Short Back and Sides - The Life and Times of Walter Oglesby, Gentlemen's Hairdresser (1/3) By Jane Foster

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3),

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Walter Oglesby is a local character with a rich stock of experiences and memories. Now 82, Walter only retired from his trade as a barber six years ago. During his time he worked for 40 years on Hull's docks, being not only a hairdresser to the local docker population, but a friend and confidante too. When the docker's trade started to wane, he began collecting their tools of the trade and exhibiting them on the walls and ceiling of his shop. He called it The Marfleet Collection. Now this unofficial museum has been transferred for all to see at Hull's Maritime Museum.

I met Walter in one of his favourite haunts, the Blue Bell Inn, in Hull's old town. Local researcher Andy Richardson has compiled a double CD of Walter's many stories and recollections, and when he asked if I would like to interview Walter to tie in with this, I jumped at the chance.

The Blue Bell Inn is a place full of character and characters. A perfect setting to hear Walter's story, which he recounts with expert recollection. Walter was born in 1923, one of 8 boys and 3 girls, in Bellamy Street, Drypool. His mother Maud disappeared when he was four, for reasons he still doesn't know to this day. Tragically his father Charles died two years later, leaving Walter in the care of Hessle Cottage Homes.

These were sad times for Walter. The house foster mother turned out to be a brutal and sadistic woman, inflicting punishments so harsh that she was eventually sacked for them. I had no love or affection there whatsoever, says Walter. After he left school in Askew Avenue, Walter wanted to learn the electrician's trade but couldn't get in, so it was back to the Homes again.

The Master introduced him to Fred 'Flash' Jewitt, a gent's hairdresser who needed an apprentice. Of course I said yes, says Walter, I'd do anything to get out of there.

Fred Jewitt had a shop in Hessle Square with a sign saying 'I am that Flash!' And it wasn't for nothing he was known as The Lightning Flash. He'd lop your hair off and shave you in two minutes flat! says Walter. Fred was an ex sergeant major of the First World War, an authoritarian, but as Walter says firm but very fair. I think those days up to the war starting were the best days of my life, he says. Everybody was friendly, and equal - especially on Hessle Road. It was a bright, alive place, with shops open til 12 midnight. Complete safety, no problems at all. Marvellous atmosphere.

Continued ...next page

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