without them, particularly during the winter.There were a few cars, but everyone was used to walking. When we went to the doctors from Wood Road, we had to walk up into the village and then down Oaken Lanes to Dr Burd's house. You would see him one day and he would tell you to return the next, by which time he had made up your medicine and it would be inside a cupboard outside his front door waiting for collection. I suppose we had to pay for it because medicine wasn't free in those days. The doctor was responsible for pre-scribing and dispensing the medicines. There was no taking the prescription along to the chemist. There was a dentist, by the name of Mr Lewis, in The Firs (where the Conservative Club is now). He had a surgery there and another in Waterloo Road, Wolverhampton. I don't remember going to The Firs, but I do remember going to see Mr Lewis in Waterloo Road. There were no buses to Wolverhampton, so you had to catch the train. The buses came to Codsall before I started school. They turned around in The Square, which was nothing like it is now. There was a cottage there with iron railings round it where the statue of the Lone Singer is now. The road up to the Church went straight past it.
The pubs were privately owned, they were not owned by the breweries. The Malpass family owned the Crown. Miss Malpass was married to Frank Spencer, the butcher. They didn't live at the Crown. They lived at the first house on the right of Wood Road, before the new development of council houses and Malpass Gardens. Hence the name, it was named after the Malpasses at the Crown. Old Mrs Spencer was a Malpass, so the two families were related. The village was so small that everyone knew everyone else.
butter. On the other corner was Harvey's. It was a bit of a down-market store compared to Yorks, and they sold everything. You bought your paraffin from there and everything else you could possibly want. When you went there for paraffin you had to take your can with you, of course we used a lot in those days as many people had a paraffin stove. Old Harvey would come out of his shop and go round to a shed at the back, turn the paraffin on, serve it, and then go straight back into the shop. I'm not sure whether he ever washed his hands between customers.
Harvey also owned the blacksmith’s shop and he was the undertaker as well. The blacksmith’s was situated where Smithy Motors used to be. A kitchen shop now occupies the site. Working at the Smiths was a man called Cooper. He used to live near us in Wood Road. He lived in a slightly bigger house and in the early days he had a car, so I think he was doing pretty well. He was a wheelwright and coffin maker. If there was a death in the village, Cooper used to go out and measure up the body |
