Wonderful. Thank you Carole.for presenting me with the lost piece of my Jigsaw ! Do hope we can meet up one day..? A.C.

Carole I was told be it right or wrong that the bakery was started by your great grandmother in 1913 in the shop opposite the Black Bull public house coming from Mansfield the first shop on the left and up into the nineties there appeared to be a stable with a flour loft above it. The move into the Oxford Street bakery was in the 1920's, 1922 seems to ring a bell, this caused problems later because Oxford Street was designated as housing and as such the drains and such like were already in place so later if the bakery had a problem with the drains it was hunt the active ones and not the 1920's original ones, but as for start up date as I said above it is just what I was told, and in the Bakers Union magazine article bemoaning the passing of Landers Bakery the dates given are 1913-1981.

Jim. What you have been told is correct. Percy Lander's original bakery was on the opposite side of Woodhouse Road.

Thank you Alan and Jim for your added snippets - yes it sounds familiar from my family hisory research. As has been noticed my grandfather died at 53 (not 49).

In the late 1950's a petrol station was built on the old bakery site. I used to fill up there with petrol. Is it still there ?

Following the information given about Percy Lander on this site. I was wondering if Percy was in the First World War. He would have been 18 in 1914.... Or was Percy in the second World War...Or did his occupation in the food industry during the war take precedence to help feed a starving nation ? Baking was hard work,and the hours were long,and so it would have been for Percy's wife Gertrude. During WW2 the Bakers had to take whatever flour they were allowed. It was mostly from English Wheat, and the bread wasn't white as it is today, it was a dirty grey in colour. The best wheat came from Canada, but during the war, shippings from Canada were very few and far between, if at all !... All foods were scarce, and so rationing for everyone was introduced...Bread was the main diet, you had bread with everything to fill fill up your tummy...Many older folk will remember having ( Pobs ). This was a cup of hot water and a broken up slice of bread added to it, with condensed milk poured over, then stirred before eating...Litterally everything was in short supply. Initially bread was a 2lb, loaf, and a small loaf was 14ozs. I cannot remember when it changed to 1/3/4 lb. It was common place to see a youngster with a thick slice of bread and jam, this was called a Doorstop. I believe rationing finished altogether around 1952, and other things came off of rationing as they became more plentiful. a.c.

I can remember Highfield Terrace. It was off Portland Street, at the top of Station Street,and opposite Wharf Road. I believe Duke Street leading to Nottingham Road was where the Terraced houses of Highfield Terrace ended. The houses were up some steps and had a stone slab walkway with iron railings, and was only a stones throw from the midland Railway Station. The Bulls Head was also close by, as was the Mansfield Town football ground. An old school friend from High Oakham School also used to live on Highfield Terrace. A.C.

The petrol station is no more, last time I saw it last November it was a double glazing showroom as for Percy Lander being conscripted for the first world war the only suggestion I have is during the second world war bakers were a reserved occupation. As for flour supplies during the first world war Joseph Rank was recruited by the government in 1912/13 to go to america and buy wheat ready for the outbreak of war and he went as an unknown wheat buyer and bought hundreds of thousands of tons of wheat prior to the outbreak of war

I have previously mentioned on the Landers Bread History page about Percy Lander having a Bread Slicing machine stored away in a shed at the top of Oxford Street. Of course, the reason being, during the war there was a shortage of paper and all wrapping of bread was prohibited I knew there had been wrapped bread somewhere, but where I don't know. So it was therefore that progress to having wrapped and sliced bread was postponed until after the war had ended... I do not know if I am allowed,but I will try and give a brief history of bread of what I know... In the eleventh century, water mills were used for milling flour...It was at the end of the 12th century that the first windmill came to be, I think it was in Suffolk ... I read somewhere that in 1150 the Bakers Guild was formed as a protection against the Barons...And soon after, the bakers in London formed a Brotherhood...In the 13th century , the assizes of bread regulated the price and weight of a loaf.. In 1912 a bread slicing machine was invented and patented in America by an inventor named Otto Rohwedder. This was an incredible invention, bread had been wrapped before,but no one had ever dreamt of being able to slice it... Mr Rohwedder struggled with the heavy machine,and went on to sell the patent for it.... Other inventors took up his patent, and with help of Baking operatives they improved the wrapping and slicing machine....Success was achieved, and in 1928, wrapped and sliced bread was being sold in the stores in America...It was at this time that the saying " The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread " came Into it's own... It was 1931 before the wrapping and slicing machines came to England ...Gas ovens were replacing coal and wood burning ovens...Productivity increased through automated baking...I feel this may co-inside with Percy Lander's move to Oxford Street... 1950 saw the end of the prohibition of the wrapping and slicing of bread after world war two. This was when Percy Lander's wrapping and slicing machine came out of the " Moth Balls ". Following this, the next big change in the industry , was The Chorley Wood Process... This process reduced the time of fermentation, and the time of producing bread... The Baking Industry is a huge industry with : 46 large plant bakeries in the United Kingdom.Selling 80% of the volume...Supermarket In-store bakeries.Selling 17% leaving Master Bakers...Selling 3% of the volume. Of the Large Plant producers. of 80%..Three quarters are wrapped and sliced...Most made up of Own Label... Allied Bakers ---Kings Mill. Premier Foods---Hovis and Warburtons. about 10% to Food Services I have read somewhere that we now export bread to France.. wow !