Barrow Boy

By Anthony Hipgrave

I too was a barrow boy in the 1950s, I worked the Seashore caravan camp with my elder brother David. There was only 5 barrows allowed on the camp and you had to have an offical pass signed by the camp manager. We were one of the lucky ones as our mother Doris Hipgrave worked in the camp paper shop during the summer season and managed to get us our pass. We were not allowed to charge so we had to accept what the holiday makers were willing to give. The average was half a crown, but if you got a group of say 6 "Teddy Boys" that would be 6 cases on the barrow and they would all give you something so you could make upwards of a pound for 1 run, and whats more they would help to push the barrow. At the end of the day mother would let us keep a bit for sweets and comics and the rest we would invest in Premium Bonds. I still have the Bonds 50 years on and have never won a penny, I still live in hope.

Tony Hipgrave 15/04/2010