Another month has elapsed, so, it’s time to write another article!
I hope you are well and enjoying doing things that you love.
This month, I’d like to write about when I was about 10 years of age (I’m now 88). I used to like going up to the Welfare in Three Lane Ends, Castleford, it was a little park with swings and roundabouts and lots of interesting rides to go on. What I didn’t like was this woman who liked to scare me, she was in a wheelchair and was called Gwennie When I passed by, she used to try and grab me, but being so young, I didn’t realise that she was disabled. What made her look weird was that she looked quite old but used to wear white ankle socks. The other kids who were my age, were also scared of her. But as time went by, I began to realise that she couldn’t help how she looked, and began to feel sorry for her.
As I got older, I stopped going up to the Welfare but continued going up Three Lane Ends to school. After a year or so, someone told me that Gwennie had died from medical complications and this made me feel sad. But after a while she was forgotten.
At fifteen, I went to work at Bellamys; I did well in the gum room but had to be moved after six months as I got sugar rash on my arms and legs. Happily, I was moved to the dispatch room putting together orders. We packed sweets from all the different rooms which were then delivered to shops and factories. I liked it but I had also liked working in the gum room making Jelly Babies and Fruit Pastilles.
I also used to work in the First Aid room once or twice a week. I worked there on my own dispensing basic medication for headaches and stomach aches to colleagues – they nicknamed me Nurse Cowel for a while and this name stuck for a while.
When the new factory opened near Bellamys, I was transferred there and worked on a conveyor belt with After Eight Mints, you had to be quick or they’d end up destroyed on the floor. After an hour or so, I found the work easy, so, I was moved to the Round Table to pack them in long green sleeves with a label saying ‘After Eight Mints’. These were very popular and hundreds of the green boxes were delivered to different shops. To prevent people from sneaking or taking the mints, they had one day a week when you could purchase them at a reduced price. This was a very successful policy which was well-received by people in general.
Anyway, to bring things up to date: Dean’s friend Brenda is feeling better, and all being well, health-permitting, we will visit them once again in Halifax. We have however, managed to do some decorating which has been a nice change from writing an article.
Dean has been a very loyal friend to Brenda, visiting her in hospital on a regular basis, so, hopefully things will work out; I’ve told him he must look after himself having a had a heart attack a couple of years ago.
Well, that’s it for now.
Love, June. X
