IF you have a pinchneck bottle of Brearley's pop, a jar of Beach's jam, a can of Smedley's beans or a bottle of Evesham Sauce put them in a glass case, or, better still, give them to the Almonry Museum.

They would be relics of some of the vanished Evesham industries of the '20s and '30s that I recall.

Others included Evesham bricks, made in Badsey Lane, where a deep pit for extracting the clay has filled with water, and the coal gas created at the works in Common Road.

Brearley's mineral water factory was in the Lower Leys.

The pinchneck bottle held a glass ball, held in place by the gas in the drink and dislodged by a wooden implement, or it could be done with a pencil, although a shower of pop often resulted.

Beach's jams were a treat. The factory in Church Street, produced a variety of delicious spreads, most of which was sold in other parts of the country.

The cases of jars were transported to the station by a steam lorry which had to pause at the bottom of Bridge Street to change gear.

Smedley's, in Worcester Road, canned several varieties of Vale produce.

Seed was provided for growers to produce a special variety of dwarf bean suitable for canning.

Strawberries required an addition of cochineal to restore the colour lost in the boiling.

Evesham Sauce was made at a small factory in Conduit Street.

It was run by the Huggins family.

The children, John and Viola, were at the grammar school during my schooling there. John became a priest.

Collins's sausages and pork pies, made in the Mill Street factory provided excellent meals.

There was a farriery in Castle Street where, as a boy, I watched a red-hot iron tyre being fitted to a cart wheel, a cloud of steam rising as it was water cooled and shrank to a tight fit.

The Evesham shops of those days included Hamilton and Bell's and Righton's (drapers, Fowler's (furniture), Averill's (ironmongery) and Byrd's the butchers.

Byrd's used to display most of their meat and poultry in an open-fronted shop, which would never be allowed today.

Alcock's was the music shop. They had a large variety of gramophone records, ably sorted by Miss Cotton.

My purchases ranged from dance music (Deep Purple etc) to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto.

It was at Alcock's that I first heard a wireless loudspeaker.

It was in the form of a horn on a shelf over the door.

A crowd of people gathered to hear a woman singing I Dreamt That I Dwelt in Marble Halls.

Listening had so far only been possible with earphones.

The garages provided a service for recharging the accumulators or wet batteries, an essential part of a wireless.

A heavy duty dry battery and a grid battery were also part of the wireless equipment before mains electricity took over.

The boating industry in Evesham was a thriving concern.

Rowing boats, punts and canoes could be hired at Groves' by the bridge and Collins' in Castle street.

A punt was as good as a gondola for romance.

My last trip in one with a girl was into a lagoon formed by a bomb near the Bengeworth railway bridge.

The Evesham Sanitary Steam laundry in Bengeworth employed girls working in Turkish bath heat and steam.

It is good to see how business is thriving in the industrial zone of Evesham today but it is a pity that none of the shops and industries that I have mentioned has survived.

They provided a valuable local service for the townsfolk.