Wells Street Coop

A Memory of Chelmsford.

I left Rainsford School in summer 1959 and worked for 6 month on Hoffman's assembly line. I then joined the Chelmsford Co-op Grocery, starting on the provisions counter, in Wells Street where I trained under Arthur Halliday (he also trained my father in about 1925). They were happy times. We served every customer from counters (no self service), everything was weighed and wrapped, ie bacon, butter, sugar, rice, biscuits etc. When the transaction was finished we put the customer's money and divi ticket in a wooden cup and sent it along the wires to the cashier who sat in a corner overlooking the whole shop. Us young lads used to double wind the spring mechanism so the cup exploded when it reached the office, much to the annoyance of Hilda (I can't remember her surname), a lovely lady. Other characters I remember from Wells Street were the assistant manager John ?, Danny ? (he was a Teddy Boy and had hair like Elvis), Gwen ? (from Wickford), and Mrs Gleeson. So many lovely people who were very kind to a young lad who was just starting work. Now I'm retired and I have all those memories of 50 years ago.