Page 31 - A History Of Food And Drink In Wokingham

Appendix A – Provided by Wokingham historian Jim Bell

The following two items come from Ken Goatley’s autobiography, “WOKINGHAM, the town of
my life”.

First

“Now we come to the little cooked meats, pies and vegetable shop of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson.
Living close by I often chatted to Mrs. Johnson whose shop was mostly patronised by the
wealthier community of the town. Mrs. Johnson always had a cat in the shop, and this furry
animal spent much of the day lying in the window amongst the various goodies. Mrs. Johnson
once told me that when she trimmed the cooked meats she would put the trimmings in a bowl
under the counter. The cat would never go hungry because he could help himself. She put
what he didn’t eat into rissoles for the next day. The mind does really boggle!”

Second

“At one time our milk was delivered by a chap on a trade-bike with the churns in the front
carrier. He would ladle the required amount from the churn into the milk jug, I recall on many
occasions watching this operation. But the thing that always fascinated me was the fact that
he would stop at the front step putting one foot on the step to balance to fill the jug. He always
had a ‘dew drop’ on the end of his nose and I recall watching that with some horror in case it
dropped into our milk.”

The following item is from a book about Ken Goatley’s works that was published after his
death. “Bygone Days in Wokingham”

“Ted Frith lived at No 4 Exchange Cottages in Denmark Street and by all accounts he made
a living throughout the summer selling his ice cream.

Come the winter he became a fishmonger to earn a wage, the point was that he only had one
barrow - we often tell school children that a cornet purchased in May would probably be
haddock flavoured”.

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