The Wonder Of Woolies Will Always Live On In The Memory

In the latest in our popular Working Lives series, Derek James heads for the pick ‘n’ mix counter in a shop like no other and no longer with us ... dear old Woolies.

Why did we do it? Back in the late 1950s and early 60s, we boys would gather outside Woolies. You could spot us all over Norfolk and Suffolk.

And if you saw yourself in the window then the comb would emerge from the back pocket and the quiff and duck-tail would be combed.

We really did fancy ourselves.

For many of us today there is no need for a comb any more and as for F W Woolworth, it is becoming a distant memory and that is very sad.

Woolies was such a special place. There was nowhere else quite like it.

There were bakers, butchers, grocers, stationers, toy shops and the like but they were not places where you could ‘hang about’.

I was only asked to move on from standing outside the Diss branch once – along with the rest of my mates.

One of our friends announced one day that he had got a job in the holidays. Working at Woolworths.

Lucky devil. It was as if he had won the Pools.

We left him alone for a couple of days, and then, when we wandered past looking in, he was serving near the window.

After a few minutes of pressing our faces up against the window, pulling faces and making noises, a large man in a brown overall came out and shouted: “Clear orf!” We did.