The Be-ive

The Bee'Ive Wool Shop (audio)
Janice Turrell (pictured below in ~1947) remembers the Be-Ive when she was a little girl in an interview with Joan Gane in April 2014. (1 min 45 secs)
Click on the play button to hear Janice's interview. A transcription of the clip can be found at the bottom of this page.
Tim Gane
A view of the High Street showing the barn on the right hand side about, 1930
The Be-ive in the 1970's
The advertisement for the retirement sale
Meldreth WI, 1988 album
Janice Turrell ~1947. You can hear Janice talking about her memories of the Be-Ive in the audio clip above.
Janice Turrell

The wool shop known as the Be-ive was first opened by Mrs Reed in 1960 at her daughter’s home in the High Street next to the One Stop shop.

The shop then transferred to 80 High Street when Mr and Mrs Reed built their chalet bungalow with a purpose built shop, where they continued to sell wool, haberdashery and children’s clothes.

In 1966 the business was bought by Mr and Mrs Gadsby who continued the business until 1988, the shop then closed and became a private house.

Janice Turrell remembers the Be-Ive.  You can hear her talking about it to Joan Gane during an interview for the Meldreth Local History Group in April 2014 in the audio clip on the top of this page.  A transcription of the clip is given below:

I used to go in there quite a bit.  Well, my mum used to go in there quite a bit to get the wool and knitting the girls their jumpers and stuff like that.  Yeah.  It was a bit cramped in there she sold everything she did, she really did.  At first that was in her garage on the other side of the shop and then they had that house built this side so they had a bigger shop.  I don’t know what happened to the people there but the daughter still lives in the bungalow at the back of the shop.  Marion Oliver is the daughter of the people to start with yes she was – yes.  ‘Cos Oliver’s son, her husband rather, well, his dad used to live in Whaddon and his dad was a postman in Whaddon.   They sold everything you could think of – clothes, you know everything you could think of really. And what they used to do in them days if you went in there and wanted some wool and that, they put so much by you know and you bought a few ounces at a time.

Transcription by Gloria Willers

Comments about this page

  • Recently I heard that Mrs Gadsby died on September 2nd at her home in Leyburn, Yorkshire, aged 86 years. Many people will remember her owning the wool shop in the High Street. She was extremely helpful and would go out of her way to order any articles that customers requested or bring them from her other shop in Shefford. Nancy was much missed when she closed the shop and moved away in 1988.

    By Ann Handscombe (23/12/2015)

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