My Father found a run down shop on the high causeway High Street South, in Rushden and bought it. He put in new counters and opened it up as a grocery store. It was at a time when everything was rationed so it wasn't easy to get supplies for the shop. My father used to make his own ice-cream; he had previously won a Diploma at the Olympia in 1937 and 1938, which according to the queues that used to form, was extremely popular. We also turned the upstairs front room of the shop into a cafe, making home-made pies and cakes, with very limited ingredients.