If you would like to contribute to this section please send your article to:
cardiacfriends@hotmail.co.uk
CONTENTS:
ARTICLE No.1 . . . . . . . . Working in Munts,Hitchin at Christmas time.By David Tookey.
ARTICLE No.2 . . . . . . . . John Burdons Story.
ARTICLE No.3 . . . . . . . . Recollections by Pete Howard
ARTICLE No.4 . . . . . . . . An ode to recovery (from Dinah)
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Note from Pete Howard (Web editor).David Tookey and I lived next door to each other in the 50’s and 60’s.When he left school I took over his Saturday job at Munts toy,cycle and pram shop in Hitchin High Street,(article no.3).
NO.1
Working in Munt’s Hitchin shop on Pre -Christmas Saturdays in the early 1960s
Today it is possible to buy most of your Christmas presents in a large supermarket because they stock such a wide range of goods. If you can’t find what you need in these shops then you can go to a specialist store such as Smyths for toys, Halfords for bicycles or Mothercare for baby’s equipment. Sixty years ago a Munt’s in High Street, Hitchin was the go-to shop for children’s Christmas presents. Munt’s also had shops in Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth. Today the Hitchin shop building is still in the centre of the High Street opposite Poundland. Although it has been split up in to several different businesses it still looks the same with the entrance between the two display windows in the front three storey building and the single storey rear extension which bordered the alley leading from High Street to the Churchyard. From the beginning of December until Christmas Eve the shop windows were decorated with coloured lights and packed with examples of the vast range of boys and girls toys that Munt’s sold. One of the major exhibits was a large revolving model of a fairground roundabout made in Meccano. When I was at school I worked in the Hitchin shop Saturdays and in the holidays. Saturdays between the end of November and Christmas Eve were extremely busy. The shop’s normal hours were 08.30 to 17.30 but on busy pre-Christmas Saturdays it was often about 18.30 before we could close.
In 1960 self-service display was very rare and the items for sale were either stored on a range of floor to ceiling shelves behind a long wooden counter which ran along the right-hand side of the shop or on what looked like two semi-circular rows of “market stalls” The outer row of these “market stalls” ran around the wall of the single storey extension and the inner row in the middle with about a four feet passage between the two. Both rows were decorated with Christmas garlands and lights. A vast range of toys, dolls, teddy bears, games etc were arranged on an impressive tiered display on an upper level and heavier items such as bicycles, pedal cars and larger doll’s prams displayed on the floor underneath. Smaller items were arranged on the middle stalls. This display gave the public a comprehensive view of the range of goods available including many well-known brands such as Triang, Pedigree, Dinky toys, Meccano and Chad Valley toys. As well as Raleigh, Triumph and BSA bicycles. To provide a full customer service on busy Saturdays Munt’s had about twenty-five staff to serve the customers. These assistants were either behind the long counter or strategically placed in the centre. Their task was to help the customer by showing them a range of items, telling them the price, wrapping it up and taking the money. All items had their price written in pencil on the box or a label. As this was before the abolition of resale price maintenance the price of all goods sold was set by the manufactures. There were no discounts and certainly no Black Friday sales. Credit cards had not yet been introduced and so payments were either by cheque or cash. All transactions had to be recorded on a large electro-mechanical cash register. Cash payments were made with pre-decimal pounds, shillings and pence (£ s d). Cheques were taken provided the customer wrote their name and address on the back. Sometimes if a customer wanted something that was not on display it had to be fetched from the stock rooms above the shop. Quite often this meant battling though a hoard of customers to reach the stairs and trying to remember what the customer looked like when you returned.
On pre-Christmas Saturdays the streets of Hitchin were very busy and many of the High Street shops like Munt’s were packed out. Many shoppers came from the nearby villages by bus.
On these busy days my working hours were 09.00 to 12.30 and 13.30 to 18.00 and was I paid one pound for these Saturdays which was five shilling more than my usual rate of fifteen shillings (75 pence).
On arrival my first and most detested job was to clean the black marble facia below the display windows with an oily rag. My next task was to go down to the cellar and tie empty cardboard boxes in to bundles ready for collection by the dustmen on Wednesday mornings. After this it was time for a quick cup of tea after which I spent most of my time generally helping on the counter selling batteries, bicycle tyres etc. At 12.30 I cycled home for lunch and then returned to work at 13.30.
During the afternoons I spent a very busy but enjoyable time working on the model railway counter where we sold both complete boxed train sets, separate locomotives, rolling stock and track work. We had a wide range of OO gauge Hornby Double O and Triang model electric trains. Triang had just introduced a smaller scale TT (Table Top) gauge model electric trains. This is now the very popular N gauge. As an alternative to the relatively expensive electric models we sold a similar range of the larger O gauge clockwork trains.
