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The past we inherit, is the foundation stone for our future, which all our tomorrows are built upon:

The Montrose shops were the ones that were mostly used by our family in the many years we spent on Evelyn Avenue. The paper shop was the most used one along with the old fish and chip shop on the corner of Montrose and Henley.
The general store was owned and run by the late Mr. Higginson, which was next to the paper shop. Mr. Higginson was one of the retail stores that belonged to a different vintage era of shopping within our village of Intake. This era has now all but disappeared as we all head off to our branches of Tesco’s, Sainsbury, Asda’s and out of town stores. This of course is not a bad thing because time and change have evolved these changes.
Mr. Higginson worked hard in his store and because it was his own business he was glad to put the hours in, and going in for goods the gentleman always greeted you with a friendly smile and hello. Shortly after his retirement, I heard that he sadly passed away. In the intervening years the shop changed little under new owners with the biggest properly been a video library added. Now we find ourselves in the middle 00’s, the video has been erased out replaced by the DVD viewing system. The shop remained a general store for many years till becoming a printers in the 90s, before finally becoming a community information outlet what it is today.
Next door to the store was the post office which in those days of the 1970swas very different inside. Underneath the front window was the large table that letter address could be filled out. On the wall was the string bag that you could put money in for the blind. On the counter was another charity box were you could put a penny in and watch it fall down the lanes into the box with the rest of the pennies. As well as the function of a post office it was also a retail outlet that knitting patterns could be bought, as well as those plastic rain hoods that our dear mothers would where. Not many people wear these today. Stamps were a lot cheaper and you had to buy them at the post office only.
The old hardware shop was next door, B&Q, Wickes and Homebase have now all but taken trade. I recall as a child making a few purchases here such as every year the little candles for our pumpkins at Halloween night, which once light would burn for the time our interest would exist with the pumpkin. I also remember buying these very little jeep cars that were a few pence each and in the intervening months ended up all over the garden and house, for some strange reason I bought about 70, of them .years after when digging up the garden they would appear.
The hardware store became a hire shop where you could hire tools and mowers so it still has a link to the past in respect of DIY. the fruit and vegetable shop was next door, it was very similar to the Johnny Lewises shop back on Sandringham. I do recall the potatoes were sent down a shoot from the upper floor and made a large noise as they hit the others. It was always easy for people to use these shops as an alternative from going into the town centre and often become very busy. When I think back to the shops at that time, it is very easy to recall faces and names of the past. Yes, I often wonder what happened to a lot of them from that time. During our phone calls my sister Elaine, who still lives in town often tells me off people she has seen, or tells me news of this and that person.
Some people have passed away, some people leave the area, it is a continuing cycle, and however in the 30 or so years I was in Intake, I met some wonderful people. Some of these people became what I would describe as signposts on life’s journey. The pausing of a time spent with a signpost can be very different, but a signpost is a memory of a person, this memory is one that stays with you on the whole of life’s journey. As the things which connect me to my hometown are fast eroding away, it is good to know that I will always have ‘signposts’ back there in the land of my birth.

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