Working On Church Street Six Times

A Memory of Great Malvern.

When in 2018 I started work as a supervisor in a shop on Church Street, it occurred to me that I had had four jobs & two volunteer posts on the road.
The first was a temporary job in the late '70's under the Job Creation Scheme. We were working for the Council, the depot was in Pickersleigh Road (now a builders merchant), next to Prospect View. But our boss was based in Church Street (Portland House?).
We were not popular with the regular workforce, who regarded us as cheap labour bought in. It did not help that we were much quicker at the jobs we were given than them, & would often run out of work & materials by midweek. In the end, we would go up to the office roundabout Wednesday lunchtime, get a 'sub' on our wages, take the van & find a village pub with relaxed opening hours. Our Foreman was Alan Potter, others in the team were John Jeynes, who I still see around, Tom Cavan, whose family lived in a big house in Graham Rd, moved to Coventry, Sean ?, who I think runs his own building business & myself.
I had an interview for a Civil Service job in Worcester, somehow ended up working for another Govt Department, the Department of Employment. This was pre Jobcentre days, & I was working at Rockcliffe House, 40-44 Church St. We later moved to Taynuilt, 75 Graham Road.
At the time I was a volunteer RAC/ACU Motorcycle Instructor, & the Road Safety Department who we 'worked' for was based in Portland House. I moved away from the area for many years, returning in the mid '90's. Another Govt scheme saw me working for Oxfam, initially on resourcing donations thru van collections. Our depot/storeroom was in what is now the bookshop part of Oxfam. I also did a few shifts on sales in the shop, showed some aptitude for it, & became a Shop Manager at another branch. Again, I moved out of the area for a while.
On my return I took a 'temp' job as a postman, ended up staying there for 14 years. This was at the Sorting Office on Church St. Being laid off from that for medical reasons, I ended up working for Mountain Warehouse on the Retail Park, later moving to their Church Street branch as a Supervisor.
Over the 40 odd years I've worked on Church Street, there have been many changes. Household names like Woolworths (now Iceland) & Timothy Whites, & many banks have gone, as have many of the small, independent shops.
Replaced by coffeehouses, nail bars & yet more charity shops.