Smith's Shop In Chelmsford

A Memory of Chelmsford.

After watching an episode of Stephen Fry's QI this evening, one of his topics sent my thoughts back to a memory of my childhood in Chelmsford in the 1960's. Smith's shop in the High Street, opposite the then Bond's store.

I use to beetle my Mother to go in that shop, with the whizzy hanging canisters that flew across the ceiling from the various counters to the cash desk. Most seem to remember these type of systems as being a vacuum pipe system, but the ones in Smiths's used to hang from taut wires, and made a wonderful whizzing sound as they flew from the counters. Marvellous times!