Eileen Lansdowne, working at Mills in Yarmouth before WWII, joined the ATS
Eileen Smith in ATS uniform
and on leave in 1945, married Ralph Smith who had left Mills to enlist in Princess Beatrice’s Own in 1939,
Eileen Lansdowne marries Ralph Smith 1945
Sid Kelleway did the slaughtering and the game, and he made the brawn in a big copper just inside. He had a cousin called Alf Kelleway, who drove the British Road Service lorry, In those days of course, there wasn’t Health and Safety, and stuff like barley came in 160 lb sacks, huge great sacks. Alf used to bring these round and of course he couldn’t get his lorry up that little lane, so he had to get them off his lorry down in the Square, put them on his truck, trundle them up.
He went in Mills one day and Sid was doing something, and Alf said ‘You going to give me a hand with this then?’ and Sid said, ‘ No, bugger off.’
They argued a bit – the brawn was cooking away, and as he went out, Alf picked up another handful of spices and chucked it into the brawn. When he came back with the next sack, same thing. He finished up putting about four lots more of spices, herbs or whatever. Sid went on and made the brawn. It was all sold and people came back and said, Oh that was wonderful, that brawn, it was so tasty.
Alec Cokes b 1945
Mills yard where slaughterhouse and bakehouse were located Photo. M. Scott
Sid Kelleway had his slaughterhouse up the back of Mills. I went once to watch him cut the pigs’ throats but it was a bit too much. He kept chickens in his garden there too. One day one of his chickens had flown over the wall. He was chasing it up the High Street and when he caught it, he said ‘That bloody thing wont go nowhere’, and got it and wrung its neck.
Brian Pomroy b 1937
Sid was a real old rascal. My granddad and him were old contemporaries. Grandad used to be out with his poaching a bit, so he used to take stuff in and of course Sid used to filter them into the main stream. Sid used to say, there you are Jim.
When he was preparing pigeons for people he used to take one breast out. Of course selling them to the visitors, I don’t suppose they knew anyway. They had one breast and wrapped it up that way round. Alec Cokes b 1945
On Tuesdays, Yarmouth used to smell of frying onions. It was ‘liver and onions’ day as the pigs had been slaughtered. Mills had a fresh pork carcass twice a week.
Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b 1921
Advertisement for Mills grocers,
Harry Mills used to make the most wonderful sausages.
I can remember a lorry backing in there and then they would let the pig out. I can still hear the pigs squealing. Pat Burt nee Adams, Annette Haynes nee Holloway b 1929
It used to be our treat on Saturdays to buy Mills lovely sausages for Saturday tea. Pauline Harwood nee Hatch b 1930
I started work at Mills in 1934, as soon as I left school.
The first job you had, if you went there as a nipper, was as an errand boy. They had a pair of trucks and you went round and collected up the empty beer bottles. You went round with the empty truck first thing Monday morning to collect up all the empty beer bottles from various people who you knew had bought the beer; that was the first job. Phil Kelsey b 1920
Advertisement for Mills grocers, 1920s, 1930s
The main door to Mills, now bricked up, was in the High Street, with a little door on the corner which we use now as the main entrance. The Mills family lived in what is now ‘St James’, next to the Church – the rector lived opposite in what we know as the ‘Old Rectory’. The Mills family owned all of where St James Close is now and it was a market garden, with a tennis court for Nora Mills, daughter of the house.
The wine at Mills was kept in a dark place before you got to the bakehouse.
Old entrance to Mills on High Street
Palma Ault nee Holloway b 1927
Mills had a very dark haired nice- looking boy who used to push the bread round daily on wooden trucks door to door. Also we had bread delivered from Whilliers at Newbridge.
Pat Burt nee Adams b 1929
Athel Henderson worked in a bakehouse in Mills. They used to cook some bread there, when you come to think of it! They had 2 vans on the road, one used to go out with the bread and one with the groceries. Brian Pomroy b 1937
I can remember sitting in our big old pram outside the bakehouse, waiting for my Dad ( Athel) to finish his shift. Terry Henderson b 1947
Mills’ staff c 1936
I started work in Mills two weeks after I left school. Mr. Mills himself taught me how to weigh out tea, sugar, raisins and currants, into paper bags, and then turn the top down. The weighing had to be done really accurately, with balance scales and weights, because you never knew when the Weights and Measures man would call in to check. Brown sugar was difficult because it used to dry out and the weight would change.
New Zealand butter came in large tins and had to be weighed out into blocks of 4oz. You had to be quick otherwise it went squidgy, ugh! We had marble counters to keep it cool.
Some customers would call in at quarter to eight, just before we shut, and want all their groceries delivered before we closed, even if they lived just opposite. Some of them had lists, others used to lean over the counter and whisper ‘2 oz of tea’ so no one knew they weren’t ordering much.
I learnt to drive the delivery van in 1940 – had to drive all round Cranmore Avenue and Hamstead. The first day I went out on my own, I had a puncture after I’d delivered up the lane at Lee Farm. By the time I’d changed the wheel, my hands were filthy and black, so I knocked on the door and asked Mrs. Stallard if I could wash my hands.
‘No you cant!’ she said, so I had to drive all the way back to Yarmouth to wash my hands.
Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b 1921
Mills, it was a lovely shop! Inside there were counters all round with marble tops. They used to grind their own coffee, and we children used to stand and sniff the smell….umm it was good.
There were wires around the shop with a bag that they used to put the chit in for what you had to pay. That ran to the glass cashier’s cubicle. Ruby Meaning nee Mussell b 1915
Horse racing
Before the war, there used to be West Wight Point-to-Point races
Race card for Point to Point 1939 at Tapnell Farm, near Yarmouth
on the fields up Broad Lane. On the days it was on, Ralph and the chaps who worked at Mills used to cycle up in the lunch hour to watch, and hope they got back in time for the afternoon!
Eileen Smith nee Lansdowne b 1921
1933 Douglas Biles competing at Tapnell