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Bloom’s Travelling Auction.
The visit of Bloom’s travelling Auction was another popular annual event. Sales of household goods by Dutch auction conducted in a huge marquee erected on land adjoining the Albert Picture Palace, and most of the assistants were both salesmen and accomplished entertainers. Thus, by a judicious mixture of auction and variety show, the proprietor ensured that the marquee was always full. But by no means all of the occupants were potential customers, for this was free entertainment that the younger generation eagerly took advantage of.
We were indeed always on the lookout for free entertainment, for pocket money, particularly by modern standards, was very meagre, and in fact we frequently had to resort to the petty crime of flattening a farthing on the tram lines to produce a ‘ha’penny for the purchase of a communal football edition!
But they were happy days, which perhaps were enjoyed the more because we had to make, rather than buy, our amusements.