MAISON Edwards hairdressing salon in Weymouth continues to fascinate readers and be a rich mine of information.

The latest person to contact us is Betty Garrett, who started work at the salon when she left school at the age of 14.

Betty, who lives in Wyke Regis, remembers: “I was at the Grammar School and was 14 in the October.

“When I left, in January 1945, my mother said: ‘Now then, what are we going to do with you?’ and we went into Weymouth to find me a job.

“First of all we went to Boots the chemist but they weren’t taking on any staff so my mother said: ‘What about hairdressing?’ and we went to Maison Edwards and I started there as an apprentice. I earned 2s 6d a week which was a lot then and I gave two shillings of it to my mother and kept the rest. It was a lot of money in those days.

“I stayed there for three or four years until I finished my apprenticeship and then I moved to Ena’s hairdressing salon in Lodmoor Hill, which was run by a Mrs Dickenson.”

As well as sharing her memories of life at Maison Edwards, Betty also recalled other aspects of life growing up in Weymouth during and after the Second World War.

She lived in Knightsdale Road and her parents were John and Gladys Shiston.

Her father had a motorbike that he was very proud of and belonged to a Weymouth-based motorcycle club.

Betty said: “I remember him telling us that he’d had a puncture while they were out riding and everyone helped me.

“I’d love to know more about the club and see if anyone can remember who the other members were. They would meet in a big hall in Weymouth – but I can’t remember.”

Betty also lent us the photograph of a group of people dressed in costume. The chap standing in the centre of the back row was her uncle, Harry Shiston, who she describes as ‘quite a lad’.

“It was a performance of Cinderella in the Alexandra Gardens and I remember uncle Harry offering us bars of chocolate, which was a real treat because there was rationing,” Betty explained. “We used to go to see the shows in the gardens every week and got to know the staff there and some of the performers too.”

Betty also appears in the photograph of a large group of people enjoying a party.

It was taken in Tett’s the teashop in King Street, Weymouth. Betty’s father is standing in the centre of the group and her mother is at the back on the far left, with Betty standing next to her.

If anyone can remember Tett’s and the motorcycle club, please do let us know.

WE have been asked to point out that the Marion who married Tony Biles was Marion Johns not Marion Tett.

Former Weymouth Mayor Mr Biles contacted us and explained that his wife was never a hairdresser (‘she wouldn’t know where to start’) but trained as a nurse in Bridport and then Weymouth under Matron Hughes.

She became a state registered nurse and then a clinical nurse teacher working in Weymouth, Dorchester and Bournemouth.

Marion Tett married Brian Baker 59 years ago and they now live in Shaftesbury.