The Bakery

A Memory of Hinstock.

In my school days I used to go to the bakery with my school pal George. It was owned by Mr Rhodes, George's father. Helping to make all the bread-cakes-pork pies, Mr Rhodes would put a pork belly joint in the oven for our breakfast. Can taste it now, with fresh baked bread and proper butter. This was because we started at 6am, school came a sorry second. I would have been 14/15 years old then. The ovens where coke fired, took some time to get hot. While waiting for the oven, the three of us would have our own tasks. Mine was in the pork pie line and doing the cakes, helped out with George. Can remember the first time i got to make the doughnuts, oh dear big mistake. Made up the balls of dough to the size of a normal doughnut, arranged on tray, put them in oven. Wow-good God, what have I done. They had grown to the size of a cobb loaf. I thought this is it, Mr Rhodes is not going to be happy. But to my surprise he just laughed joined in by George. We agreed to put extra jam into them, to be sold as family size buns off the van. Well they all sold out, even got asked to make some more. Many happy days we had at Hinstock bakery. Lived right next door to Mr & Mrs Rhodes, the Berringtons-Woodseaves. Me and George went to the Grove school Mkt Drayton,came home to go into his gym.He was a junior amateur boxer, I would be his sparring partner. No one tried bullying us at school.

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