I MEANT to write following the Ken Holmes tribute to WC Oliver, but never got round to it.

The letter of May 16 from Frank Rose, in which he said he was transport manager with Olivers, brought so many memories back for me about this firm.

My father, Alf Roe, was transport manager for many post-war years until his death in 1956. Mr Whitby Oliver owned a small lake, Oliver’s Pond, on the road between Shipton, Newton and Linton.

My family were great friends of Tom Oliver’s family and we all went to the pond for our summer holidays.

My father and “Mr Tom” would depart every morning to go to work, returning in the evening, and we spent the entire summer holidays there.

The pond was idyllic.

There was an avenue of fruit trees laden with apples, plums and pears.

When I was getting married in 1971 my mother, knowing what high-class furniture Olivers dealt in, suggested I contact “Mr Wilfred” to say I would like to furnish my new home from the company. “Mr Wilfred”, knowing who I was, bade me go to the Micklegate shop and choose whatever I wanted at cost price.

It was the type of family firm we rarely see these days.

Philip Roe, Roman Avenue South, Stamford Bridge.