A L i t t l e H i s t o r y
Kenilworth in the late '40s, The war has been over for 3 or 4
years and Grandpa (Alan) Huckvale has relocated from his bombed out
West Orchard Garage in Coventry to this spacious location on Warwick
Road.
This is Waverley Garage and the home for H and H Transport which operated from the 1930's until about 1960. You can just make out the H and H logo on the lorries and the car at the petrol pumps is a Morris 8 Series E. Grandpa's daughter, Pat Huckvale got to drive many of the cars that were bought and sold at the garage and the convertible hidden behind the pumps (SS90 or Singer Tourer or Triumph Dolomite ??) may well have been one such car. Notice the variety of petrol pumps and oil dispensers: National Benzole, Dominion, Mobil, and Shell are the ones that I recognize, Could this be the equivalent of a "Free House"?
Grandpa became Mayor of Kenilworth in about 1946 and his widow Phyllis still lives in Kenilworth and would love to hear from old acquaintances. E-mail Flying Circus and I will pass your letters along. Grandpa's son, Gerald Huckvale, continues the motor trade in Bredon, Gloucestershire just as we do at Flying Circus in Durham, North Carolina.
This busy scene is the inside of the workshop visible in the upper photograph. I do not recognize all of the faces here but some of the people who worked for grandpa included George (with the cap on) Brian, Dennis and Harry Cox. There are two older men in the middle of the picture. One of them is Toby's Great Grandfather, they are the Hill brothers who owned and ran a coach building business on Swan Street in Warwick from about 1890 until just after the Second World War. Is there a gene for loving and caring for cars? They were all enthusiastic cricketers and used to play just a short distance down the road at Leek Wootten where Mr. Huckvale's secretary (Beryl) was the official scorer . The cricket games were a way of life for the people who worked here. Large quantities of tea were brewed between innings, and there were always plates of ham, salad, pork pies and mountains of slices of delicious newly baked bread from Fancotts Bakery on Warwick Road in Kenilworth. At the end of the day's play, nearly all the players (and spectators) repaired to the Anchor for darts and a brew "from the wood". My recollection is that it was a fine brew from Mitchells and Butler - Brew Eleven I think.
If you remember any more about these scenes or the people mentioned in them, please e-mail Flying Circus, we would love to hear from you.
Many thanks to our good friend and customer, Waylon Grimm, for making such superb scans of these original photographs that we were recently given to Toby by 'Nan' Huckvale.
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