HOW times change.
Today’s nostalgia photos have been sent in by Gazette reader Maureen Squirrell and recall her days working as an apprentice hairdresser at the old Co-op premises in Long Wyre Street, Colchester.
Maureen, now 79, served her three-year apprenticeship at the ladies’ salon, starting in 1956.
Top of the crops - Maureen and her hairdressing colleagues in 1958. Maureen is on the left in the front row
She recalls some of the things she had to do and wonders what today’s apprentices would say if given the same tasks.
“Some of my jobs included buying meat for the boss’s dog, doing some of her personal washing and washing the stairs down between us and the dentists next door,” she said.
“That was in addition to the usual cleaning of the salon.
Friends united - Maureen (second from the left in the front row) with her netball team
“I don’t think apprentices would put up with that these days and all for the great sum of £1 17s 6d (starting pay) for a 44-hour week.”
One of Maureen’s pictures shows her with colleagues at the hairdressers in 1958.
The Co-op store was above the jewellers, when the Co-op owned most of that side of Long Wyre Street.
Team spirit - Maureen (second from the right in the front row) with her school netball team-mates
Maureen left Colchester in 1961 when she married policeman husband Brian.
They spent nine years bringing up their son and daughter in Harlow, where she trained as a trampoline coach, but they left in 1970, moving to Boreham because of Brian’s work at Chelmsford.
During this time, Maureen trained as a keep fit and swimming teacher and went on to teach at Bramston Comprehensive School, now the Maltings Academy, in Witham.
School trip - Maureen (third from the left in the front row) and her friends enjoyed a trip to Swanage, in Dorset
Following Brian’s promotion, the couple moved back to hometown Colchester, where Maureen started running three keep fit classes a week, when her work at Bramston finished.
Maureen, whose maiden name was Perry, now lives in Holly Road, Stanway.
She is preparing to celebrate two big milestones this year.
Diamond anniversary - Maureen and Brian Squirrell are celebrating 60 years of wedded bliss today
She will have been married to husband Brian for 60 years today and then turns 80 later this year, in August.
“Brian and myself have two children, seven grandchildren - two girls and five boys, aged between 18 and 34 - and six great-grandchildren, three of which have been born in the last year during lockdown.”
Maureen’s other pictures include old netball teams from her time at Wilson Marriage Secondary School and one of a school trip to Swanage, in Dorset, in 1955.
READ MORE:
Nostalgia - have you got old pictures to share with our readers?
We'd love to see your old pictures and share them with our readers. Have you got old school photos, pictures with work colleagues or sports pictures of you with team-mates? Or maybe you have pictures of nights out with friends or at a special event. Whatever it may be, we'd love to see your photos and share them online and in our papers.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here