When I was demobbed from the army, after a few months of trying to settle down in the trade of vehicle mechanic, I threw away all my training and became a coalman.

I worked for the Rushden CO-OP. The CO-OP in Rushden employed around two hundred people.

The society had its own bakery in Newton Road, and their bread was second to none. It was delivered fresh daily, by an army of full time delivery men.

The milkmen carried out a similar service in the early mornings, and at a guess, half the people of Rushden took this service. The other half was shared by a number of independent bakers and dairymen.

At the CO-OP we had five coal delivery lorries (whose original drivers must have been Ham and Shem, ref: Genesis) and we all loaded at the same time, assisting each other under the hand and eye of Bill King, the coal foreman.

Bill  King was a real  'character',  and  his capacity for telling stories was simply phenomenal.