We have now been in the shop for six years and I would like to thank all our customers for your continued support. Although I have been in the antiques business for over 40 years, it was a big gamble to open a shop with all the expense that goes with it.
There are very few small independent family businesses going in these hard financial times, there used to be 20 or 30 shops in Leeds a large city but now you can count them on one hand. I am very lucky because I am retired and the shop is more of a hobby and profit is not my priority. I get great pleasure in meeting people and having a good old natter about old times when life was simpler and much more friendly and relaxed.
I well remember as a small child going shopping with mum and dad in a pony and trap. There were hardly any cars on the road, we would stop and chat with friends and neighbours – everything was done at a leisurely pace. When growing up on a small farm I was taken under the wing of a local farm labourer by the name of Billy (I never knew his surname) at that time Billy would be in his 60s, never smoked or drank and was very fit. He was only small, about 5’5” but worked in the fields all day. He taught me lots of skills passed down through the generations – how to hoe large fields without getting backache, how to stook, making sure the seed heads on the corn don’t get too wet and dozens of other old farm worker’s tips to make hard work easier.
Billy never married but lived with his bachelor brother and sister in a tiny farmworker’s cottage. He had a large garden and grew wonderful chrysanthemums for our local church and kept the graveyard spick and span. He told me countless stories about his early life as a horseman. He started work at 7am but he had to go to work at 6am to have the shire horses harnessed up ready. He didn’t start getting paid til 7am. He once told me of an incident when working for a particularly stingy farmer, he stopped working for 5 minutes to talk to a passing neighbour. The farmer must have been watching and stormed out from behind a tree and harangued the poor person telling him not to stop Billy from working. He also told me of his childhood. He grew up in a small cottage on the Harewood estate where his father was head horseman and revealed stories when he was a child of going with his father to Temple Newsam pit to lead coal back to Harewood House. His father must have been working in the Victorian or Edwardian era, coal was king in those days and I believe Harewood House with its numerous fireplaces used about a wagon load of coal every two days. Even now the back road from Harewood to Leeds is called Coal Road. Billy spent his last few years doing free gardening for elderly people, forever a kind caring person. We could all take a leaf from his book and look after our elderly in these hectic times – a little kindness goes a long way.
On a separate note, I am again doing free talks to various organisations and church groups where I really enjoy meeting new people and seeing new treasures. Thank you for reading my ramblings and of course feel free to pop into the shop any time to see what we have in stock, or bring something you would like valuing or more information on.
Please see advert below for contact details and opening times.
