Fred Bousfield, who used to do deliveries from The Oak Stores at Hardy's Green, Birch. Fred's van is an Austin J2 - 1527F

The Hardy's Green store was owned by Mr Studley of Birch - Dorothy and Fred Bousfield ran the Hardy's Green store and Mr Studley ran the Birch store. Fred would go round the villages once a week and take orders - people would have a notebook and write down what they wanted - to be delivered the following week. He went round Birch, the Wigboroughs, Salcott, Layer Breton, Copford and Easthorpe. I remember he said he didn't used to eat before he went or have dinner when he came home because all the village women would vie with each other as to who could offer him the most food and if he said yes to one person he couldn't offend anyone else by turning down their offering! They ran the shop from the mid/late 50's to about 1964 when dad got a job at The Waterworks in Layer-de-la-Haye and we moved to Birch [Anna Freeborn, daughter of Dorothy and Fred]
Date: 1960s