I was born in Germany and lived in Dusseldorf till I was 5 yrs old. We moved to Hull, although my father was born in Castleford. Hull was a busy town with lots of job opportunities mainly connected to the fishing industry and the busy ports. He got a job with Blundells on Charles Street, they dealt with credit cheques, and my dad was a debt collector. I went with him during school holidays. In those days I sat in the car with all the money he’d collected, you couldn’t do that now! He went all over, Hull, Hedon, Paul, the East Hull Estates. At Christmas he carried toys in the car to sell. On a night I’d sit with him whilst he did his paper work and I’d count the money.
My mother was pregnant when she came over to England . We stayed with my dad’s sister in Albert Avenue while my parents looked for a house, my mother wanted to live in Anlaby and they found one in Loyd Street. It was more than they could afford really but my mother was adamant that’s what she wanted as it was a good area. My brother Walter was born shortly after they moved in. She missed Germany so it was great when her sister came over and moved in down the same street. But unfortunately they argued most of the time.
My brother, Walter, was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was 2 and died at the age of 4. I was 9 and the tragedy changed all our lives. My mother wore black for a year and never went anywhere except to visit his grave everyday for years. I went with her most of the time and it broke my heart to see her pain and know that my brother was lying their beneath the flowers. I’ve never taken my life for granted and tried to live every moment as Walter never had that chance.
My dad got paid on Thursdays and that was our main shopping day – on Hessle Rd. I remember the shops were so busy you often ended up walking on the road as the pavements were full. Looking down the side streets at all the terraced houses with washing lines from one side to the other and the children playing in the street. No-one shut their doors then. Boyes was a favourite of my mums, she’d trained as a seamstress in Germany and so most of my clothes were adaptations of what was in the sales. Everything smelt of fish and many of the women customers came in wearing headscarves with a roller sticking out the front – preparing for a night out!
I went back to live in Germany for most of the seventies. It is such a beautiful place and I found it difficult to return to the UK. Hull never really had many good memories for me. However a few years after returning I met ‘Topcolor Tony’ and life changed forever! We had two beautiful daughters and are now very proud grandparents to five brilliant grandchildren. My family means everything to me. Topcolor re-invented itself about 4 years ago and now it’s just the two of us in the shop. We get lovely customers coming in, sharing family stories with their pictures or places they visited or where they lived. It’s such an honour to be included in their lives, they tell you so much. It also makes you realise particularly as you get older just how fragile life is and you really should live every minute.
