Page 46 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

none of them were shell fish fans!
Sid suggested we keep it simple and just sell Cockles and Whelks. He would keep some
on one side for us in his cold store at Boston and the initial quantity was installed in our
fridge at home.

Extra ‘responsible‘ help was called in from the village to take turns in being in charge as
local health and hygiene regulations had to be complied with and shell fish can be ‘funny’
stuff if not looked after carefully, or rather ‘not so funny’ to the tummy if kept too long in the
wrong place!

I did like cockles, Ruth and I when ‘courting’ all those years previously, frequently took
cartons of them for picnics on the local marshes.

I was destined to ‘advertise’ our Shell Fish Stall by walking the length and breadth of the
Rally Site with a small pot of cockles duly laced with spicy mint sauce!

It was not the most popular ‘refreshment’ caravan at the rally but we did have to go back to
Boston on the Bank Holiday Monday morning to replenish our stocks.

At the final count we made about £200 actual profit so it was worth all the effort but I could
not get anybody to repeat the idea in the years to come!

(Picture above of Whelks (Sea Snails) on the left and cockles on the right. In the 1970’s
the Whelks were from Cromer and the cockles local from Boston.)

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