Ann Spokes Symonds talks to Hilda Bulpitt about the golden age of Oxford department stores Hilda Bulpitt had always wanted to work in a millinery department of a big department store. Now 97, she looks back with pleasure on her 30 years at Webbers, the drapers and furnishers in Oxford's High Street.

Like Elliston and Cavell's, Webbers was an Oxford institution. "Millinery is fascinating. I wouldn't have worked anywhere else," said Hilda.

Shop assistants at department stores in the first half of the 20th century were required to do up to three years training, working for a spell in all departments.

Girls were excused from working in the furnishings department, but all had to do their turn as a lift attendant. They would watch and learn while doing the menial tasks of fetching and carrying and tidying up.

Mr Webber, "a very sweet man" according to Hilda, would interview the assistants regularly and ask them how they were getting on.

Hilda, the youngest of the four Gibbard girls, did well at Summertown School in Rogers Street, and left there at the age of 15. Some six months later, in 1928, she started training at Webbers.

Her wage was two shillings and sixpence a week, which did not alter during her three-year apprenticeship.

Her older sister Ada (Betty) was already working there in the skirt department. Neither of them could afford bus fares on their pay and had to walk the one and a quarter miles from their home in Islip. If there was heavy rain, their mother would give them their one penny inward fare so that they would arrive at work dry - but they would have to walk home.

Staff had to be at work at 8.45am to prepare for the 9am opening. Although the store closed at 6pm, it often took an hour to clear up.

For instance, if customers tried on a number of hats before buying one, they all had to be put back in exactly the right place.

On their feet all day, staff were only allowed to sit down if there were no customers around. Fortunately, the buyer for the millinery department, Miss Ward, was affable and it was a friendly place to work.

There was only a ten-minute break in the morning. Their packed lunch, brought from home, was eaten at the hostel in Pembroke Street, where some of the Webbers girls lived. They also went there for tea in the afternoon.

Once the three-year apprenticeship was completed successfully, they would hope to be able to choose where they wanted to work. "Have you got a favourite department, Hilda?" asked Mr Webber.

"Yes, millinery," said Hilda "And that, Hilda, is where you can go."

She had set her heart on it. She did not enjoy some other departments.

Haberdashery, she hated. Here staff had to calculate such sums as how much lengths of ribbon cost, at a penny and per yard, and there were no calculators in those days.

More expensive Having finished their training, staff could start serving customers themselves.

At first, in millinery, Hilda could only sell the cheap (four shillings and elevenpenny) hats which went for a shilling in the sales.

As they became more experienced, they could sell the more expensive hats.

A bill sent to Mrs Shepperd in Park Crescent (Park Town in North Oxford), in 1918, included one pound, five shillings and ninepence for a hat. By the 1940s women were willing to pay as much as £30 or £40 for a hat. Expensive hats were parcelled up in a box, Hilda recalled, unlike cheaper hats, which went in bags.

At Webbers discipline existed, but if staff were unavoidably late, they were not punished but it was suggested that they might "start a bit earlier next time".

There was no provided uniform, but female staff were expected to wear a black top over a blouse, black skirt and black stockings.

Hilda made a lot of friends. She had a particular friend from Wolvercote who, at a dance at the Carfax Assembly Rooms, introduced her to a young man, called Tony Bulpitt. That man became Hilda's husband in 1947.

He also worked at an Oxford department store - Cape's - when they first met, but later also worked at Webbers. He had been in the RAF during the war. Hilda left Webbers in 1948.

Whereas Cape's had its famous money containers which sped along overhead wires, Webbers's method was less visible.

The money was put in a tube which went on a cash railway' down to the basement. Here the cashiers would put in the change and send the tube back. There were no cash machines in those days.

When Hilda eventually became what was known as First Sales' in the model millinery department, her pay went up to £5 week and stopped there - even in the 1940s.

Many North Oxford ladies and University wives would buy their hats at Webbers. Customers would often ask for Miss Gibbard so that she could advise them on what hat to wear for a special occasion. But, as today, there were always awkward customers - on one occasion, said Hilda, a lady stayed for two hours trying on hats, until it became obvious that she was just passing the time!