On these pre-Christmas afternoons we were so busy that the time seemed to fly by and by about half past five the constant stream of customers had begun to dwindle and so we could gradually start to tidy up. My final tasks were to sweep the shop floor with wide brush and help bring the bicycles in from the outside display in the alley adjacent to the shop. After this I cycled home feeling tired and happy after a day’s experience of retailing at the sharp end.
A 1961 Munt’s Advertisement 
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NO.2
The unexpected experiences of a Volunteer…
Have you ever responded to a request from BHF via Cardiac Friends to volunteer in a research programme or an awareness raising campaign? I’ve done this a few times and this is what happened to me as a result of volunteering for one of these campaigns…
Back in December 2014 Public Health England (PHE), an ‘arms-length’ (from Government) body which has oversight of the NHS, sent round a request through BHF via Heather at Cardiac Friends for volunteers to take part in a publicity campaign to raise awareness of breathlessness related to heart failure.
I volunteered as I saw it as an opportunity to do ‘my bit’ and because I fitted the profile as I had been diagnosed with heart failure the previous year. Heart failure is not the most positive of medical terms, a criticism with which many medics agree, but luckily mine is ‘medically managed’ so that I can lead a ‘normal retired’ life.
In the early part of 2015 ‘Freud’s’ (founded by Matthew Freud, the son of Clement Freud and great-grandson of Sigmund Freud), a PR company running the campaign for PHE, contacted me and took down the details of my case, the aim of the campaign being to encourage people with breathlessness symptoms to get themselves checked out by a their GP asap.
Over the next couple of years there were annual campaigns involving respiratory symptoms where my details were circulated to local, regional and national media along with those of many other volunteers but nothing much happened. ‘Freud’s’ even arranged for me and several others to be interviewed and filmed at home. Again there was little follow-up for me but the various campaigns had regional and national coverage on radio and TV.
I forgot all about it, so it came as a surprise when at the end of May this year I got another email from ‘Freud’s’. This year’s campaign focused on Coughing linked to breathlessness, heart and lung disease including cancer. Could I make myself available if there was any media interest?
As before I said yes and as before they said that it all depends on current events in the news as to whether they would get a slot. Then I got another email to say they had a possible slot on July 5th or 6th. I said yes again, but wasn’t optimistic but after we came back from a short break in Suffolk I got a phone call to ask if I could come for an interview at the BBC the following day, Thursday July 6th. I checked with my wife and the diary – Cardiac Exercise at Letchworth, hmmm – thought long and hard, about 3 milliseconds, and said, yes, I’ll do it.
I was collected by car at 8.30am (much better than going by train!) and was met by Laura Eveleigh of ‘Freud’s’ outside the BBC Broadcasting House along with Professor Julia Verne, an expert medic from Public Health England and her PR assistant. Laura put a take away coffee in my hand and we went immediately outside to a small grassy tree-lined square where Professor Verne and I were interviewed separately in a pre-recorded session for editing and broadcasting later. I did the interview on a park bench and afterwards I was also filmed walking up and down in the park and then back on the bench talking informally to the interviewer (who told me she was born in Hitchin…). These ‘natural shots’ were to be edited in later.
Then we were ushered quickly inside Broadcasting House, security checked and taken up to ‘Brian Barron’ a small meeting room named after the late foreign and war correspondent. We had a team talk and were made up (no lippy I’m afraid) and quickly ushered in to be interviewed by Julian Worricker (best known as a Radio 4 presenter of programmes such as Pick of the Week, You and Yours and Any Answers) in the BBC News 24 studio. While we waited to go live as part of the 11am news programme (sport was currently showing on the screen) he said he would ask me to tell him my story first (as regards breathlessness) before talking to Professor Verne. As we attached our microphones, Professor Verne quickly told me to face her when talking, not the camera, and to wait until we were told to leave afterwards – and don’t forget to take your microphone off!
It all happened in a blur and when we went back to the meeting room I was surprised to learn that the interviews had lasted as long as 7 minutes. The PR staffs were very pleased as was Professor Verne as apparently it’s rare to get more than 90 seconds for this kind of slot. All I can say is that Julian Worricker was very good at putting me at my ease and there were no trick questions. I later learnt that he has significant arthritis problems and regularly writes for the journal Arthritis Care so maybe he was sympathetic to medical conditions.
