A Festival Of Bygones (16 July 1976)

In my article on the 1951 Festival of Britain celebrations in Bletchley I was able to make only a passing reference to the wonderful exhibition held by the Chamber of Trade at the Assembly Hall (now Wilton Hall) during that month.  I will now remedy this, for to my mind the three-day exhibition was the most memorable event of the festival.  Moreover, it was just about the only one to show a profit.

Basically, the idea was to illustrate the developments in various trades over the previous half-century by contrasting old types of goods with their modern counterparts.  The result was the finest collection of common early 20^th century goods I have ever seen under one roof.  Collectively, they would be worth a fortune today.  And, of course, some of the items then described as up-to-date, would be looked at rather oddly by today’s trendies

Actually, some of the items were a good deal older than 1900.  One shown by Cowlishaw’s, the outfitters, must have dated back to the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851 itself.

Photographs taken around 1900 show women wearing long dresses, well-corseted waists and high necks.  But here was a crinoline-style dress, with wire hoops, natty lace ankle pants and a be-ribboned straw hat to match.  Of this the Gazette (probably myself) said:  “Oddly enough, when a modern miss got into them, we wondered whether we were not missing something these days!”  Cowlishaw’s had borrowed this dress and another from the Stevens family at Simpson.

Men’s wear showed less change.  A 1922 soft collar was still a best seller in 1951.

COPPER KETTLE

One firm showed some very old perambulators discovered in a shop they had taken over in Woburn Sands.  There was an all-wood push-chair with the original 17s 6d price tag still on it and another fine specimen marked at 27s to which was attached a note that a Mrs Price had paid a deposit of 2s 6d on it.

Cleaver’s demonstrated the difference between old and new kitchens.  Their old one had a stone sink, an iron range, copper kettle, brass stewpot, horse-hair furniture, fire bellows and a blue-and-white meat-dish “which would have taken about 24 of today’s meat rations.”

Fortescue’s Garage showed an 1831 cycle, which had its pedals attached directly to the hub of the front wheel.  They also had a specimen of the later penny-farthing cycles and a motor-bike with the old long, narrow petrol tank and a pair of starting pedals.

Weatherhead’s Radio, though perhaps in the then newest trade of all, were not to be outdone.  They showed a 1901 morse sounder, a specimen of the gramophone depicted on the famous HMV “dog” trademark and a 1922 horn speaker.

TELEVISION

I note that I had a quiet smile when some youngsters, after clustering eagerly round this display, by-passed the rest of the stand with an airy “Oh, come on – that’s only television!”

Other trades were similarly illustrated on other stands.  Apart from Cleaver’s, all the firms mentioned above were local and all are still in being today.  I would like to see a permanent exhibition of that kind for the new city.

How do you become interested in that sort of thing?  I never remember the time when I was not.

I recall being involved with a museum at the annual three-day bazaar at our Sunday school.   I myself and one or two other young sparks had intended it to be a comic museum, held in the smallest sideroom, but very soon we had about half the village coming to our homes with all kinds of objects, some of them very valuable.  The museum had to be moved to a sideroom about three times the size of the other and the insurance company would not come unless somebody stayed in the room every night, which I did.

The interest shown was amazing – and amusing.  Like was Mrs Gawthrop’s old Wedgwood nicer than Mrs Shaycross’s fine Spode?

We charged a special admission fee and my mother, after churning out dozens of print aprons in heliotrope check on her treadle machine for the ladies’ sewing stall, didn’t make a quarter of the profit I made.