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Brookside Luxury Coaches

from I'd Rather Be In Deeping August 2020

from I'd Rather Be In Deeping August 2020, page 47

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Alfred James Wootten, or Dick as he became known, was from Helpston, one of the four children of the local carpenter and wheelwright Thomas and his wife Laura. He was born in November 1908 and was baptised in the church where poet John Clare is buried, in January 1909. He had two brothers, Fred and Edgar and a sister, Peg.

Dick met Hilda Mary King (known as Mary), a Sunday school teacher in Peterborough, and they married at All Saints Church in the city in 1933 when she was 22 and Dick was 25. They set up their marital home in Eastgate, Deeping St James. Mary continued with her community work; having been in charge of the Peterborough Girl Guides she set up the 1st Deeping St James Guides meeting in a small hut in a field over the bridge in Market Deeping. She was also a member of The Deepings Show and Secretary of Deeping St James WI. Dick became a partner in the local coal merchants, Brentall and Cleland, also in Eastgate. Eventually he formed his own business, A.J. Wooten (Coal) Ltd, delivering coal to the local community in the days when coal kept the home fires burning and the coal man would deliver a blackened sack of coal to a bunker that was a prerequisite in every house. When the Second World War broke out Dick joined the local Home Guard which met in the TocH building on the riverside at the top of Eastgate. When the ferocious floods of 1947 came, Dick took his coal lorry and rescued people from their bedroom windows, exchanging sacks of coal for people bundled up and put over his shoulder.

By this time Dick and Mary had moved to a large Victorian house, Brookside in Horsegate, opposite what was then a green. There was a well-stocked orchard and garage facilities and Dick saw the opportunity to extend his business. He sold the coal merchants to Mr Allen at The Cross and formed two different companies. One was A.J. Wootten

Haulage Contractors (delivering sand and gravel to building sites) and the other was Brookside Luxury Coaches which he had bought from John Morley.

There were nine coaches in total which provided transport to local factories, Smedleys at Spalding and Dow Mac at Tallington. They also transported children to schools outside of Deeping. There are still fond memories, though, of the occasions in the summer when the coaches would be hired for outings to Hunstanton and Skegness. Local resident Margaret Flegg remembers lovely Sunday school outings and being taken to Bourne for cookery lessons on a Thursday

when she was eleven years old, which have stood her in good stead for a lifetime of cooking delicious meals for local residents of the Deepings. In those days car ownership was not as common as it is now and it was considered to be a real treat to be going on a bus trip. There was a microphone by the driver and it was usual to have a sing-along with the passengers.

It was a family business with Mary doing the bookkeeping and household duties and there were two daughters, Joy and Carole (now Mills, married to John Mills of local plumbing firm A.G. Mills). There were six grandchildren: James, Karl, Andrew, Philip, David and Suzanne.

Dick enjoyed a game of football and played for a local team. He also had a predilection for large cars and owned two Humber Super Snipes, a Mercedes and a Bentley. One of his more ambitious projects was to convert a fire engine into a tipper lorry. A generous man, at the time of the 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II tea was served for 332 children and adults in the old garage which he kindly lent for the occasion. A feast was served and a right royal time was spent in community singing due to the inclement weather on the day.

In 1955 there was a request by Mrs Dickens to the Parish Council for a light to be provided at the corner of Brookside Coaches Garage. The Council then asked East Midlands Electricity Board to remove the light from Bullimore’s Garage on the bend and re-erect it at the corner of Brookside Coaches Garage.

One of Dick’s mechanics lost his home and all his belongings when a fire broke out at Diesel Cottage, the caravan home that Dick had built for him. The caravan was situated at the rear of the garage and was attended by Stamford Fire Brigade necessitating the hurried removal of eight buses, three cars and two lorries from the danger area. Dick then built a wooden bungalow in the orchard for the mechanic with the help of a carpenter.

A resourceful man with many hobbies, Dick would make concrete garden urns which he sold in Boston Market. He was a keen philatelist with a wonderful collection. As well as spending many happy hours gardening he was a keen viewer of war films and would often go fishing. He owned the row of stone cottages next to the Walnut Tree and sold the last one to Mr Corder for £100! On Sunday mornings he could be found in the

Walnut Tree or the Horse & Groom, both in Horsegate, where he was a regular dominoes player. He enjoyed the Ruddles ales served in The Bull in the Market Place and there he enjoyed the company of local bobby, Joe Smith, Tom Gibbons of F&B Gibbons & Sons (sand and gravel merchants) and Bill Curtis, corn merchant.

When Mary died on 28th February 1964, Dick retired and could often be seen walking his St Bernard dog, Schubert, who weighed in at thirteen and a half stone. A large tin loaf popped into the Aga was a morning snack and a cooked sheep’s head was a regular tea time dish – not quite so appetising – with its eyes in!

Later in his life he moved back to Helpston to be near his mother in her later years. He died in May 1983 when he was living at 38, Maxey Road in the village.