Ron Levett's childhood memories, from the early 1930's, when he lived in the small village of Alfriston in Sussex

Alfriston was the largest village in the area so it was natural for people from outlying smaller villages and hamlets to do their shopping in there.

At this time their were two grocers' shops, two butchers, a chemists, which also boasted a lending library (2d per book per week,) a filling station, two sweet shops, one of which was also a greengrocers and three public houses.

The larger of the grocers' shops, owned by Len Wilde, was the nearest we had to a supermarket. It was also the Post Office, sold paraffin from a large tank at the rear of the shop (bring your own can,) sold haberdashery from the little shop across the alleyway (now known as Sally's) and had a bakery built at the rear where Bob Norman baked fresh bread every morning.

In West Street was a yard where a lorry was kept. This was also owned by Len Wilde and was used as a coal yard. A chap called 'Mousey' Reed drove the lorry down to Berwick Station about twice a week and filled and weighed sacks of coal straight from the railway wagon in which the coal had been delivered.

The shop was also the newsagent and every morning, deliveries of groceries, bread and newspapers were sent out to customers in Litlington, Berwick, Selmeston, Arlington and Frog Firle.

The Southdown Bus service provided our means of communication, with buses around every hour to Eastbourne, Lewes and Seaford. However, there was no bus to Berwick Station, because buses and trains were in competition.

Our local carrier, a likeable chap called Fred Unstead, who had lost a leg in the Great War, collected goods, which were delivered to the station. He drove a large Austin lorry, with a canvas top and a drop tailgate. Fred could swing himself up into the back of the lorry with remarkable agility.

He provided an invaluable service to the community, delivering and collecting parcels to and from all the local towns. If someone wanted a new pair of boots, for instance, Fred would collect a number of pairs from a local shoe shop, take them to the customer, collect the money and return the cash and the remainder of the boots to the shop.

Ron Levett, 2001