Thursday, January 19, 2012
Nostalgia - Boxall and Collins and Mad Mary.
Nostalgia day!
Bill was reading the Sussex Industrial Archaeology magazine and found a request for information about Boxall and Collins.
This is the garage where he did his apprenticeship and worked as a mechanic and in the stores for over 20 years.
I worked there too - in my college holidays between 1962 and 1965.
I guess we met under a car that was up on the ramp.
But I knew about this request before today - I am sure I told Bill about it.
Our friend, Pete, was also a Boxall and Collins apprentice and he had put me on to it, with a web site for a local history forum.
Today we have been reading all that people had written.
I hope that Bill can now add some memories of his own.
I certainly can.
I claimed this morning that I had worked at every branch of Boxall and Collins (there were 5 of them).
But Bill told me that I hadn't worked at Handcross. I am sure there was no B & C at Handcross when I worked there.
I am good at names - far better than Bill and I am sure I could be useful to the inquirer; but names are not being used on the history forum page.
This evening there came another blast from the past.
Crazy world that it is, this came about in a message from Frank in Canada, who had been reading the Crawley local paper.
I don't buy the paper anymore - usually pick it up to scan the obituaries, and then at some point go on line and pick out some of the stories.
Frank got there first.
The article is about Mad Mary - that's what everybody called her. I didn't know her name until after her death in 1995; she was Sheila Snelling.
It seems she had been a teacher in her youth and lost her lover/husband/fiance at some point. Killed in the war? Car accident? I have seen both scenarios quoted.
Snelling is an old Crawley name - there was a Snelling's sweet shop in The High Street. But it is suggested that Mad Mary was not an old Crawley person.
She walked and walked in her raggedy clothes and shouted at anybody who made attempts to torment her.
This appeared to be her only communication with the people she met.
Here she is in Crawley High Street.
The reason for the article today is that a local brewer has created a beer in her memory.
It sounds like it would be a good beer - so I look forward to trying it.
http://www.crawleyobserver.co.uk/news
The beer is Mary's Ruby Mild - and is a strong beer. It has the byline - "Treat with the Greatest Respect" - something which Mary/Sheila had to do without, though I am sure people did try to help.
In between times I have worked on clearing stock piled in boxes in the garage.
It will feel wonderful when I have finished - but it could take weeks.
I have a box full of books - 60 or 70 of them, highly suitable for EBay. I can't even remember buying them now!
And I have been out to receive my Vitamin B12 injection. Ouch! These injections hurt more than most. But I am blessed to be offered it - I am so well looked after.
Bill was reading the Sussex Industrial Archaeology magazine and found a request for information about Boxall and Collins.
This is the garage where he did his apprenticeship and worked as a mechanic and in the stores for over 20 years.
I worked there too - in my college holidays between 1962 and 1965.
I guess we met under a car that was up on the ramp.
But I knew about this request before today - I am sure I told Bill about it.
Our friend, Pete, was also a Boxall and Collins apprentice and he had put me on to it, with a web site for a local history forum.
Today we have been reading all that people had written.
I hope that Bill can now add some memories of his own.
I certainly can.
I claimed this morning that I had worked at every branch of Boxall and Collins (there were 5 of them).
But Bill told me that I hadn't worked at Handcross. I am sure there was no B & C at Handcross when I worked there.
I am good at names - far better than Bill and I am sure I could be useful to the inquirer; but names are not being used on the history forum page.
This evening there came another blast from the past.
Crazy world that it is, this came about in a message from Frank in Canada, who had been reading the Crawley local paper.
I don't buy the paper anymore - usually pick it up to scan the obituaries, and then at some point go on line and pick out some of the stories.
Frank got there first.
The article is about Mad Mary - that's what everybody called her. I didn't know her name until after her death in 1995; she was Sheila Snelling.
It seems she had been a teacher in her youth and lost her lover/husband/fiance at some point. Killed in the war? Car accident? I have seen both scenarios quoted.
Snelling is an old Crawley name - there was a Snelling's sweet shop in The High Street. But it is suggested that Mad Mary was not an old Crawley person.
She walked and walked in her raggedy clothes and shouted at anybody who made attempts to torment her.
This appeared to be her only communication with the people she met.
Here she is in Crawley High Street.
The reason for the article today is that a local brewer has created a beer in her memory.
It sounds like it would be a good beer - so I look forward to trying it.
http://www.crawleyobserver.co.uk/news
The beer is Mary's Ruby Mild - and is a strong beer. It has the byline - "Treat with the Greatest Respect" - something which Mary/Sheila had to do without, though I am sure people did try to help.
In between times I have worked on clearing stock piled in boxes in the garage.
It will feel wonderful when I have finished - but it could take weeks.
I have a box full of books - 60 or 70 of them, highly suitable for EBay. I can't even remember buying them now!
And I have been out to receive my Vitamin B12 injection. Ouch! These injections hurt more than most. But I am blessed to be offered it - I am so well looked after.
Labels: Sussex