We debriefed and had a coffee and sandwich in Café Nero at the entrance to Broadcasting House. It turned out that what also pleased the PHE team was that the combination of patient and medical expert seemed to work well, as they had hoped, because they felt that the ‘message’ would have greater impact if told by a patient or sufferer as well as an expert.
Laurel called my ‘chauffeur’ for the return journey and I was home at 1.45pm. What an experience. It’s certainly worth volunteering!
John Burden
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No.3
RECOLLECTIONS
From a very early age I was interested in anything mechanical.I remember nailing pieces of wood together to make crude looking aeroplanes when I was 6 or 7 years old.
I lived in Hitchin and back in the 1950’s my father used to take me to the annual air show at nearby RAF Henlow.I remember us waiting for the Henlow bus when an RAF lorry stopped and we climbed in the back.That was an extra treat!I can remember Lancasters and Spitfires there.I can also remember an Avro Anson used to come over Hitchin every day at around 4 pm on its way to Henlow (or was it on a school run?).
As I got older I was into bikes and soapbox carts.My friend Geoff’s father ran a motor repair business within the grounds of his house.We used a lean-to shed attached to the garage as our little workshop (we now were in our early teens).I had passed the eleven-plus exam and went to the Hitchin Boy’s Grammar School but I much preferred hands-on activity to stuffy academic leanings taught there.So it was straight home from school to rush through any homework so I could get on with the real stuff.We used to go to the local landfills to find bike parts and pram wheels.Geoff towed a little trailer behind his bike to transport our finds.We would also collect non-ferrous metal to sell to a scrap merchant for a bit of extra pocket money.
I was about sixteen when the boy next door,(David Tookey who is now also a Cardiac Friends member),asked me if I was interested in taking over his Saturday job in a Hitchin High Street shop.I could not believe my luck as this was a large shop called Munt’s which sold cycles,mopeds,prams and a huge selection of toys for all ages.It also had a repair workshop for cycles and mopeds.As well as Saturdays I would work full time during school holidays and sometimes after school.
The shop was double fronted with the entrance door set a few yards back from the pavement giving extra window area.The right hand side was the toy window and cycles and prams in the left.Next to the shop was a wide arch through which was a walkway to the churchyard (more window space down this side)The arch and walkway was part of the shop so every day trestle benches were put out along the archway and cycles,pedal cars,trikes and mopeds placed on display or hung up on the wall.It was a bit of a daily chore moving all this merchandise.I remember that one particular moped never sold in all the time I was there.It was a red three-speed Phillips and when I left it had 19 miles on the clock from being wheeled daily in and out of the shop!The most popular moped was the NSU Quickly.They sold as fast as they could get hold of them.
Raleigh and Phillips were the most popular makes of bicycle.Pedal cars and trikes were supplied by Triang (Lines Bros.).Chad Valley and Lone Star were prominent toy makers.The name ‘Eagle Trading Co.’rings a bell but I cannot remember what products they supplied.There was a counter devoted to model railways.These were OO Hornby and Triang and the tiny Triang tt scale.I remember selling little capsules of track cleaning fluid.Apparently it was carbon tetrachloride which is now a banned substance!
Of course they stocked Dinky,Corgi and Matchbox models along with Herald and Britains vehicles and farm animals.There was a large showcase on the main counter with several shelves packed with rows and rows of little plastic animals.A child would always want one from the front of the case and it was a challenge to retrieve it without knocking dozens over.
The second floor was solely prams,pushchairs and baby toys.Makes of prams that have mostly disappeared were Marmet,Silver Cross,Wilson and Royale.The shop had extra store rooms across the road behind what was Perks and Llewellyn’s chemist shop.When Perk’s was demolished to make way for a new Woolworths,(now Poundland),storage was moved to the floors above the garages in the Sun Hotel yard.The only thing I didn’t like about this was if I had to ferry a pram to or from the store.It was a bit embarrassing at sixteen years of age if you met anyone you knew while pushing a pram along the high street!
October was the time to set up the firework glass topped display counter.The shop was allowed to store some extra fireworks in metal dustbins in the upstairs storeroom.The proprietor always bought much more than could be stored on the premises.This extra stock was stored in sheds at his house.I remember riding in the shop’s Bedford CA van absolutely packed to its roof with fireworks taking them to his house.I never really thought about the risk at the time!
Christmas time was so busy.On Saturdays in December there would be about twenty sales assistants including temporary seasonal staff.If I went off to fetch something from the storerooms for a customer I had to make a mental note of what they looked like because the shop would be so packed out and they had probably moved from where I had left them!
