Growing up in Maldon, as I did during the 1960’s and 70s, I remember the town as a much smaller, somewhat insular place, with a tight-knit, proud community, made up of some really colourful, larger than life, characters.
There was Mr Redgwell, the rather strict Prom park-keeper with more than a touch of military bearing; smiling Mrs Galley, the toilet cleaner who loved feeding stray cats; ‘Rocky’ Markham and his traditional Maldon Rock; a company of salt-weathered, blue-guernseyed, elderly fisherman, at their boat moorings alongside the Bath Wall; Mavis Perry; Rene Salter; old “Ma” Cater and her record shop; Archie, the window cleaner; Basil, the wheeler-dealer who would buy and sell anything; Mr. Fisher, the riding instructor; “Twinkle Toes”, the bus driver; Bill Alford, the last lamp-lighter; “Pump” Adams, the carnival stalwart; and Mr Tickner and his magical (to my eyes at least) sweet shop in Mill Road; to name but a few.
And then there was dear old Wilf Bright, the road sweeper. Small, rotund, dark haired, but usually wearing a beret, with his distinctive (Maldon) teeth and round glasses, he always had a smile on his face and was ready to pass the time of day with you, ending with a happy retort as he went on with his work.
A true Maldonian to the core, Wilf was born here in 1923, the son of Stanley Bright (a labourer at Heybridge Iron Works) and Dorothy Bright (née Royce). Wilf initially worked alongside his father, but with the outbreak of the war, he joined the army and saw active service abroad, including during the Normandy Campaign of 1944.
He was rightly proud of his wartime experiences and his treasured medals – the 1939-45 Star, France and Germany Star and General Service (later claiming the Normandy medal).
On special occasions, such as the annual Remembrance parade, he would wear these on his left breast, with his late-father’s Great War pair on his right. (Dad, Stanley, enlisted in 1915, was attached to the Cheshire Regiment and was discharged due to wounds in 1917).
In 1954 Wilf married Florence ‘Dolly’ Randall (née Cook) of Rope Walk and as they were both dedicated Salvationists, the ceremony took place at the Maldon Salvation Army Hall, with Major Homewood officiating. The happy couple then honeymooned in Margate and, on their return, established their home together at 106 Wantz Road.
In the same year as his marriage, Wilf got a job with Maldon Council as a road sweeper. Over the next 29 years he progressed through various council appointments, including as a dustman (for that was the recognised title in those days) to then transfer to the parks department.
From 1978 he was a familiar face on the Prom, helping to keep the gardens looking their very best, and he loved working in the open air and meeting people.
Throughout their married life, Wilf and ‘Dolly’ kept a photo album.
Flicking through it the other day, it appeared to me to tell a pictorial story of their happy time together here in the town that they both loved and knew so well. Some of the older pictures are clearly inherited ones from their respective families – studies in sepia of unnamed Edwardians dressed (as in Larkin’s words) in “old-style hats and coats” and looking “soppy-stern”; Great War soldiers who may or may not have survived the horrors of the trenches; and weddings resulting in partnerships of unknown degrees of marital bliss.
However, the majority involve Wilf and ‘Dolly’ themselves – on holidays at the seaside; performing Salvation Army duties; spending time in their garden; at a Christening at All Saints; having fun at parties and going swimming (most probably in the Lake).
There are also a few studies of Wilf hard at work – the Wilf that some of you may well remember. One shows him with a hand-drawn, side-opening dustcart, with “Borough of Maldon” written on the side, standing outside houses in Wantz Road. Another has him using a ‘Universal’, motorised road-sweeper, just going past 160 High Street (now Borough Flooring).
A third is of him working on the Prom, fork in hand, wearing a great coat and that distinctive beret. After 29 years of Council service, Wilf wasn’t glad to retire in 1983, but needed to leave to look after his beloved ‘Dolly’.
He had nothing but praise for his employers: “The governors have been very good to me”, he is quoted as saying. But then he had been “good” to the town, a loyal servant who did his bit to keep the environment clean and green.
Aside from caring for his wife, over the next seven years Wilf also enjoyed the occasional game of whist and bingo. He died in January 1990 and ‘Dolly’ was reunited with him eight years later. With Wilf’s passing we lost one of those special individuals that really characterised a Maldon that is sadly no more.
We might not now be able to bump in to him, or all those other people that I mention with fondness, but he and they are certainly not forgotten.
The warm memories are still there and are firmly etched on my mind. Never were the words of Terry Pratchett’s novel, ‘Going Postal’ (Doubleday 2004) more apt than in Wilf’s case; “Do you know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?”. Good old Wilf.
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