Jim Sheppard started baking bread in Easterton in 1926 in a rented bakehouse, but soon converted 1 Jubilee Cottages into a successful bakery and he was able to employ several assistants. (See Jim Sheppard and Jim Sheppard again.)
In this photo, Jim is on the right with one of his workers. His daughter, Joy, informed us that two of his staff went into the army and one into the navy in World War II. At the time, Joy was a pupil at secondary school in Devizes. She sometimes took time off to help at home and eventually left school to work in the bakery.
We have seen the delivery vans before. (See The baker’s delivery van.) Joy reminded us that the business had had a Reliant and a Raleigh three wheeler van over the years and that one or two ladies drove the van during the war. Joy herself got her provisional driver’s license as soon as she could, so that she, too, could help with the deliveries.
They kept the bakery going throughout the war but, in 1945, Jim Sheppard sold the business and Joy married and became a farmer’s wife in Easterton.
January 12, 2021 at 9:06 am |
Thank you for sharing this history. Joy would most likely have known my distant cousins – Shergold – who farmed in Easterton. I only visited once in the mid 1950s but I remember the farm being up aways towards the downs. I walked to a beech hangar wood that was on the farms boundary. I believe the old farmhouse has now been redeveloped into quite a smart house. I can send a picture by email if you would like a look.
January 12, 2021 at 9:43 am |
Thank you, Clive. You could e mail to suefrost24@gmail.com