“A wife in ten thousand!” – that’s how Sir James Reckitt described Ann, his mother – who was the Norfolk miller’s daughter but many would say she was a wife in a million and Hull’s unsung heroine.
But, for Ann – Hull would have been a poorer place; thousands upon thousands of people would not have had quality employment. This biographical novel is her, previously, untold story; from an early 1800s childhood, when her mother was left a widow with six daughters – to being the wife and mother who held the family together, ensuring the prosperity of the business enterprise, internationally famed and bearing the name Reckitt.
Their factory, in the middle 1800s, was the only manufacturing base in Hull which had an education policy for their employees; Ann, being the daughter of a teacher, went into the factory to hold classes – not a little controversial in the day. With some manufacturers it was not thought wise to over-educate working class employees in case they ‘got too much above themselves’.
Originally Reckitt & Sons, then Reckitt & Colman now, however, linked with the name Benckiser and known simply as RB. You’re sure to have one of their products in your bathroom cabinet, on a shelf in the utility room or under the kitchen sink but if it wasn’t for Ann – a miller’s daughter from Norfolk – it wouldn’t be there. One very special lady.
UK Price – £7.50 + £2.50 shipping.
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An odd title for a book, you might be thinking – and you’d be quite right.
However, in many ways, it’s been an odd sort of life.
Born 1944 – the son of a psychiatric nurse and a wartime serving Royal Navy sailor and being two days in the coming was, in it’s own way, pretty dramatic to say the least.
With a basic secondary modern education he left school at fifteen and started work as a laboratory technician, from there he went on to be a ladies hairdresser, a furniture salesman, a departmental manager, salon owner, local magazine editor and publisher, circus clown, music hall performer, a Shakespearean actor …… the list goes on and has done for the past fifty years but he’s now settled into an “odd” sort of retirement by the seaside and currently in the process of producing a community musical he’s written.
Yes indeed – an odd sort of life but huge fun!
As the saying goes – it’s all in the book; we hope you enjoy reading it.
UK Price – £7.75 + £2.50 shipping.
“A Girl & A Gansey”, written by John D Slater Musical Associate – Rebecca Roe.
The musical play sets out to be a glimpse into the lives of Bridlington’s fishing community – back in the late 1800s.
It is a musical tale of love, laughter, dreams and danger and the dedication of the people who gave the town, at that time, its principal industry – fishing.
Through it we follow the ups and downs of our ‘girl and a gansey’ – the ‘gansey’ being the fishermen’s jumpers, each fishing community having its own individual pattern.
This particular gansey brings two people together – those being the hero and the heroine of our tale Thomas and Sarah.
There are ten scenes in the production and ten brand new songs.
UK Price – £5.00 plus UK Shipping – £2.50.
To listen to snippets of the songs here on this promotional YouTube item.