Peter
Parke recalls: "When my grandfather, F G Baggott, had it, the shop was a proper butchers, with a little booth where the cashier sat. The butchers never handled any money. The floor had new sawdust daily, and the shop had some pretty advanced machinery for the time. The rough preparation of most of the meat was done at the slaughterhouse in Reydon, which was itself a farm in several acres, and stood on the site of Lakeside. Much of the land was sold to the gravel company next door in the early 60's, as they wanted it for gravel for the first Sizewell power station. Our gun dogs were kennelled at the slaughterhouse, where they fed well. Opposite was a field of blackcurrants (where the Barratt estate now stands) which were grown for Ribena, and the view was clear to Reydon Church. Speeding on the Halesworth Road was a problem even then, but the police had one man lurking in the hedge near the slaughterhouse. Another was hidden near the Bowls Club (a measured distance apart). As a suspect vehicle went past, one would jump out and signal, and the other further one would start his stop watch and if necessary leap out to stop the offender. As a boy it was one of my great treats when both policemen jumped out like figures on a Black Forest clock." |