Pocket money

I was ‘head hunted ‘ 😂 at 14 to work in the village shop on Saturdays and holidays when the previous grammar school girl left. Back in the days when we had to add up columns of figures and not have a till to do the job.
I loved it, apart from being bitten by the owner’s dog when it saw me behind the counter the first time.

My 2/6 an hour wages were spent on records, gigs and clothes.
Not much has changed!

My pocket money was earned by a Saturday job in Woolworth's. I always spent it in Scofield's in the stationery department. I loved the notelets they sold. You can't seem to get them any more.

While I was in the sixth form I babysat for some of the teachers . In the holidays I babysat for the local doctor .

Worked in the local grocery shop at weekends and could eat anything I liked at lunchtime .

Worked at a local plant nursery taking off the side chrysanthemums , so the top one could bloom . Often picked the wrong bud . Must have cost them a fortune .

Worked in the local meat factory during the holidays . As I was going to college to study Biology I was allowed to watch the pig killing . Stunned , strung up by one leg , then throat slashed .

Worked in Woolworths for one summer . Wasn't taken on again as I ate too many pick'nmix.

Favourite job was the Christmas post . My sack of cards was so heavy two other posties had to lift it and place it on my back . Felt sick for the first part of the round . I'm sure health and safety wouldn't allow that today .

Finally left higher education and taught in the East End of London .

I did a paper round as soon as I could, 13, maybe? 12/6 a week. The next year I was old enough to do an evening round, 15/-.

Saturday job at 17 on the cheese counter at BHS, 19/6. Bought driving lessons from BSM at 19/-, so not much left to play with.

During the long vac from university, I worked at Rowntree Mackintosh, I can't remember how much I got.

I don't remember getting pocket money but I'm sure I must have.....

My Dad got me a Saturday job in The Co-op with him. He paid for me on the bus and took me for lunch in The Rainbow Room restaurant too. It probably cost him more than I got for the day, but I kept what I earned and opened a Bainbridges (John Lewis) budget account with it - I think for £3 a month, I could spend up to £15, which must’ve been a fortune in 1966?

I didn’t have a Saturday job but I did have pocket money. It was Threepence a day and then it was put up to half a crown a week.. I think I was about 10…🤓

My first job was at fourteen in the local CO0p department store.
I got 12/6 a day. My mother kept the 10/- note and gave me half a crown back. I was raging, because I didn't even get pocket money!

My first job was at 14 as a waitress in a local hotel which did weddings, high teas and dinner dances. I waited at tables and was in charge of making toast -20 slices at a time! I loved my job at first and was well looked after by Hilda the cook. I worked a twelve hour shift on Saturday and was fed regularly by Hilda. The meals were lovely too! The main waitress was a grumpy wee woman called Lizzie but she liked me so helped at the start. Soon, because I was reliable and liked by customers and staff, my hours went up. I worked 5-11 on Friday, 12-12 on Saturday and 5-9 on Sunday. My whole weekend was spent working. I made good money but eventually it palled so I left and worked at a local supermarket on a Saturday for two years. I learned so much about working with others from both places and also about working hard.

My first Saturday job was at 13, when I worked in a hairdressers' shop. 8 till 6, on my feet all day for the grand sum of 15 shillings! That lasted three weeks. My next was at an East End pie and mash shop. I was there over 2 years and loved it! Clearing tables, filling vinegar and salt bottles, washing and drying up and then cleaning the tables, counter front and the live eel stall at the end of the day (bit icky but I got used to the blood and gore!)

When I got married, the car coming back from the Registry Office made a detour past the shop, and we hooted and they all came out and waved their ladles and spoons as we passed - hilarious!

I had a Saturday job in the village newsagents. I started on 15 shillings a day and then it was increased to a pound. Riches. I could also help myself to sweets, within reason. I also had holiday jobs in a laundry, which was awful and I didn’t stick it for long, and the local DVLA office. I spent my money on clothes and makeup of course! The laundry was really horrible, not just because of the working conditions but because they employed some ladies from the local mental hospital who had no hope of anything better and some of the other women were awful bullies. I still think of the miserable existence of the ladies from the mental hospital, where in fact my grandfather had died decades earlier,

Lucky you Witzend !!

My first holiday job was in between school and university - on the checkout at Sainsbury’s. I earned £8 a week, and had to give my mother £3 of that. I probably spent most of the rest on clothes (I’d always had very few - my mother rarely bought me anything) and the odd record.

During the 6th form my main source of income was babysitting for a well off couple who went out quite a lot, and only had one toddler who never woke up. The dad usually drove me home in his British Racing Green E-type, which was a major bonus!