ALAN WHALLEY'S WORLD

JIMMY Mac still looks back with fondness on his days as second-man on a Sally White truck.

And his memories of that little chapter in his life were vividly revived by the fascinating theme which has been running through this column over the past few weeks.

It all started when a reader asked if I had any ideas regarding the true identity of the Sally White who gave her name to that once-familiar brand of household bleach.

As usual, I chucked the query out to our learned readership and was staggered by the stream of response from all corners of the borough and beyond.

Unfortunately, no-one has yet seemed able to link an actual person with the brand name, so it would appear that it was probably an invented one, in much the same way as Dolly Blue, the old-fashioned whitening agent for the weekly household wash.

Not only that, but Sally White had a companion product called Aunt Sally.

Jimmy, from Ellaby Road, Rainhill, explains: "This was a thick red liquid soap, ideal for children to blow bubbles with."

His memories spun back to his job during the mid-1960s, delivering these popular household products to chandlers' and general stores throughout the region.

Though most folk had always imagined that Sally White was a purely St Helens product (it certainly had a manufacturing base and local distribution centre there) Jimmy puts us right on that particular point.

"The Jaxo company was based in Cheviot Street off Edge Lane, Liverpool. Sally White was made there in a huge underground vat. I think the company closed down in the early 1970s."

Before that, teams of van salesmen operated a doorstep delivery service to countless homes throughout St Helens and other parts of the region - the van salesman very often being local to the district he lived in.

The year of that Sally White shut-down coincided with the loss of many of the traditional door-to-door services - Craig's Pantry and the Co-op breadmen being among those who up to then used to bring choice straight to the housewife on her own front step.

And Jimmy signs off: "One of the things I really miss is the old-fashioned chandlers' shop. Just the smell as you entered was enough to send the senses spinning - and you could buy almost anything under the sun. Whatever happened to them?"

Well, Jimmy lad, I'm afraid they were mainly gobbled up by the modern day supermarket and DIY complex.

Roy Stocks from Evelyn Avenue, Parr, was another who jumped onto the bleach wagon, fondly recalling his local Sally White shop in College Street, opposite to what is now the labour exchange. And it got him reminiscing about other lost business landmarks which will be fondly recalled by veteran readers.

Among them, Mine's coalyard, owned by Jack Howard who employed brothers Tom and Des Swaby, evacuees from Guernsey in 1940.

Then there was Hartley's the cabinet makers, close to our Star offices. This had the unique distinction of having elephants 'garaged' there whenever the circus came to town, performing under the open-land Big Top or at the Theatre Royal, then in its glorious old Victorian form, before being butchered by modernisation.

A whiff of that Sally White subject got Will Sharrock of Pendlebury Street, Clock Face, thinking back to Sutton's smoky past.

His reminiscences include the steam and coal-smoke billowing locomotives which used to chug in and out of the old Sutton engine sheds which occupied a site where Morrisons supermarket now stands.

Will kicks off: "Yes, it's quite some time now since the Sally White firm existed, although the old premises are still there, as far as I know. In those old days, Sutton was a thriving place, full of all kinds of business activities."

He wonders how many can recall the heyday of the Stamina dog food factory, down Baxters Lane, not far from the engine sheds.

"From the top of a high, surrounding wall I used to watch the locos billowing smoke as they trundled out and passed through the tunnel under Sutton Road."

Will also recalls the police station opposite Sutton Oak railway station, a busy steelworks and a paper manufacturing factory.

Yet for all this hum of industry, Sutton folk in general enjoyed a quiet, rather laid-back lifestyle. There were numerous well-cultivated allotments; and ducks, geese and hens ran about freely in back alleys and on road verges. "There were few cars about then, with the only slight danger to them coming from the occasional passing tram."

Sutton had retained a true village spirit, boasting two Welsh chapels attended by workers who had moved in from the land of their fathers to work in the Sutton copper smelting and coal industries.

Over the decades, names such as Jones, Davies, Williams and Matthews became commonplace in that locality.

Fondly remembered from its original tiny shopping centre was Tom Woods the tailor and Davies' bike shop.

"Yes, Sutton was a very different place then. How it has all changed!"

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