Eastcombe WI with Richard Burton 'Perfect, perfect'

EASTCOMBE WI August meeting was well attended.

As well as our regular members, we welcomed two visitors and three members who had recovered from illness.

The business part of the evening was dealt with quickly.

The main item was the Gloucestershire Federation weekend at Denman in April 2018.

After refreshments our speaker was introduced.

Mr Richard Burton started by telling us his name had sometimes been a burden as the normal greeting involved enquiries about Elizabeth Taylor.

His talk entitled ‘Perfect, perfect’ was about his fascination with a travelling salesman who visited in his childhood, and his experiences of his mother’s purchase of school uniform with all the social politeness which accompanied it.

Leaving school he worked at a department store in Taunton working his way up from Carpets and Linoleum to Beds and Soft Furnishing, encountering many amusing incidents with customers and other staff.

He was made a manager in Swindon at a new store, having to deal with a windowless store in the depths of winter, keeping stock safe from snow.

His stories of ladies giving birth in the store, fussy matrons and the hierarchy of management kept us all laughing and reminiscing about our own experiences of department stores when service was a ritual.