Note from Wymondham Magazine Staff: We are sorry to inform readers that Ted Barham, the subject of Alex Perry’s monthly Ted Talks column, has sadly passed away aged 92.

Ted was a popular figure in town, often seen riding his little green bike and offering dog treats to dog walkers. His wife of 57 years - known to Ted, and readers of the column, as Baryl - died last year.

Alex Perry, who wrote up monthly conversations about Ted’s long and varied life, told us:

“Being in Wymondham Magazine meant a great deal to Ted in his final years. People in the street would recognise him and, importantly, listen to his stories. Sometimes, they even invited him around for tea! I consider myself fortunate to have recorded his memories while he was still with us.”

Ted’s funeral will be Friday 14th March 1pm at Wymondham Abbey for people in town to give Ted the send off he deserves. Ted and Alex’s final recorded conversation appears below.

“Clarks in Bridle Street were ironmongers. The shop was run by two brothers, and they would sharpen your kitchen knives,” said Ted, reminiscing on his memories of Wymondham traders who were stalwarts of the market town in the 1950s and 1960s.

Local retailers in those days were less specialised than the high street shops we have today; they sold anything they could get their hands on to anyone who wanted to buy it. Mrs. Stubbs was one of these ‘wide-range’ retailers who sold everything from bread to coal to soap from her store on Factory Lane Corner. Horace Stuart and the Milward family also had shops filled with everything under the sun.

Ted remembers a butcher’s on one side of Damgate Street and a fishmonger’s shop on the other. “I remember seeing the pieces of meat hanging from the hooks in the store window and sometimes in the street,” said Ted. Also, on Damgate Street was ‘Smith’s Radio’ where you could get your 120-volt batteries recharged. The Smith family even ran a general store out of the living room of their house in Barnham Broom Road.

Dougie Green was, in Ted’s opinion, the best greengrocer in town. He is less sure about who sold the best ice cream, but Percival’s, by the bridge, was very good.

Rothbury Hall was the place to go to for music events, and the Drill Hall (now the Air Cadets’ Centre) was where everyone went for socialising and games. Ted has fond memories of Percy Chapman, “a travelling music man,” who used to go door-to-door on the estates with his portative organ and play tunes in exchange for a few pennies.

Ted’s favourite pub in town was ‘The Woolpack’, now the site of ‘Myhills Pet and Garden.’ There used to be a pet shop called ‘The Lizard’, a good place to purchase hamsters and guinea pigs. Those searching for larger animals, like sheep, went out to Suton, where farmers sold disabled and deformed livestock to the public.

Times have changed, and retailers have moved on to be replaced by new businesses. Yet these traders all contributed to Wymondham’s market town history, and Ted remembers them.