H & T Taylor, Bakers of Attleborough

Van outside 294 Gadsby Street, Attleborough, home of Cliff Oliver, Baker

Courtesy of June Moreton

Van with horse in Gadsby Street, Attleborough, home of Cliff Oliver, Baker with two of his sons

Courtesy of June Moreton

Cliff Oliver, Baker of Gadsby Street with three of his sons, Lister Street, Attleborough

Image courtesy of June Moreton

Ethel Oliver, wife of Cliff Oliver, back of 294 Gadsby Sreet, Attleborough

Image courtesy of June Moreton

My father, Clifford Charles Oliver worked for H & T Taylor, Bakers of Attleborough (at the top of Lister Street). He was born in 1923 and married his wife Ethel in 1942. The house there now is called The Bakery. The horse was kept at the back of the bakery.

Cakes

He excelled at making wedding cakes and made my wedding cake but that was many years later. It was a three tiered wedding cake. The shop window used to have trays of cakes in. The cakes were were all set out in rows. When Dad took me for a walk we used to get one for a threepence!

Batch rounds

Before he went to work for Taylor’s, Cliff and his brother used to do a ‘batch round’ on the weekend, walking round with baskets with bread in. They went to everyone who wanted bread but whether the loaves were ’round’ or the term referred to ‘going round’, I don’t know! That’s how he came to work for Taylor’s.

The war

Whilst his brother went into the air force, Cliff stayed at the bakery but he got called up after getting exempt twice. He joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. He learnt to drive. When he was demobbed he returned to the bakery but the business was sold to a gentleman called De Keyser who owned another shop near by.

So he became a miner for a few years at Newdegate Colliery. Then he went to work for Interlock who made interior springs for beds and car seats. He became a foreman and was well liked. He had big allotments at the back of his house and kept the family in fruit and veg, as well as growing flowers.