John Wade considers...World War II: Home Front 1940, by A.J O'Brien

Say the word 'Wall's' to those of a certain age and two things spring to mind: sausages and ice cream.

Not on the same plate, of course. Starting with a market stall set up by Richard Wall to sell meat as far back as 1786, the business grew through successive generations until, by the 1900s, the company was nationally acclaimed for its products.

The problem was that meat sales fell off in summer. So, in 1913, attention was turned to making ice cream during the summer months. The idea was shelved during World War I, but resurrected in the 1920s, selling ice cream in the streets from three-wheel tricycles with boxes of goodies on the front. Starting with ten tricycles in 1922, the company had 8,500 on the road by 1939. By the 1950s, when I was a kid, Wall's ice cream was a firm favourite with my mates.

Peaked hats

I can just about remember when ice cream was sold this way by men wearing peaked hats, peddling the streets on tricycles bedecked with the slogan 'Stop me and buy one'.