I DECLARE THIS SHOP OPEN

I now pronounce VINTAGE WANTS officially open – cut the ribbon and stand back proudly.


Today was the first official day of the opening of my booth in Northampton Antiques Centre. I started setting up on Sunday but being as it was England v Germany in the world cup (the less said about that the better) we had to rush off to a family BBQ and for hubby to watch the match and I did not get a chance to set it up as I would have liked.  So today I went back added more stock and did a bit of titivating.  I dont have the biggest of areas and don't want to overfill it - although I am sure I will, once I get into the swing of things I won't be able to help myself. 

To try and keep it in some sort of order I have tried to theme my items together

Some red pieces

Some green, and of course the 1930's crinoline lady and cottage pieces.

Lovely Rose themed pieces

Finally the booth itself

On Sunday the Centre is going to decamp to the Fishmarket and they are holding

So if you are at a loose end and looking for something to do why not pop along and meet up with some of the other sellers from the centre.  I won't be there as it is getting close to eldest daughter's wedding and there are lots of last minute jobs to start sorting out and I only have one pair of hands and even though I think I can do miracles - and though I think I am WonderWoman, I really know I am not- and so I am going to sit this one out.

A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME

For those of you who follow my blog you will know that I have moved into a house that used to be the bicycle shop in the village.

As the sun has begun to shine we have turned our attention to the garden and have been busy planting and sorting out. I had noticed that there were some old planks of wood by the side of the shed and pulled them out to put in the wood pile. I turned them over and noticed that they appeared to have some writing on them. On closer inspection I gave a huge shout of “bloody hell Del look what I have found !!!”. The two pieces of wood were the original sign that would have gone over the door of the shop. You can make out the W.W. and the B of Blincow can just be made out, this is together with the remains of the words “Gents” and “Bicycle”.

As you can imagine I was so excited I gave them as gentle a clean up as I could without removing any of the paint that was remaining and then armed with nails and a hammer got hubby to pin the sign to the garden fence.

I am not sure that he was as impressed as I was – I did hear the mutter “I don’t want the garden filling up with junk” this was followed by a defeated sigh as he struck the top of the nail. Has he not looked around and seen what I have done so far.....

ON YOUR BIKE

Firstly I would like to say a big thank you to Phil Davis of Long Buckby Historical Society for sharing his knowledge of our house and its prior owners and for the wonderful photographs he has provided me with, also to Denise my friend in the US who e-mailed Phil to see what he might know as a surprise for me.

Our little house has quite a history as the bike shop within our village and it was in the same family for nearly 70 something years. The thought is that the property was originally a shoe workshop, Northampton is known as a boot and shoe town and lots of little cottage industries were set up from homes in the villages. This is a  pictures from the early part of the 20th century which show a row of cottages and the pub, sadly pulled down, and it is now the area where we park our car.

William (Billy) Blincow took over the premises and lived there with his wife and two children Gladys and Len and started up the bicycle repair shop. This was at a time when cycling was at its heyday and people would take their bikes and cycle for miles out into the countryside. The shop sold all kinds of accessories and bits and pieces for bikes and if they should have the bad luck to get a puncture William would repair it for them. When William died the business passed to his son and he and his wife continued with the business until his death in the early 1970’s. I have been told by men who were boys in the village when the shop was still in operation that Len would repair a puncture for 50p.......

This postcard picture dates from the 1950's and the sign on the

side of the house is now in pride of place in the Community Centre.  The little boy in the picture looks a lot like my husband did when he was a child, he had a three wheel trike which he used to ride and by all accounts use as an acrobatic prop, hence the broken nose when he hit a lampost going around the corner on two wheels.....

Finally who could resist this little one, this shows one of Williams children posing by a bicycle and was an advert used for the shop.  I am definitely going to frame that and put it on my wall.

BILLY BLINCOW AND THE BIKE SHOP

One of my hobbies when I am not busy searching for vintage finds or creating is researching my family tree and genealogy. I have always loved history and I am a nosy devil by nature and love to know what happened back in the annals of time, one of the reasons why I love old houses. I put on my Sherlock Holmes deerstalker to play detective and I just had to start looking into the history of my new home especially as it appears that the bicycle business that was part of my house played so big a part in the village’s life.

First stop the internet, there is always something to find on there and I decided that I would see if there were any photographs of the business or shop, and low and behold I found this wonderful snap of William Blincow the owner for the shop outside what is now my lounge. What a find.

As you can see the bow window is still there I  might even ask Hubby to look under the tongue and groove cladding to see if the moulded detail originally on the bay is still there, I should be so lucky, as would be wonderful to have that displayed again.

In my dining room there is a little window peep hole which opens up and this was used by the owners to look through to see if anybody had come into the shop and needed serving . I love it as it one of the houses features and part of its quirky past.

Next stop is our little village museum and local history society as I expect they have more information to give me.  Then it is back to the internet to start looking at the census's to see who else may have lived in the house and maybe find out exactly how old it is.  I should have been a detective.....