Errand lad's agony grind!

10:47am Thursday 1st May 2008

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DELIGHT for one-time shopkeeper Albert Ashton, whose old-time store was mentioned in my 'memory lane' glimpse at Haydock of the past.

He's 90 now, but Albert, thrilled to be included in my recent Lure of Corner Shops piece, was quick to contact me.

Another who rose to the call was old-time errand boy Albert Potter of Bryn, who ran away with a circus at the age of 50! He was living alone at the time and did three years with the big-top folk.

They were simple times, long before the supermarkets marched in. And Albert, still in the district and living in Moore Drive, retains the happiest memories of his shop, which faced down Vista Road, leading to Earlestown.

Another who rose to the call was old-time errand boy Albert Potter of Bryn, who ran away with a circus at the age of 50! He was living alone at the time and did three years with the big-top folk.

Albert, now 70, used to pedal up and down Haydock on an old-fashioned delivery bike, of the style used by Granville in the Open All Hours television show. "I was only about 13 then and it was a hard struggle biking up the slope of West End Road."

Like Granville, in the TV programme, he was loaded to the full, his front basket and pannier piled high. "It was exhausting and I had to give the job up", says Albert of Regent Avenue, Bryn. "The bike was a heavy sit-up-and-beg model and had no gears."

At 15, the former Haydock secondary modern pupil later got a less hectic job, working at a butcher's.

Albert has sharp memories of his youth in the Haydock of more than 50 years ago. He was firstly the errand lad for Alice Latham, whose corner shop was at Vista Road. He had to bike, baskets full, almost three miles along the village street to her brother's store in West End Road, each Saturday.

Albert remembers a host of Haydock shops, including Unsworths, the fruit and veg place where they charged up batteries for the old-time radios. The family's son, Alan Unsworth, was the first dog warden in St Helens.

Albert also recalls other bygone shops, such as Reids (paint and wallpaper) Alan Fouldes (transport cafe) and Maggie Lentz's (toffee shop).

Barbara Mullen, formerly of Haydock, e-mailed from Kansas with a list of old shops. Dave Price of Whiston and a long-memoried Yicker also wrote in with their own column of corner shops. (More on these in the near future).

An old chum, Eric Fairclough, also supplies lively reminders of old-time shopkeepers, right from his golden youth' as a typical Haydock lad.

He clearly recalls Jack Pennington and his cycle store, Rushton's the grocers, Dykes's snack bar, Molly Brown (hairdresser) and Phythian(cobbler). And he had particularly vivid memories of Annie Berry who had a little shop in Haydock Lane where she'd sell you just about anything...right down to a single Woobine cigarette for a copper or so! Young kids, then secretly picking up the baccy habit, welcomed this one-fag bargain offer.

Eric recalls, too, the great Haydock strongman Abe Fletcher. He was powerful enough to lift a huge railway sleeper - "but he had a heart of gold."

• DOES anyone else remember Abe and his test-of-strength efforts? If so, then please drop me a line at the Star.