What could you get for a shilling? asked Mrs Threlfall of Tottington, a couple of weeks ago, after she had seen a 1935 advertisement for Laidlaw's's Confectioners, of Deansgate and Market Street, Bolton.

Well, Mrs W. Molyneux, of Firwood Grove, Tonge Moor, sent me a couple of bills from that time, one from the Bolton Co-op, which I reproduce here, from 1932 (her mother's funeral), when 22 teas cost 2s (10p) each, and the total was £2 4s (£2. 20). The other, from the Commercial Hotel, in 1971, for her husband's funeral, showed that 38 people were catered for for £16.65, and drinks cost £4.61.

Another letter came from Mrs O.M. Hulme, of Blackburn Road, Edgworth, who told me that when she was 12 years old she had a Saturday job, from eight o'clock until one, in the local chip shop in Hawkshaw Lane. A big truck with two pans of peas on it was pushed from the owner's house. The range in the shop had coal fires to cook, and had to be cleared out, the tables set, floors swept then sawdusted, and buckets of potatoes all to be eyed. 'My wage was six pence, half a shilling. I got a two penny pea mixture, and a penny bottle - the glass one with the marble in, broken afterwards to get the marble. I was left with three pence for a mid-week treat. What joy!'.