Figure 1.--.

One store that I can remember in great detail is a shop that sold knitting patterns, wool, cotton buttons and the like. This was a small shop on the corner down a side street. It was run by two old women – I think they were sisters. Mum used to go down there sometimes when she wanted to buy elastic for our garters or cotton for mending something.She also sometimes bought wool.

Buying Wool

Mum didn't knit herself. what with working and careing for us--she just didn't have the time. She would buy the wool for the old lady I told you about who used to knit our jumpers , They would then argue about the money as my the old lady always insisted on paying my mum back for the wool even though the jumpers were for us. I noticed my mum accepted the money in the end but always told the old woman the wool cost less than she had paid for it.

Labels

It was at this shop that my mum would also order the labels for our school clothes.You gave the name and they sent it off somewhere.The labels would then come back a week or so later – a long thin strip with our name on in red.People at school used to think I had three first names as the labels had three initials on them – but that was because my mum had all our three initials on the labels.When she sewed them into the clothes she would sometimes fold the label so just the one initial was showing depending on who the item belonged to – but she normally didn't bother. My older brother and I shared a lot of our clothes anyway.

Interesting Items

I used to like this shop as it was packed full of colourful stuff. It had a glass counter with reels and reels of brightly coloured ribbons and cottons and on the shelves behind were all the wools. The window was full of the knitting patterns on display. The shop did stock a few items of clothing – mainly for younger children and babies and these were hung up around the walls. I think the sisters had made some of these clothes themselves and were selling them on quite cheaply. Others were all sorts of oddments – some of which seemed to have been there for ages and others quite new. Occaisionally, when she had some spare money my mum would notice something that she fancied for us. The clothes were cheap for what they were and good quality.

Green Cord Shorts

I remember on one occaision she bought me a pair of green corduroy shorts that were pegged up on the wall. I remember I had to go behind the counter and into the back of the shop to try them on. This was a real eye-opener as the back was crowded with boxes of stuff and there was a flight of stairs also with loads of stuff on them. I could hardly find space to get changed back there. I seem to remember the colour on the shorts had faded and we got them quite cheap. They weren't second hand or anything – just old.

Shorts Set

On another occaision my little brother took a fancy to a Summer shorts and shirt set. It also had a matching hat and was brightly coloured – blue,yellow and red with printed pictures of boats and fish on it. I had noticed this before – it was hanging high up near the ceiling and had been there as long as I could remember. My brother spotted it one day and was pointing at it but my mum told him she couldn't afford it.Anyway he started up – he was only five or so – and I remember feeling embarrassed for us. My mum was in a good mood though and was laughing and the sisters said that he could try it on if he wanted and my mum agreed. They had to get some steps to get it down and when he had it on my mum thought he looked really good in it and the sisters said he could have it for half-price as they needed the space and my mum could pay when she could afford it. So he got to keep it.He wore it when we went on holiday to the seaside later that year and it did look good and was quite unusual. He lost the hat when it blew into the sea and my mum had to buy him a plain white one to quieten him down.

New Shoes

Mum when buying new shoes always bought a couple of pairs of new laces too - but not in the shoeshop as their laces were more dear [expensivde]. We stopped off in the sisters' shop for laces and they normally gave her a card of shirt buttons and some garter elastic too while we were there. They knew that she had just spent a lot of money

Relationship

a The sisters normally looked after families like us - in small ways but important to people like my Mum. And not just for the money side of it but feeling she had someone to fall back on if in need.

Bill