‘Here you go: a genuine Preddy’s bread tin’, said Danny, emerging from his shed and dusting off a rusty piece of history. To the uninitiated eye, it was an unlikely thing to get so excited about. But I was in the midst of researching Preddy’s bakery, the literal foundations of my childhood, and I had just been gifted one of the very tins in which those golden loaves, described by locals as ‘nectar’, were baked. It was late May 2021, and I was visiting Danny Hicks, Wroughton’s resident historian. After a brief phone call during which I explained my interest, Danny invited me round and I sat at his kitchen table, poring over the village’s archives and listening eagerly to his many stories. He would later put me in touch with Wendy, daughter of Master Baker Dick, who I subsequently visited on several occasions over the course of my research. She gave me the address for her brother, David, to whom I wrote to ask if he might also like to share his own memories. Over the next few months, I received regular handwritten letters from David, in ‘blackboard script because if I try joined up writing neither I nor anyone else knows what I am saying. I am now in my 87th year and my memory is poor but I am looking forward to going back over the years at the bakery.’ It was exciting to return home from work to discover another letter had arrived, another piece of the puzzle fitting into place. A former English teacher, David’s letters had a Dickensian quality to them, his family history presented in dramatic installments, ending on cliffhangers like: ‘Next time: The fire and closure’ or ‘I will write next time about The Swindon Road Crash Christmas 1953’.
As the letters came to an end, and I finished visiting other locals, I began to collate and sequence my research notes to write a history of a fondly remembered bakery that played such an important role in Wroughton village life for several decades of the twentieth century.
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AuthorHello! I'm Anna and I enjoy researching and writing about food and food history. Archives
March 2023
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