Formby's "Duckie Dear" and "Percy Darling"

Posted by Cliff Birchall on December 21, 2007 1:56 PM

THE fight to keep the Freshfield Post Office in Old Town Lane open has brought back memories of its predecessor, Wainwright’s shop in Gores Lane.
Formby resident Ellis Dean remembers the shop in the 1920s and 1930s and sent us this account of it.
“I was surprised to see in the old photograph of the Freshfield Post Office, submitted by Mrs Muriel Clulee, that it was located in what is now the Pharmacy in Old Town Lane because, when I was growing up during the 1930s in that part of Formby, the Post Office formed part of the ‘Sweet Shop and Tobacconists’ run by Mr and Mrs Woolwright on Gores Lane. These premises were later occupied by Johnny McCartney and his DIY Store.
“Mr and Mrs Woolwright were quite an elderly couple, clearly devoted to each other, calling themselves ‘Duckie Dear’ and ‘Percy Darling’ in front of their customers. That is how we as children always spoke of them.
“They, themselves, were childless but kept four Yorkshire terriers, and it was ‘Percy Dear’s’ duty, every evening, to exercise the dogs. He would emerge from the front door with each dog on its own lead, and their eager yapping as they anticipated their walk alerted any other dogs in the neighbourhood.
“They would congregate on the pavement outside the garden gate. So, ahead of ‘Percy’ down the path walked ‘Duckie Dear,’ armed with a broom to drive these other dogs away.
“It was in the early war years that the Post Office returned to its original location in Old Town Lane. The proprietor of the Pharmacy at that time was a Mr Hulme but the Woolwrights used to run their sweets and tobacco shop. This cannot have been very profitable, with sweets and chocolate strictly rationed and cigarettes in short supply. But somehow they managed to keep going throughout the war years.
“One person, unaware that the Post Office had moved to its new location, was a friend of mine, Harry Pickstone, who in 1941, while on an RAF Fighter Sweep over Holland, had been shot down in his Spitfire and taken prisoner.
“In May 1945, home on Repatriation Leave, he entered what he thought was still the Post Office and asked for some stamps. ‘Percy Dear,’ by then rather hard of hearing, was serving in the shop. He looked at Harry for a few seconds, bobbed down under the counter, and presented him with a packet of 10 Woodbines.
“’No, No,’ said Harry. ‘I asked for stamps.’
“’Sorry,’ replied ‘Percy Dear,’ and disappeared under the counter once again, and this time produced 10 Players.
“Harry, now thoroughly bemused by all this, and although a non-smoker, paid for the cigarettes and left the shop.”

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The Sands of Time

• Tags:
• beach
• formby
• foundry
• mawdsley
• sand
• times past

Posted by Emma Cruces on December 6, 2007 11:50 AM

CARTS which carried millions of tons of Formby sand provided a playground for young boys who years later still remember the bustle of industry.
Formby man Ray Mawdsley made contact this week to tell of the local businesses involved, as well as those who travelled for the best foundry sand in the country.
He said: “When I was at school in the early 1930s I used to play with Michael Burns who lived in Sutton Road. We used to go over the fields to the Power House where the diesel engine and trucks were left at the weekend.
“They were owned by a Southport man called Sherstone and tipped sideways, like coal trucks. We’d push one to the shore before riding it back to the Powerhouse.
“A lot of firms took sand from Formby – Woodwards, Harry and Bert Jones, West Point Sand & Lime, Bill Kellett, Stephen & Hooks, Masoms, Norman Hodgson, John Mawdsley and Turner Ardwick.
“Hadley Cutts came from Wolverhampton daily with an eight- wheeler lorry. They passed Cross Green at 10am – you could set your watch by them – and returned at 3pm. They said it was the finest sand in the country for the Midlands’ foundries.
“Woodwards was moving sand just after the Great War when Noel Woodward brought an ex-Army lorry. He had Gerry Norris as his second man who later became Director of Woodwards Garage, built on the fields where Tesco is now. Nobody knew why but the dual carriageway was built a few years later right in front of the petrol pumps.
“Woodwards took sand from the old lifeboat house, behind St Luke’s Church and Range Lane. West Point Sand & Lime had the first eight-wheel tipper. I remember the driver Walter Edwards, who lived next door to me in Phillips Lane, bringing it home and everyone came out to look.
“Bob Smith, who worked for Kellets, showed me a gold watch he had found 15-20ft down in sand by the boat house. He wound it up and it still worked.
“Joe Norris lived in the boat house, he made bike racks with driftwood and charged 2d a day. He would give you a ticket and stick one on the seat of your bike. He also supplied jugs of tea and cups with a tray. Behind the boat house was a tall building with small living quarters. It belonged to the Mersey Dock and Harbour Board. Joe Aindow and his brother used to read the tide times for the company.
“To make the roadway to the beach down Range Lane, Woodwards tipped tons of black lumps which shined like glass. we used to call it Pitch but we never found out what it was. My grandson brought some large pieces home some weeks ago, so it is still there.”
If you have a tale for Times Past, or recognise one of our photographs, post a comment or email emma.cruces@liverpool.com

Were you a flower girl? A familiar landscaper? Stiltons of memories to tell? Were you a dancing queen? Did they have some get up and go-go?

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