Doing The Shopping

A Memory of Romford.

I lived a mile or so east of Rush Green, in Barton Avenue but my mum would send me with a note to get the shopping for the family. She would sometimes give me eight half crowns or 1, a lot of money then. I would cycle down, first to Brown's the butchers, the first shop after the houses. Mr Brown who had huge butchers fingers would serve me liver, H-bone or chops and he would write how much I owed on a marble slab underneath the wrapping paper. At the end of the week he would expect the bill to be settled. Sometimes Mum had not given me enough, he wasn't happy then. Then I'd go into Ewins the grocers with a long list. I would wait in the queue then be served one item at a time. No supermarkets then. My friend at school was Barry Kitchener and his dad was the manager of the Co-op butchers round the corner in Dagenham Road. He lived over the shop and his mum had asthma, she used an old fashioned air pump with a rubber bulb which she would pump air into a mask on her face. She was so breathless which frightened me a bit. Opposite Brown's was what we called the oil shop, I think it was called Everards a hardware store. When I'd finish shopping, I would have a heavy bag on each side of the handle bars and cycle home. Mum was always very pleased with me. I attended Rush Green Infants / Junior School from about 1953 to 1959. I remember Michael Titterton, Keith Sydenham, Roy Collins, Geofrey Foot & Margaret Stirling. Mr Bird the Headmaster & Mr Snow out form teacher. I remember the sweet shop, 'Hoads' close to the school. I stole a bar of Fry's chocolate cream, the one that had 5 fruit flavours. I still feel a bit guilty!