My First Job - Hilliers in 1938

After watching on 20th October, on BBC 2 TV, "A Living Antique", about Hilliers of Winchester, I was prompted to put pen to paper and record some of my own recollections about my first job with the firm in 1938. I was 15 years old and due, somewhat reluctantly, to leave St Thomas Church of England Boys’ School, Winchester, where I had spent four happy years. My father, after being unemployed for a time, due mainly to the depression of the 1930s, had been employed on several manual and ‘dirty’ jobs, so on the advice of my mother, who wanted me to have a ‘clean’ job, I duly applied for the position of junior clerk with Hilliers. With trepidation, I attended the interview at the shop premises, 95 High Street, Winchester. There I met Mr Arthur Hillier, who, with his brother Edwin and his son Harold, ran the business which consisted of the shop, two nurseries in Winchester, and others at Ampfield, Chandlers Ford and Eastleigh. ‘Mr Arthur’, as he was known, explained the job to me which was in the head office at the West Hill Nursery.