Pioneer Market, Ilford Lane

RE: RE: Pioneer Market, Ilford Lane

My father worked at Memory Brothers for many years on the bacon counter and my mother too on the grocery side, though previously she had worked at Walklings the bakers opposite. I may have spelt that wrong but I wonder if Victor Harmes remembers them, Bert and May Walker, I'm sure they where still there in 1964/65. Does anyone still remember the 'shopping week' in the Pioneer Market when all the shops put on their best displays and a cowboy called Cal MacCord used to open the event riding through on his horse? I still have photos of Memory Bros display if anyone is interested, showing Walter the owner, Bill Spranger the manager, my father and other staff, almost hidden from view by many sides of bacon on display. Nothing was prepacked in those days. Yes, there was two Holmes, one for veg and the other for fruit, and I'm not sure but didn't they have a florists as well? I seem to recall Mary Holmes owning it. The market staff used to have their own rhyming slang and many's the time the banter used to cross from one shop to another, often at the expense of some customer who might have been wearing a hat that the shop staff found amusing. I haven't been back to the 'Market' for some years now, but I remember it with affection and as vividly as if it was yesterday. Sadly, I believe it has all gone now but the 'Holmes' and the 'Skinners' and the 'Edwards' who were Memorys' competitors are part of Ilford's History, and mine.