Interview with Bob Bunn (b.1934) about moving to Bletchley, employment, racing pigeons and Golf Clubs.

Bob Bunn describes his past jobs – doing up and hiring out washing machines to wives on the Saints estate, window cleaning and a mobile shop. He and his brother first came to Bletchley as metal polishers for Robert Shaw; he ignored any nasty remarks made about London incomers. First he lived in lodgings, visiting his wife in London on some weekends, but eventually they moved into a re-let council house on the Saints Estate.

He left Robert Shaw’s and worked nights for Vauxhalls; but he slept on duty and during the day ran the washing machine hire business. He tells many tales about the troubles of this business; his cheaply-bought old machines broke down frequently. He became self-employed at about age of 24, adding window cleaning to his business. But the washing machine business faded with the advent of cheaper machines, so he took on the mobile greengrocer shop, expanding it to sell toys and sweets and hardware. He started with very little money or knowledge, but was a success. He remembers many stories about customers, credit, local gossip and helping people. There was little competition.

He remembers the sulphur smell and smog from brickworks. He kept racing pigeons and joined the pigeon club, racing the birds from the north for prizes. But he was refused a better council house because his lorry, his pigeons and rubbish created a nuisance. So he bought a plot of land and built a house.

On taking up golf, he says: ‘I was the first commoner to join Leighton Buzzard Golf Club certainly the first commoner to join Aspley Guise.’ He enjoyed going to various Balls (Police, Conservative, Labour, etc.) and dressing up in a dinner suit. He recalls going to Robert Maxwell’s house when he had just been voted in as M.P. When he first came to Bletchley, he thought ‘What am I doing here?’ but now ‘you realise what a great bit of luck you’ve had.’ He says he came ‘from a family of boozers’; playing golf has probably extended his life, although he still does drink. He wouldn’t live in London now.