By this time Geoff and I had progressed onto motorised transport.He had a 32cc.Cyclemaster.This was a motorised back wheel fitted to a normal bicycle.My 25cc.version I never did get working.I eventually bought a second hand NSU from the shop.
Sometimes I would spend time in Munt’s repair workshop carrying out work on customers’ bikes.The shop had sold a Capri 80cc.scooter which later came back after being invoved in an accident.The mechanic stripped it down and ordered the necessary parts and then left! I went in every afternoon after school and by the end of the week I had wheeled it down to the Sun Hotel car park and was road testing it up and down the yard.
I was sorry to give the job up when I left school.I took up an engineering apprenticeship in 1962 at Geo.W.King in Stevenage.They made overhead cranes,.hoists and conveyor systems,mainly for the car manufacturing industry.Working with different fitters in the factory for a few months at a time got me thinking that working every day at a bench was a bit daunting so I managed to get into the maintenance section and finished my time as a machine tool fitter.Until 2005 I had always worked in maintenance,building services,or as a mobile service engineer but spent the last five years up to my retirement at a bench job producing fire extinguishers for aircraft.
What was Munt’s shop is now a shoe shop.I have been in there from time to time and pictured it as it was laid out in the 60’s.
Harping back to our early motoring and motorcycling days,Geoff’s house was only a few yards away from a country lane from where we could ride across country for miles on old motorbikes which were definitely not roadworthy.I had a 500cc.Norton with rigid frame and girder forks followed by a ‘bitsa’ consisting of a 500cc Levis engine in a BSA frame.This one had no brakes at all!We ran a few old wrecks of cars as well which had been given to us as scrap.At the end of their life we would tow them to a landfill site at an old gravel pit and send them off a cliff while taking slow motion movies of the event.
Ironically this now seems like sacrilege as we both ended up owning several old classic cars between us.One of them was a 1938 Wolseley 14 that was spared the flight over the cliff and was restored by Geoff and is now a show car.I have owned a 1966 MG Midget,a 1967 MG Roadster and a 1935 Lanchester 10.
I no longer own these.I’ve gone ‘modern’ with a Mazda MX5!
Peter Howard, Website Editor.
Recollections photos word doc.
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No.4
This is a contribution from Dinah,our founder.It appears that basket weaving was a rehab therapy exercise in the early days pre- Cardiac Friends!
An Ode to Recovery
(A memory written by an ex patient who attended Cardiac Rehab in Occupational Therapy, at the Lister Hospital, sometime between 1994 – 2001. Clive and Laura (both mentioned below) became volunteers to help Dinah after attending the Cardiac Rehab Group themselves)
Oh I’ve suffered a Heart Attack what a fright. Had a three-way cabbage, its no delight.
No more fags or pints of ale, just in case my ticker fails.
Less strenuous exercise is the best, a nap in the afternoon, when feeling stressed.
I’ve taken my fill of medication, which gave me diarrhoea and constipation.
In my hours of devastation I even tried self-medication.
In my thoughts it often passed – I will have to go to a rehab class.
Yes you should, encourages the wife, I’ve suffered too in your strife,
It’s time to get on with your life Mister and contact Dinah at the Lister.
Clive watches over us when making our stools. He starts us all off with the twine and the tools.
Is it under fifteen or ten over five, if it’s wrong again I shall have to blame Clive yet again!
It’s now my fourth week and I’m still weaving, I just don’t seem to be achieving.
Ten under five or five under ten, Oh bugger it; I don’t want to start it again.
– Good old Clive he’s saved the day and finished my stool whilst I was away!
Some of us have progressed to carpentry lessons; the least stressed of us enjoy these sessions.
Spice racks, bird tables and Tom Tit boxes. One clever dick has even carved twin foxes.
The woodwork instructor after our relaxation class doubles up as a waiter and fills the wine glasses.
Not forgetting Laura who weaves birds of prey, Tawny owls, Barn owls, what more can I say.
Wonderful work, I’m sure you’ll all agree, but nothing can compare to her art of making tea.
Now it’s off to see Marjorie (physio) in the gym. Her exercises help keep us nimble and trim.
Put your monitor on and register your pulse situation, then we all march around to a workstation.
I have to admit that I cheat a bit.
My mammary vein has been moved from my tit,
I find exercise difficult with a sore chest and the like. But I ensure to get my bum on a bike.
We’ve had seminars from Dinah, Pharmacist and Dietician; the only thing missing is a beautician!
Everyone thanks you all, including my wife, for your unselfish act in saving my life.
Now I’ll make it public, I hope you do too, for when reading this Ode, I’ll be thinking of you.
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