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Wallace ("Waller") Roughton and his brother Tom had a garage and cycle shop where the Antique Centre is now.  Waller was a great character and I had my cycle tyre punctures mended, and later my car serviced there for many years until he retired and the place closed.  After that I went to Whittingham's garage in West Street, then run by the brothers John and Peter.  The business is still going strong today, still family operated and has just entered its second century.  Their "aircraft hangar" type building is the last survivor of this type of building in the area.  Warrens Garage, a bit further up the road, was a similar building when the business first started, but the present building was erected further back off the road than the original.  Where the off licence is now in East Street was Fred Matthews' barbers shop, with tobacconist and confectioners attached.  When Fred retired, John Oram kept the business going and established himself in West Street, where the business still thrives.  


When the British Restaurant closed, we were without anywhere to have lunch, and had to look round for somewhere else to go.  We settled on George Marven's sisters cafe in West Street, where "Snobs" is now, and I had my meals there up to about 1958, when Miss Marven died and after her partner struggled along on her own for a few months, the shop closed.  This posed another problem, as although there were other cafes in the town, nowhere else could match the cooking we had at Alice Marven's.  Her partner made some of the best meat pies for miles around, and when I go into Snobs to get my shoes repaired, I always think how lovely it would be to have one of those pies again.


National Service: 1948 to 1950

In 1948, I went to do my National Service and followed Jim into the R.A.F.  As I could use a typewriter proficiently I was channelled into administrative work, and after short postings at Lytham St. Annes and Hereford, I was sent to the permanent Commissions Selection Board at Ramridge House, Weyhill near Andover, where I stayed for the rest of my service.  We were a service unit for the Board, and I found the work we did quite interesting.  The candidates were put through various initiative tests, and we used to produce the Board Members reports on their performance, as well as routine office duties.  This included collecting the mail from Andover Post Office, and collecting the N.A.A.F.I. supplies and rations.  This involved a lorry trip to Andover town and the airfield each day except Saturdays and Sundays, and got us a change of scenery once a day.  There is some nice countryside around Andover, and at the end of one leave I took my bicycle back to camp with me.  I took it on the train to Liverpool Street, rode across London to Waterloo, and then on to Andover, where I rode it to the camp.  I kept it behind my hut and had hours of pleasure riding around the country lanes in my off duty time.  My service ended in May 1950, and I returned home.  Many people grumbled about having to do National Service, but it did me no harm at all and I learned to look after myself, to cook, do the washing, and many other skills I would not otherwise have bothered about.  I also saw a lot of the country I would not otherwise have seen, and all for nothing, and probably was the beginning of my extensive railway travels, of which more later on.


1950: 18 months back at the office

I returned to civilian life to resume more or less my old duties in the Clerk's Department.  Jim had departed to the Surveyor's Department, and there had been one or two staff changes, but otherwise things were much the same.  There had been one improvement, as the Public Health Department had moved out of no. 24 to no. 57 now that the building had been vacated by the WVS and the British Restaurant cooking staff.  The rooms they had vacated had been taken over by the Finance Department and the Clerk's Department at last had a room of their own, and we even had a telephone.  I carried on with my old duties for about 18 months, by which time I was approaching 22 with no signs of advancement, when a position in the Finance Department became available.  In those days we had no Housing Department, all Departments doing part of the housing function.  The Finance Department collected the rents and this position included rent collections and rating work.  I applied for and got the job, and embarked on a way of life I was to keep for 12 years.


A New Job in the Finance Department

"I ride round the countryside on a bicycle and collect money, at the end of the day I sometimes have up to £300.00 in cash on me".  If someone said that to you today you would think they were mad.  But that is what we did then - and thought nothing of it.  It was a much less violent world in those days.  My week was divided into two.  During the first part of the week the Council house rents had to be collected, and in the latter part of the week we did rating work as required.  It was hard work, out in all weathers, and I had to deal constantly with the public who can, as we all know, be difficult  at times.  


A typical Monday would start at 8.30.  Count your float to make sure its all there, make certain you have the right rent sheets then mount your bike and leave for Great Wakering.  According to wind and weather arrive at New Road at about 9.30 finish there about 10.15, up to the High Street for a cup of tea and then on up to Coronation Close.  Finish there about 12.30 and then on to lunch.  If it was wet I ate my lunch in Stan Bird's mother's front room where I heard all the gossip and got a cup of tea as well but if it was fine I sat on a bench in Gt. Wakering Playing field   Then back to work - Victory Cottages first, then Church Road and Mucking Hall Road and try to get past the Anne Boleyn by 4.00 p.m.  I could usually do this if it was not raining with a head wind.  Then cash up, write out any repair tickets necessary, post the office payments, and that was that for another day.  


