FROM OUR CHIEF CORRESPONDENT

Hello Jean
Enjoyed your comments on my last piece. Occasionally I had to have the Pinkun but it was a poor substitute for the Greenun. Yes, I think it did contain a lot of racing.
I liked the photo of Tony White's grocery shop. I hadn't realised it had a cafe too. Don't remember one when I worked for Tony. Me neither. What good eyesight you have, What are all the people waiting for outside the shop? Was it a bus trip? Probably a trip up to STC for a party.
More Ilminster shops:
Bradburn's newsagents Market Square. I did two paper rounds here, a large morning one and a very short one in the evening.

Was it the shop with the awning above? I remember getting pens and stationery from there.
Mr Bradburn, a Yorkshire man, gave me a bike for the rounds. This was necessary because the morning round was all over Ilminster: Court Barton, New Road, Higher Beacon, Station Road, Winterhay,etc. I remember getting badly bitten once by a snappy Jack Russell in Higher Beacon; never liked delivering there after that!  But the worst incident was during my evening round of just five papers - Ditton Street, Lister Hill, Station Road, Winterhay and the top of East Street (was it called Bay Hill?). Anyway, I was delivering to a house there and I parked my bike against the pavement whilst I popped the paper through the letter box. When I turned round disaster struck! A car had run over the bike and completely buckled the front wheel. What should I do? I was too scared to tell Mr. Bradburn what had happened, so I took the bike home and parked it in the lean-to where it stayed for ages. After this I had to walk the round, which took so much longer. I couldn't afford to buy a new wheel at Hurlstone's and I never did. Eventually, when I gave up the round, I was pleased when Mr. Bradburn said nothing about returning the bike and I never did either!
Bakers.  I remember one in Ditton Street and one somewhere along the High Street, I think, on the Summervale side. We used to go in the Ditton Street bakers after school for cheap hardbakes (overbaked or yesterday's rolls). Were they two a penny?

Yes, I mentioned this in my piece about Brownies.
The other bakers was for serious treats, e.g. cream buns! We only got these very rarely but they were delicious. I remember at the Secondary Modern a tray of these goodies would be delivered to the school (daily?) and placed at the side of the stage for the morning break. You had to get there fairly quickly if you wanted to buy one! They were always snapped up quickly!

The Bakers at the top of Summervale was Tolleys. Mum would send me there every Saturday morning to get a dozen finger rolls which, of course, was 13. They were delicious and still warm – yummy. The start of bad eating habits!!
Mike Smith and I have just had a very long phone call (78 mins) reminiscing about Summervale days and Paignton too. We haven't had any contact since the 1960s, so it was great to catch up with all our news.
More about this in my next report!

Great News!
Best Wishes
Peter Westmacott