D W Clarke

A Memory of Cannock.

This was once the main route through Cannock, namely the A34. I can't ever recall it being congested in the post war years and even into the 1960's though long distance lorries often passed through this way. Of course at that time the actual total number of vehicles on the roads was very much lower than what we have at the present time.

The large building on the right is D.W. Clarke's emporium which sold nearly everything from brass screws to lounge suites, brooms to wallpaper. It was named after its founder, one Daniel Wheelwright Clarke. How ever he got that second name I simply don't know but it must be almost unique.

I had a Saturday job there when I was a teenager. That involved me in sweeping the pavement outside the store before it opened at 9.00 a.m. Then it was sweeping the wooden floor boards in the first part of the shop. Once opened I usually spent the rest of the day in one of the departments. Mainly, I worked in the paint and wallpaper department which was on the first floor if I remember rightly. A genial gent by the name of Mr. Ball was the head of the department. No first names ; always Mr.

I recall that most of the paint was made by a company in the town of Haltwhistle somewhere in the north of England. That seemed such a strange name. There was gloss and emulsion naturally but the colour range was rather limited. We even sold great lumps of whitewash which customers had to dissolve in water before using it to coat their walls.

One day, a new product arrived : Magicoat was its trade name. Mr. Ball was very excited about this item. It was a so-called thixotropic paint which was a gel and was said never to drip. Hmm. Maybe.

Another oddity of the times was the knock-off edge on rolls of wallpaper. There was a section of each roll which was a margin to the printed design. This was there supposedly to prevent damage. Despite it being perforated from the main section it was so difficult to remove. Mr. Ball offered customers an edge removal service. He's scurry into his back room and holding the roll like a baseball bat, bash the roll's edge against a table. Usually it worked quite well but just now and then an odd roll looked a little dog eared!

Then the cutting machine arrived. This red painted monster trimmed off the margin of the paper using two pairs of cutting wheels. Placing the roll on one axle and pulling the paper forward to the cutters It looked rather like a pianola as the paper coursed its way to the other spindle where it was automatically re-rolled. We had the technology BUT the cutters had to be guided by the operator who also controlled the speed of the device by a foot pedal. Oh boy! Could that get into a mess. Many a roll must have had very wavy edges. 'Caveat emptor' as the law says! (Buyer, beware.)

It was at this time that the new Avon Road was constructed. Over many weeks I watched its progress just a few yards from the building which at that time had no display windows that side. There was just a brick wall punctuated by a few service doors. It all created a morass of reddish clay from the excavations which got everywhere, including the front footpath which I still had to clean.

We had an annual treat. There would be a Christmas party held in Taylor's restaurant. All the staff were invited from managers to humble Saturday workers like me. The last Mr. Clarke sat almost enthroned in a large, wooden arm chair. We were presented to him on arrival and shook his hand. I don't recall any presents being given but perhaps there were. He referred to all of us as 'his boys' whatever our position.

I was paid the princely sum of fifteen shillings, in cash, for a day's work. Not bad at the time!


P.S. I do believe that the first car parked on the right belonged to Mrs. Joyce Bond, widow of Selby Bond and the owner of Bond's garage at the other end of town. She often parked just there when going to Lloyd's Bank which is just out of picture.