In the last issue we had arrived at Queens Corner and the loss of the large horse chestnut tree. On the opposite side of the road in the West end of the pink cottage, there was a butcher shop many years ago, there are hooks on the ceiling beams where the meat used to hang and the larger than usual window in the front suggests it was once a shop window. There are also a lot of animal bones buried in the back garden. Garden farm in East Road was once Butchers Farm - maybe a connection?

There have been numerous shops around Queens Corner and Mill Road over the years and one that I remember well from my boyhood days was Katie White's, mainly because she sold sweets and toys. Katie was very much like 'Liza' D'wit who kept the shop near the church, about the same age and stature, both were Mersea born spinsters. Whereas Lizas shop was sparsely stocked in my younger days, Katie's was sometimes over stocked and it was not unusual to ask for something that was kept behind the counter and hear a crash and muttering as a heap of boxes fell over. At Chrismas time her shop was extended into the dining room and a selection of toys would be displayed on the dining table.

Katie was a member of the White family of shop keepers and business people. She was an older sister of local builder and merchant Clifford White. The first of the family to come to Mersea was William White who came to West Mersea from Dedham around 1830 and opened one of the first Mersea shops in Mill Road, but it was his son Samuel Cant White who expanded the business, had the Peldon and Abberton post offices and went as far afield as Maldon. His son Clifford built Barclays Bank at Tollesbury for him together with adjoining shops. Samuel later moved from Mill Road the the corner of Church Road and Churchfields and became agent for Barclays Bank. His Bank House is now Cook's Garden Shop. Katie eventually retired and lived in Ackhurst Court until she passed away in her nineties. Her shop continued after her retirement as an antique shop and elecrical shop. It is now a private cottage.

The Smith family were also prominent in Mill Road, many generations owning the Mill and Bakery. The shop on the opposite corner to Katie's belonged to Preston Smith who ran the Abberton bakery for many years before it was handed over the his brother Eddie who in turn passed it on to Preston's son Nathan 'Si' Smith. Preston's shop was closed during the war years and for a few years after until his son Archie 'Bo' Smith opened it as a grocers until moving down to Kingsland Road. It is now a vets surgery.

Going up Mill road on the right hand side was Fredie Wass's hairdressers where I had my first haircut. It was another of those small wooden huts later to be replaced by a brick built house and shop. It is no longer a shop. Next door was a house retired barge skipper Bill Green had built for himself together with two adjoining shops. He had been engaged in supplying our troops in France during WW 1 and earning good money as well as risking having the barge sunk under him. One of the shops was a fish and chip shop, Mersea's first, and he did his own frying. In my earliest memory it was run by Mr Ramplin. In more recent times it was John Hadley's gents outfitters and is now a private bungalow. The small shop between was run by Miss Joan Unwin who's mother Frances was another member of the Smith family. The shop next door, Oxford House has been a ladies hairdressers and a clothing shop over the years and is now a private house.

The Mill and Bakery was a very busy place in my younger days. The top of the windmill was removed long ago but the base, always called the Roundhouse, remains to this day. In 1939 my family moved from Barfield Road to Suffolk Avenue and Mum often sent me across the open fields, as they were then, to get a loaf of bread. Fourpence ha'penny (Old money) for a large loaf in those days. I was often served by Miss Florence Smith who went on to work at Gunton's in Colchester until not long ago when into her Nineties. They were a lovely friendly bunch at the bakery. Little Herbert Marrow who's name 'Mr Marrow' always amused me. Fred G. Smith, the guvnor was always such a nice man.

Later when I started work for Clifford White we did most of the maintenance work at the mill. The Whites and the Smiths were related. There were two coal fired brick ovens which often needed attention. This was an awful job as it meant going inside on your belly on the burning hot floor. This was always a weekend job and right after the Saturday morning baking was done and the bread brought out the oven was opened up to 'Cool' if you could call it that. The oven door and the furnace door was left open and we would start work on Saturday afternoon. Several layers of corn sacks were layed on the floor and dad would go in on his belly. I would push him on by his ankles which I had to hang on to with strict instructions to pull him out quickly if he became affected by the heat. The ovens were little more than a foot high with a furnace in one corner and chimney opposite the fire going right through, so there was a good thickness of soot on the ceiling which was swept off, but some remained to fall on your neck and it was still burning hot. The bulk of the work was done on the Sunday and as soon as we were finished the doors were closed and the fire lit in order to build up the heat for the early Monday baking. I used to go in too with dad hanging on to my ankles. We would never be left in the oven on our own.

We also serviced the Abberton oven which carried on long after the Mersea ovens. People used to come from miles around to get the brick oven bread from Abberton Bakery. Towards the end 'Si' switched to oil fired heating which consisted of a large blowlamp like contraption on a trolly. This was kinder to the oven than coal firing and the oven didn't require so much servicing. Baking finished at Abberton many years ago but I understand the bakery has remained untouched since the last bach of bread was taken out.

To be published in Mersea Life March 2013