The rating work, usually on Thursday and Friday, was mainly checking vacant properties, working out rate apportionments for new properties, preparing demand notes, and anything else that wanted doing.  At that time of course, many new houses were being built in the District, both private and Council, which of course affected both sides of the job.  The rent rounds kept increasing and the new work was divided between me and my mate, an older man called Tom C.  Eventually Tom left and his place was taken by Aubrey Bobin, or "Bob" as everyone called him, who was a member of the Bobin family of Victory Bookshops fame.  He was a great character.


A New Housing Section

Soon after Bob arrived, the Council decided to form a Housing Section attached to the Clerk's Department, the idea being to bring all housing functions under one roof.  We had, by then, a considerable number of houses and trying to administer the housing stock between almost every department in the Council was no longer on.  The Council appointed Cleveland Johnson to the position of Housing Officer, and Bob and I, together with Vera Woodhouse, were transferred to the Section.  The Surveyor's Department was on the point of moving into their new office and drawing office at the rear of 24 South Street, and we moved into their old offices which I have described earlier.  The place was converted into two rooms, which was not satisfactory as Cleve, Bob and I shared the back room, and if he had to interview anyone we had to go elsewhere till the interview was over.  We were of course out for most of the time but it did create difficulties at times.  Things continued very much the same as before, except of course that we now had a supervisor and if we had any problems we could get them sorted out relatively quickly.  Some of the old problems did not however go away.  


Housing Repairs

Repairs had always been a problem and continued to be.  We used outside contractors, but the system was in no way satisfactory.  This was mainly due to lack of discipline on the part of the contractors, and lack of supervision on the part of the Council.  The job of checking repairs and giving supervision was carried out by Bob and myself, and we could only do this on Thursday afternoons and part of Fridays, the rest of the week being fully taken up by rent collection.  Due to the ever increasing number of houses, we now did this for three and half days each week.  We did a good job on collection.  I am aware that rents in those days were not so high as they are now, but we kept the arrears at a much lower level.  Our average weekly arrears total was £60.00.  If it went up to £70.00 we had an inquest, and if it went over that we had a problem.  This was achieved by constant chasing of the tenants in arrears, and by there being a presence, in the form of Bob or myself, around the estates.  This helped to keep the estates in good order, as we could spot contraventions of the tenancy conditions as they happened and do something about it immediately.  This helped to keep the estates in the main neat and tidy, and they were not allowed to get into a scruffy state.   


The Challenges of Weather & the Public

We generally worked entirely without supervision, and because of the freedom we had it was thought we had an easy time.  The people who thought this however could not have been more wrong.  Our two biggest problems were being at the mercy  of  the weather and the public, which combined make up one of the greatest opposing forces known to local government officers.  In winter, it was not too bad if you were working close to the offices, but if you were out at Great Wakering all day and you got wet going out you often stayed like it all day.  I always made sure though that I got tea and a sandwich about 10.00 and a good lunch, and found that it all did me little harm.  We managed to ride our cycles most of the time but when the weather was too bad, especially  with snow on the ground, we walked.  We never missed a collection because in those days nobody expected you not to arrive.  It is sobering to remember that in those days people had to keep on - a lot of them did not get paid unless they did.


A New Housing Work Force

Eventually, the repairs situation got so bad that the Council decided to have its own work force.  The thinking behind this was that better control could be exercised if you had your own men.  "Great" we all said, thinking that the work force would be controlled by the Housing Section. Imagine our wrath when we were told that the Council had decided to give it to the Surveyor's Department, opf whom we did not think much.  As we foretold, things got no better, except when we needed them quickly you knew where to find the work people.  The Clerk of Works who looked after the repairs was the late Fred Flewers.  A carpenter by trade, Fred knew the building trade inside out and everybody in it, and in spite of having little admin. experience did a fair job.  He had been a bandsman and amused us every Christmas by playing a saw.  The painting was still done by outside contractors, some of whom needed very close watching.  We used to have to assist Fred with the painting inspections, and also to tip him off about anything we saw while collecting the rents.  On one occasion, I called at Church Road, Barling as usual on Monday afternoon and was surprised to see painting in progress.  When I returned to the office I remarked to Fred that the work at Church Road had started "That's odd" said Fred "we're not painting Church Road this year, they are due for modernisation soon."  When Fred went out the next day to see what was going on he found three pairs of houses with all of the woodwork rubbed down, stopped and primed - but no men to be seen., and they never were seen again, and in spite of enquiries we never found out who did it.  We finally reached the conclusion that they started on the wrong site, realised their mistake and beat a hasty retreat.

   


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History Remembered: David Collins

“47 Years in South Street”


David Collins 1930 - 2013 - P3. (Continuing)