There was character to the old shops
Recorded 1 year ago
About this recording
A compilation of clips from Wick Voices recalling some of the old shops in the town centre and Pulteneytown, and the shopkeepers who ran them.
The speakers take us back to a time long before supermarkets when there were small grocery shops, bakers and butchers all across Wick, with message boys earning a few shillings by making daily deliveries.
As one of the interviewees, Margaret Allan, points out: “There was character to the old shops, I have to say. In the mornings we’d be washing the windows, washing the pavement, and everybody did that then. It was the start of the day and everybody got going at the same pace, and everybody shouted to everybody. There was just a buzz about the place.”
The speakers were all recorded separately, over a period of several years, and sadly a few have since passed away.
Interviewees (in order of first appearance in this compilation): Stewart Gunn, Margaret Allan, Eswyl Fell, Sandy Manson, the late Ian Mackenzie, the late Janet McDonald, Jackie Strachan, Donald MacBeath, Robbie Gordon, Will Gunn, Pina Cabrelli, Robert Sutherland, the late Harry Gray, Alex Paterson, the late Janet Mackenzie, Graeme Mackay.
In each case, the full interview is freely available to listen to as part of the Wick Voices collection. Simply find the person’s name by using the search box within the Recordings section.
The accompanying image, from the Johnston Photographic Collection, shows a section of High Street.
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Wick Voices
