds idyllic, and I’m sure it was not, but it’s all part of a carefree time remembered. There was little in the way of entertainment, apart from the weekly WhIst Drive, and an occasional dance in St. Mary’s Hall. I was in the Brownies, and briefly in the Guides, but I lacked the team spirit necessary for this. People visited each other in their homes a great deal. The ‘grown ups’ would play cards or just sit and talk, while the children amused themselves. For special occasions like a party at church, or Christmas, we went to Phyllis Staniforth in Station Road to have our hair ‘Marcel’ waved, that is, those of us who had straight, hair, for as I have said, straight hair was regarded as a great disadvantage, It cost sixpence, and I‘m sure she did it nicely, but of course when you had slept on it all the wave was gone. When we were about thirteen Mum agreed to let me go with Audrey to a dancing class at Kidsgrove, on Saturday afternoons. The lessons were in ballroom dancing and cost sixpence. The bus fare was fourpence and I had twopence for a quarter of sweets. I went several times but did not really enjoy it so gave it up. Audrey continued to go, and in fact has enjoyed dancing all her life, and still does. About a year later, a young couple Mr. and Mrs. Shore, came to stay at Millie’s, they were expert dancers and started a class In the Arnold room at St. Mary’s. I went to that with MIllie and enjoyed It more than the Kidsgrove one. Mrs. Shore was very pretty and looked just like Janet Gaynor, a famous film star. We were sorry when they left and the classes ceased. |
