Some fascinating details have emerged about the life of Albert Pratt, who ran a carrier business in Oxford.
The photograph of him and his lorry outside Berry’s bakery in St Andrew’s Road, Old Headington, produced an interesting postbag, including one message from his grand-daughter, Rita deClerck, who lives in Cowley.
She writes: “He used his lorry to go to Oxford Station and collect things for people off the trains.
“He also used to collect the hospital laundry, take it to be washed, and return the washed items.
“He became an ambulance driver after the war, a job I think he did for many years.
“Just behind grampy in the photograph is Larkins Lane, and to the left is Church Street, where he and his wife Ella lived.
“They had four girls - Dora, Irene, Jean, and Joyce. Jean was my mum.
“Off Church Street, there is a lane called The Croft. If you go down there and turn right, there is the back entrance to the White Hart.
“Next to that was a garage where grampy parked his lorry, and later his Austin 7.
“My personal memory of him is going into the house through the back door which led into the sitting room.
“He always seemed to be sitting in his wooden rocking chair next to the range.
“As a special treat, he would take me into the parlour where he would play his squeeze bag for me - it was like an accordion, but much smaller and round. I wonder if any of your readers remember him.”
Other readers have memories of the bakery.
Headington historian Stephanie Jenkins writes: “William John Berry opened his baker's shop in St Andrew’s Road during the First World War.
“The actual baking was done behind the house, in a building facing Larkins Lane.
“The family firm of W J Berry & Sons remained here until the early 1980s - I can remember seeing the bakers at work then.”
Margaret Trinder, of Manor Road, Wantage, remembers in her youth bread being delivered in a horse-drawn vehicle by Charlie Hainge.
Sylvia Vallis, of Quarry High Street, Headington, was another reader to confirm it was Berry’s bakery.
She writes: “It is wonderful to see these old pictures which bring back such memories of the past. Keep up the good work, please, readers.”
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