During the 1960’s and early 1970’s of my childhood, Leicester had a thriving Knitwear industry. Everyone I knew was involved in it in some way.
My father, who was often traveling to sell & buy yarn, had worked himself up to being Managing Director of 3 knitwear factories. It was an atmosphere of work hard, play hard.
But when my parents weren’t partying ( which they often were ) they were fundraising for charity and that was the part of their lives that I was involved in. They weren’t religious people, they just enjoyed getting involved & helping people.
My mother did lots of voluntary work and was involved with a charitable society that regularly held ‘Jumble Sales’ in an area called Clarendon Park.
This was so much fun! Piles and piles of clothes ( omg all those vintage clothes!) and shoes ( omg all those vintage shoes!) piled up on trestle tables, that we & others had collected by going door to door in the wealthy areas of Oadby & Stoneygate. My brother can still remember the house that just opened an upstairs window & told us to clear off!
Bearing in mind these were the days before car-boot sales, e-bay and even charity shops. The 50’s and 60’s had seen the rise of the consumer, most people donated generously and these Jumble Sales were legendary!
At 2pm we took our places, the doors opened and the queue that had been building up for hours outside came bursting through the doors, elbows out!
Little wonder then that art took a back seat in my life. My drawing skills, in my mind, were made for one thing and one thing only- clothes!!
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