70’s Saturday Girl
MICHELLE SINNOTT·
SATURDAY, 18 MARCH 2017
Part 2
Barry our Manager, was attractive for an old Man in his ‘Thirties’. He was married with two small Girls. He is my favourite Manager of all time. He had a sense of fun and got on with everyone. We never saw him wound up and never heard him raise his voice. He spent a lot of time upstairs, in the small sunlit office, on the phone or filling in data in various coloured Ledgers. He would come and help serve when the shop got extra busy or when he wasn’t busy. At the end of a days work, you may have collected thirty Elastic Bands, from serving shoes. The boxes were often held together with one. We’d sometimes play a game in the last quiet moments before closing the Shop, of pinging each other with them. Someone would sneak in one hit and that would be it, we’d all end up volunteers in Rubber Band Warfare. We’d run around hiding behind Racks, with Commando style attacks from behind the Facade. It was such Fun. Barry had a better chance of hitting our skin, than we had of hitting his, but it was often us against him. Barry was a good shot, but after a while, I got very accurate. His Suit offered him better protection from pain, than our Nylon overalls, with their 3/4 length Sleeves. Trousers were advisable. We had another game, a sort of ‘Electric Tag’. On hot Days, if wearing plastic soled Shoes, we would generate so much Static, that we’d get Electric Shocks from touching anything Metal. Sometimes we’d try charging ourselves up on the Nylon Carpet and ‘Tag’ each other for sparks. You’d both get a small sting, but it was worth it, when it worked. The most serious shocks came from accidentally touching the Wire Racks the Shoes were stored in. A sharp pain would shoot up your Arm and the Racks would ring. The Racks were behind the shop Front, in the Large Stockroom. The whole space was cleverly lit by three rectangular Windows, high up on the back wall. It space smelled faintly of Glue fumes, Rubber and Leather. There were strip lights too, but they remained mostly off. It had four tall aisles of Shoe Boxes and a small darker corner under the stairs, behind the first aisle, which contained a badly lit Desk, a big box for returned Shoes, as well as a Rack holding the smelly Wellies and Children’s Sandals. A Girl called Sue, started at the same time as me. There were two ‘Part Time’ older Women, Gretel and Sally and another younger Woman in her Thirties, I think her name was Gill. All the Staff had worked at the Shop for years. Sally was a glamorous if sun dried, blonde woman, five years beyond retirement age. She always smelled of ‘Charlie’ Perfume, which she kept behind the Counter for her regular top-ups. She was permanently bronzed looking and wore a lot of Gold jewellery. Her nails were always polished. She had style, dignity and the deep voice of a Smoker. She ‘womaned’ the Till. Gretel was a little younger and quite extraordinary to us as young Girls. She looked like she had emerged from some Cupboard where she’d been hiding, since the War. She was tall, thin and very pale. She had two prominent Warts on her Face, her teeth were neglected and she wore no makeup and generally looked dusty. She had a high toned, quiet voice, with a strong Essex Accent. Her hair was her most defining feature. It was Dark brown with Grey streaks that she wore in either Large Ringlets, or Hair-netted in a ‘Swoop’, like 1940s ‘Forces Women’. She would have looked out of place anywhere. I knew she lived with her Mother and had been in the Army during the War. When her Mother died, she changed a lot. She had her hair cut and started to wear new, more contemporary clothes. I felt happy and sad for her. I remember thinking she had waited such a long time to break free. Bata, along with their subsidiary ‘Bartlett’, were part of the large selection of Shoe Shops to be found Circa 1970’s Basildon New Town Centre. Timpsons, Dolcis, Barratt and Clarks, were amongst my local favourites. There was a trade discount for all Shoe Shop Staff, in all but the better quality, Clarks & Dolcis. Bata were cheap and not Trendy. We stocked popular, traditionally styled Footwear. Some of which were Leather, but a lot were not. The customers were either Mothers looking for Children’s Footwear, or people over fifty. So it was unusual to see anyone stylish, visit the shop, unless something ‘Retro’ had become ‘In’ to wear. I remember our Glue fumy, Suede ‘Desert’ Boots, were one such Line. Our ‘Granny Sandals’, didn’t quite ‘cut the dash’ that summer, for the young Women looking for that style. Ours were to cheap looking! Plastic Sandals or ‘Jellies’, were available every Summer in every size. Bata were also purveyors of traditional Buckled Leather Sandals, in all Sizes and Plastic, middle aged traditional Adult Shoes. Trainers hadn’t been invented in the 70s. The choice back then was Dunlop or Bata Plimsolls, in black or White,Lace-up or Pull-on. What defined Bata locally, was it’s connection to Tilbury. Founded in 1894 by Tomas Bata, the Company built a magnificent looking Factory and Houses there in 1932. By the time I worked for them in the 1970’s, the Company was in decline, although it still had several Branches in Essex. I’d worked Summers in most of them over the years, They were mostly small and situated on High Streets, other than in the Southend and Basildon Branches. The Shops all looked the same, wherever they were. Only the Staff and customers were different. One summer, I had a weeks work, covering for staff, in the neighbouring town of Rayleigh. Rayleigh was like most English Towns, a High Street surrounded by Houses of mixed Architecture. It was smaller than brand new, Basildon. I remember being told, it was “Wife Swapping” central. This info definitely influenced my perception of the place, but the unusually glamorous clientele at that Branch, did nothing to dispel the idea. So, to Art Student me, working in Rayleigh, the Women ‘done up to the nines’, to shop for cheap Children’s Sandals, were food for my imagination. They had a definite local style thing going on. It lacked the contemporary edge found in Larger Shopping Centres of Southend or Basildon. I thought they looked quaint, like Rayleigh; the Town for the Retired. These young Women were probably just a reaction to that, a desire to stand out from the dreary. But there was another noticeable difference in these young Women. Their Children would often looked like scruffy, neglected Urchins, in comparison to the immaculate Vamps, ferrying them around. The Staff by contrast, were like kindly old retainers serving this real life, Stepford Wives Community. I preferred to work in my own branch in Basildon.
MICHELLE SINNOTT·
SATURDAY, 18 MARCH 2017
Part 2
Barry our Manager, was attractive for an old Man in his ‘Thirties’. He was married with two small Girls. He is my favourite Manager of all time. He had a sense of fun and got on with everyone. We never saw him wound up and never heard him raise his voice. He spent a lot of time upstairs, in the small sunlit office, on the phone or filling in data in various coloured Ledgers. He would come and help serve when the shop got extra busy or when he wasn’t busy. At the end of a days work, you may have collected thirty Elastic Bands, from serving shoes. The boxes were often held together with one. We’d sometimes play a game in the last quiet moments before closing the Shop, of pinging each other with them. Someone would sneak in one hit and that would be it, we’d all end up volunteers in Rubber Band Warfare. We’d run around hiding behind Racks, with Commando style attacks from behind the Facade. It was such Fun. Barry had a better chance of hitting our skin, than we had of hitting his, but it was often us against him. Barry was a good shot, but after a while, I got very accurate. His Suit offered him better protection from pain, than our Nylon overalls, with their 3/4 length Sleeves. Trousers were advisable. We had another game, a sort of ‘Electric Tag’. On hot Days, if wearing plastic soled Shoes, we would generate so much Static, that we’d get Electric Shocks from touching anything Metal. Sometimes we’d try charging ourselves up on the Nylon Carpet and ‘Tag’ each other for sparks. You’d both get a small sting, but it was worth it, when it worked. The most serious shocks came from accidentally touching the Wire Racks the Shoes were stored in. A sharp pain would shoot up your Arm and the Racks would ring. The Racks were behind the shop Front, in the Large Stockroom. The whole space was cleverly lit by three rectangular Windows, high up on the back wall. It space smelled faintly of Glue fumes, Rubber and Leather. There were strip lights too, but they remained mostly off. It had four tall aisles of Shoe Boxes and a small darker corner under the stairs, behind the first aisle, which contained a badly lit Desk, a big box for returned Shoes, as well as a Rack holding the smelly Wellies