Kirjahaku

At the turn of the twentieth century John Taylor, a Yorkshire apprentice grocer, was out of work. Half a pound of butter on a table in the front window of his home, and his wife’s delicious jams made from fruit from his brother’s market garden were the beginnings of his village shop. Half a Pound of Tuppenny Rice shows how the village shop was at the centre of the community and far more than simply a supplier of essential stores. The friendliness and warmth that existed meant customers were cheered up with a gossip and a bag of broken buns if they were feeling down, and given a sympathetic ear if they needed to put their purchases ‘on the bill’ when money was tight. The commercial travellers who called were similarly entertained, even enjoying a meal of bacon, eggs and HP sauce if they were feeling hungry.

Tales from a Hudderfield Corner Shop Between the Wars.

A lollipop lady during 1966-67, Hazel recorded in her diary all the happenings along what she calls "Life's Busy Highway" - every day was different, tragedy and comedy played out in the Theatre of the Everyday.

Huddersfield at War takes us through the years between the announcement on 3 September 1939 that England was at War with Germany, to the VE celebrations on 8 May 1945. Though Huddersfield suffered nothing as spectacular as The Blitz witnessed by larger cities, and events like the bombing of Pat Martin's mill were rare, the impact of the war on the lives of ordinary people was considerable. This delightful account provides an invaluable resource for anyone wishing to remember the humour, farce and tragedy of the war, and for others who would like an insight into what living through such times was like. From the blackout and the black market, to demob suits and dancing in the street - all are described in this often amusing, sometimes poignant, record of everyday life in a northern town during the Second World War.

Travel back in time to village life in rural Edwardian England; a time when children wore starched white pinafores and enjoyed such innocent pleasures as playing with the little windmills given to them by the rag-and-bone man. In this evocative narrative of her mother's idyllic childhood, growing up in Jasmine Cottage, Boroughbridge, Hazel Wheeler recreates the life of a country constable's family through story, anecdote and song. She describes Hilda's first day at school, the fortunes of her elder brother Willie, who became a footman in London, and that auspicious occasion when Hilda won a prize for the best essay on Citizenship on Empire Day in 1915. She recalls Hilda's first day as a milliner's apprentice and her subsequent move to become a wartime post girl. Throughout these fascinating sketches of her mother and her family, Hazel also describes the close-knit community in which they lived. This serves as a vital backdrop to the delightful tales which make this book so enthralling.

In the 1920s and '30s the corner shop was not just a place to buy groceries. It was a place to meet familiar faces and help people out. People bought groceries on a daily basis and going to the corner shop provided many people with a daily routine. Yet finding the finances for groceries could be a struggle and, when times were hard, many people would have to obtain their groceries 'on tick'. For some this was a way of life and shopkeepers had to keep a careful balance between credit control and offending customers. Hazel grew up in her father's shop and this collection of stories recalls her memories of those times. Some tales are sad but some are truly hilarious. A charming collection of stories that remember the people, the goods they sold in the shop and a way of life that has now vanished.

The year is 1953 and the North of England, like everywhere else, is full of women 'keeping house' for their husbands. Washing must be scrubbed by hand over the sink, socks must be darned by hand and tea must be on the table by five o'clock sharp. Immersed in this world is Hazel Wheeler, a feisty young woman, Yorkshire born and bred, who is in her first year of marriage. Contending with the daily drudgery of continual housework, an interfering mother in law who 'always knows best' and a constant struggle to make ends meet, The Diary of a Young Wife 1953 chronicles the first shaky steps of marriage for newlywed Hazel Wheeler. Challenged by the sexist cultural climate of the time, Hazel desperately fights to fit her passion - writing- around the unenviable daily demands of a 1950s housewife, and, terrified of social pressure to have children, finds herself 'wondering if there could possibly be a means of having a family without the bodily distortion.' The Diary of a Young Wife 1953 offers and engaging insight into married life in the 1950s.