Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

In Rhoda’s 1962 Diary, part of my mother’s typical activities included cooking and shopping whether for herself or for her family.

January 9: Cooking

When my mother was in her thirties and living in Culcheth, Lancashire, England, she participated in many social activities. One good example is the ‘cookery class’. 

January 18: Shopping

Supermarkets

She doesn’t mention the Leigh supermarket specifically, but I remember clearly we used to go and shop in the supermarket in Leigh. ‘Supermarkets’ were introduced in the UK in the 1950s, but it took some time before they dominated retail marketing. Of course, supermarkets were introduced in the US decades before they were introduced into the UK. 

Supermarkets have a long history. But there was no ‘supermarket’ in the village of Culcheth in the 1950s, although there was a Cooperative. In other words, my mother would travel to the neighbouring town of Leigh, and buy less expensive products than those sold at the local Co-op in the village. My mother thus writes: “Money went further.”

Green Shield Stamps

Around this time, ‘Green Shield’ stamps were introduced by retailers. A little later, they also introduced cigarette vouchers. The idea: if you smoked enough to give you cancer, you would amass enough coupons to get a ‘free’ gift, such as a coffee percolator or the like. 

I can remember my eldest brother, Sandy, and his wife Carol swearing allegiance to this ‘new religion’ by almost smoking themselves to death on Embassy cigarettes which enabled them to receive such a ‘free’ coffee percolator. 

Similarly, my mother would collect thousands of Green Shield stamps that would enable her to receive a ‘free’ gift, such as a pot or kettle! In other words, you had to literally collect 1000s of these stamps to get some small gift. But people were easily ‘tricked’ – and are still being tricked today.