IT'S time to revel in some more memories of the Aladdin's cave that was the original Woolworths building in Weymouth.

We were delighted to have a good chat with Joan Druce of Preston, 87, who shared some of her memories as a Woolies shop girl from 1945 to 1947. She provided us with this photo of her at the Weymouth branch of Woolworth's Christmas dinner in December 1946. At the time Britain was still in the throes of post-war rationing.

Joan remembers: “Working at Woolies was my first job after leaving school as a 14-year-old. It was the sort of job that seemed to be ideal to start at in those days, we had to do a bit of everything on different counters, including cutting keys. All the stock was kept under the counter.”

Woolworths in St Mary Street is remembered for its impressive art deco frontage and occupied a building where three or four shops are now, including Burtons and Dorothy Perkins.

Joan said: “At the time I worked there the upstairs of the building was closed at the end of the war. At the time I worked there there was still rationing and we had to take coupons for sweets and biscuits. I remember the length of the queues when the biscuits came in! The queues were going up the street.”

Back then the system for catching shoplifters wasn't very efficient.

“When someone stole something and we found there was something missing we had to ring the supervisors and the supervisors would ring the manager and by that time the thief would have disappeared!” Joan said.

Among Joan's other memories are a manager called Mr Swanwick, although she's not sure of the spelling, and a colleague called Daphne, who she thinks is still in the area.

Eagle-eyed Mr Swanwick used many mirrors which were placed around the building to keep an eye on staff members. “He would suddenly dive in when he noticed something was amiss”, Joan remembers.

The Weymouth Woolies was famous for its 'T Bar' food counter back then. All sorts of food would be served in this café-style area, where people would sit on stools, much like in a pub!

Joan remembers on one occasion carrying a trayful of items to be washed up down some stairs.

“I slipped and it all fell down on to the concrete floor and it smashed and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The head of the department came over and said 'that will be taken out of your wages Miss Legg.' But luckily I didn't have to pay for it!”

Bad weather didn't stop Joan from her work at Woolies. She said: “One time I walked to work from Chickerell when it was so cold inside the shop with all the cold air coming inside because the doors kept opening and shutting they would encourage the women to run around inside to warm us up!”

Joan said it was 'dreadful' to hear about the demise of Woolworths in December 2008 when stores across the country shut for good.

Although she has had many jobs over the years she still remembers it as among the best she had.

“I really enjoyed working there,” Joan said.

After she left Woolworths Joan went to work as a waitress at Dorothy's.

“After I got married to Eric in 1949 we had two children and I used to work evenings until midnight. I went to work at the Pier Bandstand and then had two more children.

Joan also turned her hand to working with babies at the Portwey hospital, where it was normal for mothers who gave birth to stay in hospital for a fortnight. She even became a mature student as a 40-year-old when she completed a City and Guilds qualification while working as a cook at Westfield School in Weymouth.

This was the job Joan retired from aged 60 and enjoyed a much deserved rest. Sadly Eric died aged 88.

Today, Joan enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren, enjoys lunches out with her siblings and skypeing her Auntie Doreen who lives in Yeovil.