| Elsie worked for many years in the Boot & Shoe department of the Co-op Stores, where she worked her way up from a
Sales Clerk to Manageress, and where she made friendships that lasted the rest of her life. To her customers, she was Miss Swarbrick, but to her
co-workers
she was "Brickie". in December 1938 the situation in Europe was looking grim and war seemed inevitable. Elsie must have had this on her mind when, on New Years Eve 1938, she was featured in the local paper, The Lancashire Daily Post, hoping for peace in 1939. (Ever the saleswoman, she couldn't resist the opportunity to offer advice to her customers to shop early to "receive more individual attention." But Elsie's hopes for peace faded as Hitler rattled his saber (and her German pen-pal, Jürgen Fritz, joined the 'Hitler Youth'). During the war, as young men were called to serve their King and County, Elsie left the shoe shop to work at Dick, Kerrs - doing her part for the war effort. It was a job that she loved so much she burst into tears when, at the end of the war, she was told that the assignment was ending. She returned to her job at the Shoe Shop and worked there until 1946. She had to leave her position at the Co-Op as married women were not allowed to work, and Elsie had become engaged (again). |
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