Repton Dixon's Stores in Church Road, West Mersea. All the shop staff.
1. Bessie Dixon (with her tongue out), 2. Pat Franklin, 3. Susan Hales, 4. Carol Dixon, 5. Percy Bacon.

Pat Franklin and her husband Gil (Gilbert) Franklin lived in Kingsland House in Kingsland Road which used to be a school. It was such a huge house and the upkeep was mind blowing. In the end they sold it up on condition it was kept intact as it was such a wonderful old house. Their wishes were not upheld and it was levelled and re-developed very soon after.
Susan Hales she married Danny Williamson in 1967, He used to ride huge motor-bikes. Susan was a lovely bubbly girl.
Carol Dixon - little old me in the brown overall and then my beloved Percy Bacon, my we had some fun in those days but we worked hard and the days were long.
In the evening after the shop shut at 6pm we had a meal and then I had to cash up all the tills, agree them and put the float back for the next day. Then all the duplicate invoices had to be entered into the ledger for every sale that day 'on-tick' which would be put on the customers monthly accounts at the end of every month. All this was done by hand entry, no machines in those days and the till roll was folded into lengths of about 10 inches and each section added up using mental arithmetic. In the summer days when holiday makers were down the till roll could easily be 10 to 15 foot long and if the cash did not agreee with the pencilled entries on the till roll it was a long night! The off-licence had a separate till and ledger so I was rarely finished before 8pm and we opened at 8am.

Part of CW3_105.
Date: c1965