10:00am Thursday 29th July 2010
YOUR article about the closure of Gill & Co (Oxford Mail, July 8) brought back many memories of the shop.
I started work at Gill & Co in 1936, aged 14, as a shop assistant, on wages of eight shillings a week, minus a two pence insurance stamp.
I have many memories of my time there. One of my jobs was to ‘put out the front’.
The front of the shop in the High Street was set back from the pavement allowing a display of various goods to be put on show.
It consisted of a wooden stand on which were various tins of paint in one corner, two lawn-mowers, two quite large bird-baths and several other items.
One evening I forgot to get it all in. Nobody else seemed to notice it was still outside.
Arriving the following morning I was amazed to find it still there; nothing had been stolen, even the police hadn’t contacted the shop manager.
I can’t remember whether I was chastised or not. What are the chances of this happening today?
The basement of the shop was an electrical department, wholesale only. Happy days.
JOHN (JACK) PERCIVAL KIMBREY, Highland Close, Warwick
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