For
the first time for some years, Yuletide in local districts produced a
traditional picture. Snow fell in Yorkshire on Christmas Eve and reached
the Pontefract and Castleford area late on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day
there was a covering of two or three inches. Although traditional in
that sense, however, the season was one of the quietest on record.
In
the two main shopping centres of Pontefract and Castleford there were
busy scenes on Monday as last minute buying was completed. The open
markets provided a normal Saturday afternoon air, yet in spite of it all
it was not the Christmas of 30, 40 or 50 years ago, when shops were open
until a late hour, and Christmas Eve really was Christmas Eve, with
bustling, jolly crowds thronging the town. By 5.00pm the streets had
thinned and the shops were emptying, and an hour later there was almost
a normal Monday evening appearance. Only the festive decorations in the
brightly illuminated shop windows told us it was Christmas.
And
so to Christmas Day, which will be remembered as one of the coldest in
recent years. A biting south-east wind heralded the approaching snow,
and kept most people indoors. The weather, petrol rationing, restricted
bus services and closed cinemas, combined to keep people off the streets
and throughout the day, town and village bore a deserted appearance.
One
shop-keeper who had sold every bird in stock, said that a fair price for
this year’s turkey was 4s a pound, and added that a popular size
seemed to be about 12lb. He said those sold at 1s-10d and 2s per pound
had been kept in cold storage since Christmas 1955, and did not look
very good. Lesser birds such as geese, ducks, and chicken all enjoyed a
fair share of popularity and the better legs and loins of pork at 5s and
4s a pound sold quickly.
The
buying of Christmas confectionery started early, with housewives laying
in stocks of fancy goods about three weeks ahead, so that local shops
reported steady sales comparable in quantities and prices with those
last year. The same could be said of dried fruits for the Christmas
baking. Both quantity and quality were to be had in fruits and nuts,
with prices, particularly of oranges and boxed dates, a little higher
than last year. Accompanying drinks found an average sale, though
reports varied. One store declared that people were buying the better
wines this year, and second that cheaper Empire wines were being bought
in quantities, but Xmas 1956 will go down as one of the quietest in
memory.
