When I was about 12, Grandad got a new car (well second-hand, but new for him), it was the later version of his earlier Ford Popular, the new ‘square’ type Ford Popular, 100E in the same colour as his earlier model, Dark Blue. At about the same time Dad changed his old Anglia for a ‘square’ type Ford Anglia, and Uncle Jack changed his old Prefect for a ‘square’ type Ford Prefect, all were 997 cc except the Prefect which was 1198 cc and had 4 gears instead of the 3 of the Popular and Anglia. This meant that once again we had all three models of this Ford range in the family, and the remarkable thing was that each had the same colour in the later models as they had before. Although I was only 12 Grandad used to let me drive his car in and out of the garage, and I used to repair his and Dad’s car’s bodywork, as being quite old cars, and not with the same under-sealing as modern cars, the sills and wings used to rust away quite easily. So with the Araldyte filler and cans of spray paint, I used to keep the bodywork quite clean and tidy, which kept the cars on the road for a longer period of time.
Grandad was also a Bus driver, and I would go to meet him at the ‘Bus Yard‘, where the three local Eastern Counties Busses were kept overnight. He would let me drive his car out of the bus garage, and then let me drive the bus in. I tried not to miss going to meet him whenever I could, as I loved driving the Bus and car.
Ford Popular 100E
- Ford Anglia 100E
Ford Prefect 100E
I got a job delivering Sunday Newspapers for My Uncle Arthur and Auntie Tilly. In those days you had to bid for the right to sell newspapers in each location, Daily papers were covered by a different bid to Sunday ones. This often meant that the persons who sold daily newspapers were not the same as those that sold Sunday ones. If you hadn’t got the right you could not sell the papers.
My first paper round was just in Long Stratton, and covered about 5 roads, and for this I received about 10 shillings each Sunday. The people would leave the money for the papers on the front step, under a brick, or somewhere else for me to pick up.
In those days the Currency was L.S.D., Pounds Shillings and Pence. There were 12 pennies in a shilling, and 20 shillings in a pound, which meant that there was 240 pennies in a pound. Coins consisted of; a crown (5 shillings), half a crown (2s 6d), two shillings, (2s), one shilling (1s) , sixpence (6d), threepence (3d), penny (1d), and halfpenny (1/2d), there was also a farthing (1/4d) and a mite (1/8d) but these had almost disappeared especially the mite. Notes were £10, £5, £1, and 10s (10 shillings). The pound had the nickname of a ‘Quid‘, the ten shilling note , ‘Ten Bob’, the £5 note, a ‘Fiver’, the shilling ‘A bob’, the threepence, ‘A Thrupenny Bit’, a sixpence, ‘A Tanner’, and the 2 shillings was also known as a ‘Florin’. To write an amount you would write it like £12/19/11 (12 pounds 19 shillings and 11 pence) or £12 19s 11d. There was also the ‘Guinea’, many items would be displayed priced in ‘Guineas’, especially high-priced items and also cattle and horses etc. 69 gns (69 guineas), was actually £72 9s (72 pounds 9 shillings), as one Guinea was £1 and 1 shilling. Shop keepers always priced high price items in Guineas as they appeared cheaper than what they actually were. 99 gns looked cheaper than £103 19s (the actual price).
The average weekly wage at this time was about £18 a week for men and £12 for women. And a Brand New car would set you back around £650 for a Ford Cortina, and the petrol would cost you about 4/10d (24p) a gallon, 5.3 p per litre. A new house would cost around £3,800 for a 3 bedroom detached (Boy I wish I had bought a couple then!).
After decimalisation in 1971, the pound then had 100 ‘New’ pennies, so one ‘new’ penny was equivalent to 2.4 old pennies. The 2 shillings became 10p and a 20p coin was introduced later. The ‘d’ for penny was replaced with ‘p’.
Now what was I talking about before I went off onto currencies? Ah yes, my Sunday paper round. I used to do my paper round on my bike, but the papers started getting bigger, and the paper bag over my shoulder was very heavy and hurt my neck, so I had a brilliant idea. I got an old large orange box, about 3 feet long, 18 inches high and 18 inches wide, took the lid off, fitted an old pram axle and wheels onto the bottom, a couple of wooden shafts and cross-bar and fixed it to the seat of my bike. Viola! a trailer for my bike, the papers fitted inside and I was off. later I fitted an old car battery in the trailer, with indicators and lights on the back, I was so proud of my new ‘vehicle’.
Triumph Mayflower
Later, my Uncle Arthur bought the Sunday paper rights to some more local villages, and my round was extended, to not only Long Stratton, but also the surrounding villages of Wacton, Tharston, Forncett and Aslacton. This meant the round trip was now about 15-18 miles and used to take me all Sunday morning from around 6:30 am to midday. Sometimes Grandad would take me round in his car, and would let me drive from stop to stop, (not sure I should tell you about this illegal activity! driving at 12 on the public highway.) My Uncle Arthur had just bought a Triumph Mayflower, a Rolls Royce of a car in its day. The doors opened backwards, and it had a ‘Semi-Automatic’ gearbox. It had no clutch, you put your foot on the brake, pushed the gear lever into 1 and then off you went, you had to change gears using the stick but did not have to ‘clutch’. He occasionally came round with me on my paper round, and would let me drive his ‘Mayflower; from stop to stop. I was now getting lot’s of experience driving different types of vehicle, and still only 12!
I remember one call on my paper round, and one visit there in particular. It was one winter just a week before Christmas, and the snow was around 18 inches deep and it was very very cold. My round was taking a lot longer than normal, but the Christmas tips kept coming, so I wasn’t too bothered about the time. I arrived at a farm-house, I can’t remember the name of the people who lived there, but I knew they made their own cider. It was about 1:30pm and this time the old man who lived there called me over to the barn where they made their cider. I was told that everything goes into their cider, apart from the apples, sugar and so on, they added rats, rotten food and goodness knows what else. “Come over here boy” he called, “You must be frozen, come and get something to warm you up.”, when I arrived in the barn he started to pour a glass of cider from an old oak barrel in the corner of the barn. The cider came out of the barrel as clear as pure water. “Here lad, get a drop of this into you, it’ll warm you up.” He had poured almost half of a pint glass full of this crystal clear liquid for me. I sat with him, talking and drinking, and when I had finished this incredible tasting drink, said my farewells and saddled up onto my bike, trailer attached. I had not gone more than about 200 yards, when the alcohol in the cider (or should it be the other way round), suddenly hit me, I am not sure how I managed to get home, nor did I remember delivering my remaining newspapers, but Mum said that when I arrived home I fell straight asleep and did not wake up until the next morning.
Ok that’s it for this post.
To get notified when the next post is available please use the subscribe link on the left.
Related Articles
- British Coins answer: How can you tell what the value of the coin is like shilling and sixpence or two pound. I have a 1887 Victoria also 1889 Victoria and an 1887 Victoria but much smaller in size (wiki.answers.com)
- The day Britain lost its soul: How decimalisation signalled the demise of a proudly independent nation (dailymail.co.uk)
My Life 