I think I can just remember a small post office and sweet shop at Upware. The baker from Waterbeach used to deliver bread and flour at Upware three times a week. Our's used to be left with Miss Hodson and I would collect it either on the way home from school or I made a special cycle trip to collect it. We also had our meat left with Miss Hodson once a week.

The grocer from Burwell made the journey to deliver to us once a fortnight. He would deliver to our door, weather permitting. In bad weather my father would meet him with the tractor to collect the goods. Sweets and sugar were still rationed following the Second World War.

Coal was left at the end of the lode for my father to collect. Bog oaks (preserved trees) were dug from beneath the fen soil and made very good fuel when cut into blocks. My father dug peat blocks which gave a nice steady heat when dried out and burned. He was one of the last peat diggers in the Cambridgeshire fens and was featured on television several times.

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