A Butcher Boy

Benford's in Simpson Road

Benford's during the early years
Benford's during the early years
Advert in Official Guide to Bletchley 1960
Advert in Official Guide to Bletchley 1960

In about 1955 I started working as a butcher boy for Mr Benford in Simpson Road, Bletchley. Every Saturday morning I started at 8-30 a.m. and worked until 1-00 p.m. My round covered Fenny Stratford, Water Eaton and Bletchley.

I used a bicycle with a small wheel at the front underneath the large basket. The joints of meat were prepared ready for delivery on my first round when I arrived.

In between deliveries I would mince beef on a machine in a room behind the shop. Another of my jobs was to tie string round the joints of meat after Mr Benford had boned them.

Sometimes I would be sent down the road to Rowlands timber yard to collect a bag of sawdust for the shop floor.

I enjoyed my time as a butcher boy, I got used to earning a wage (10 shillings a week) and the discipline of working regularly and keeping to a strict routine.

Comments about this page

  • Just to verify, Miss Benford was our teacher, and Tony Slater, my class mate, who after all these years have just got back in touch with, and yes, I remember both of us going up to the house, and cleaning out the stables for her, lovely lady, best R.E. Teacher i had, John Lloyd.

    By John Lloyd (09/11/2017)
  • hello clive- yes i think she was the butchers daughter- i remember her as a nice teacher, if that is cj from mill road, i also remember day trips with you and your parents in a vw combi

    By steve (02/09/2017)
  • Miss Benford was Benford the Butchers daughter. She taught me in my first year at Leon.
    I went on to be a butcher’s boy for the co op in Victoria Rd. Sit up and beg bike with a big basket. 10 bob a week and sometimes a little liver for free !

    By Derek Power (09/08/2017)
  • Hi Clive James
    Yes is the answer to your question re Miss Benson (RE Teacher), myself and a friend used to go to her family home most weekends in 1971/2.
    Regards
    Tony Slater.

    By Anthony Slater (04/08/2017)
  • Hi
    One of my teachers in 1972 was a miss benford, can somebody tell me if she was related to benfords butchers please
    regards cj

    By Clive James (25/11/2013)
  • I can remember as a child we lived in Simpson and I used to go with my father to Benfords to get the meat. If we were lucky we did not get held up by the train at the level crossing and then we used to go inside and choose the meat for the Sunday dinner. I used to get told off for swirling my feet in that sawdust and when they took a long time chatting could really make an interesting landscape in it!

    By Hilary Smith (09/04/2013)
  • When I was young, before World War 2, I worked for Mr Benford the butcher in Simpson Road. When a customer wanted a fresh chicken, I would have to go behind the shop, catch one of the chickens and kill, pluck and truss it while they waited. The canal ran alongside the field behind the shop. Occasionally British Waterways dredged it and dumped the sludge on Mr Benford’s field. It was then spread over the field and mangel-wurzels were grown in it for cattle food. I would sometimes drive Mr Benford in his Morris van to his smallholding, which was where Asda and Stadium M.K. are now. Here he grew potatoes and corn and kept sheep. A few cattle, sheep and pigs were also kept behind the shop (when there were no mangel-wurzels.)

    By Laurie Tuckey (added by Herb Booth) (02/11/2011)

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