NextBackDuring the war I worked at Liptons Limited 17a Evesham Street. "There were seven grocery shops in the High Street all making a living - Millward's, Masons, Liptons, Perks', Farrands, the May Pole, Morris's and round the corner were more grocers. Saunders were well-known for their soaked peas. They would give you a cup of soaked peas and some bicarbonate of soda to put in when you cooked them and it made them go all mushy.
"Lipton's had started by Brown's Arch in Walford Street. Walford Street was connected to the bottom of Evesham Street by a passageway and you walked through Brown's Arch. It was nearly opposite Littleworth, then it moved up next to Biggs greengrocers with Johnsons on the other side.”
“When I left school the war was on and we couldn't choose our career, we were directed. I had learned shorthand and typing but I couldn't use them, I was directed into the food chain. When I went for an interview I had to take my school reports. I was offered a job at Liptons at ten shillings (50p) a week. I always remember Miss Arnold (the headmistress) calling me into her office and saying I was a very lucky girl because the going rate was 7/6d (about 37p) and I would be earning ten shillings. Because I had learned shorthand and typing I was put into the desk where I had to take all the money. The girl on the counter would put the money into a little wooden container and screw it on to a metal holder over her head. A wire to my desk behind a glass screen connected this. She would give a tug on the wire and the container would come swinging across the store to me. You had to be careful to screw it on securely otherwise the money would drop all over the shop. I had to unscrew the container, count the money, put the right change in the container and send it back to the sales girl.