and Children’s Sandals. A Girl called Sue, started at the same time as me. There were two ‘Part Time’ older Women, Gretel and Sally and another younger Woman in her Thirties, I think her name was Gill. All the Staff had worked at the Shop for years. Sally was a glamorous if sun dried, blonde woman, five years beyond retirement age. She always smelled of ‘Charlie’ Perfume, which she kept behind the Counter for her regular top-ups. She was permanently bronzed looking and wore a lot of Gold jewellery. Her nails were always polished. She had style, dignity and the deep voice of a Smoker. She ‘womaned’ the Till. Gretel was a little younger and quite extraordinary to us as young Girls. She looked like she had emerged from some Cupboard where she’d been hiding, since the War. She was tall, thin and very pale. She had two prominent Warts on her Face, her teeth were neglected and she wore no makeup and generally looked dusty. She had a high toned, quiet voice, with a strong Essex Accent. Her hair was her most defining feature. It was Dark brown with Grey streaks that she wore in either Large Ringlets, or Hair-netted in a ‘Swoop’, like 1940s ‘Forces Women’. She would have looked out of place anywhere. I knew she lived with her Mother and had been in the Army during the War. When her Mother died, she changed a lot. She had her hair cut and started to wear new, more contemporary clothes. I felt happy and sad for her. I remember thinking she had waited such a long time to break free. Bata, along with their subsidiary ‘Bartlett’, were part of the large selection of Shoe Shops to be found Circa 1970’s Basildon New Town Centre. Timpsons, Dolcis, Barratt and Clarks, were amongst my local favourites. There was a trade discount for all Shoe Shop Staff, in all but the better quality, Clarks & Dolcis. Bata were cheap and not Trendy. We stocked popular, traditionally styled Footwear. Some of which were Leather, but a lot were not. The customers were either Mothers looking for Children’s Footwear, or people over fifty. So it was unusual to see anyone stylish, visit the shop, unless something ‘Retro’ had become ‘In’ to wear. I remember our Glue fumy, Suede ‘Desert’ Boots, were one such Line. Our ‘Granny Sandals’, didn’t quite ‘cut the dash’ that summer, for the young Women looking for that style. Ours were to cheap looking! Plastic Sandals or ‘Jellies’, were available every Summer in every size. Bata were also purveyors of traditional Buckled Leather Sandals, in all Sizes and Plastic, middle aged traditional Adult Shoes. Trainers hadn’t been invented in the 70s. The choice back then was Dunlop or Bata Plimsolls, in black or White,Lace-up or Pull-on. What defined Bata locally, was it’s connection to Tilbury. Founded in 1894 by Tomas Bata, the Company built a magnificent looking Factory and Houses there in 1932. By the time I worked for them in the 1970’s, the Company was in decline, although it still had several Branches in Essex. I’d worked Summers in most of them over the years, They were mostly small and situated on High Streets, other than in the Southend and Basildon Branches. The Shops all looked the same, wherever they were. Only the Staff and customers were different. One summer, I had a weeks work, covering for staff, in the neighbouring town of Rayleigh. Rayleigh was like most English Towns, a High Street surrounded by Houses of mixed Architecture. It was smaller than brand new, Basildon. I remember being told, it was “Wife Swapping” central. This info definitely influenced my perception of the place, but the unusually glamorous clientele at that Branch, did nothing to dispel the idea. So, to Art Student me, working in Rayleigh, the Women ‘done up to the nines’, to shop for cheap Children’s Sandals, were food for my imagination. They had a definite local style thing going on. It lacked the contemporary edge found in Larger Shopping Centres of Southend or Basildon. I thought they looked quaint, like Rayleigh; the Town for the Retired. These young Women were probably just a reaction to that, a desire to stand out from the dreary. But there was another noticeable difference in these young Women. Their Children would often looked like scruffy, neglected Urchins, in comparison to the immaculate Vamps, ferrying them around. The Staff by contrast, were like kindly old retainers serving this real life, Stepford Wives Community. I preferred to work in my own branch in Basildon.
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