The Old Hawkes Sweet Factory In New Street, Chelmsford

A Memory of Chelmsford.

Hi my name is Doug, when I left school at the age of 15 in 1955 I worked at the Hawkes sweet factory as a sugar boiler, amongst other things, and it was there that I met my first girl friend. Although she married someone else, as I did. I have kept in touch with her all my life, she, as I, have very fond and vivid memories of the place. I am writing one long letter to my grand children in Australia at the moment (there's forty lines to a page and it's one hundred pages long at the moment) of which I post them just 3 pages every ten days. It's not a book, but just a story of my life for them. I am very familiar with the factory but my main interest at the moment is, what was the place built for? Or, what was it before the sweet factory? I think that it may have been some sort of a 'coaching house' where horse riding travellers would rest for the night as there was a hay loft above the stabling area which was at that time used for the washing of the glass sweet jars before their reuse. As a van boy, I assisted with deliveries to the shops which you mentioned. In my letter, I have just left school (1955) and am about to recall for them the memories of that place, being my first job, and then my future life after it. If you have any details of transfer contracts or purchases regarding the purchase or usage of the place I would be interested to hear from you. Doug.