Wilkinson's: Florists of Leamington

May and Alex

May loved working with flowers, having started at the age of 12 helping in her auntie’s florist’s shop in Birmingham. She found she loved the work even though it was hard. She would start work on a Saturday at 6am and finish at 10pm all for 3d a day. On leaving school in 1914 at the age of 14 she went full time in the flower shop. She developed a passion for her flowers, the beauty of the colours, their freshness and handling them became a real joy.

Ten years later in 1924 May married Alex Wilkinson, a policeman. However in those days for a policeman to have a working wife meant instant dismissal from the force so May renounced her beloved flowers for the kitchen sink. Over the following years

Alexander and May Wilkinson had four children, three girls and a boy. Her first daughter Margaret was born in 1925 then came Pat. Son John was born in 1930 and in 1932 youngest daughter Daphne. Whilst bringing up her children May dreamt of one day having a shop of her own and longed to get back to her beloved flowers.

After serving 30 years in the police force Alex took retirement and May believed that realizing her dreams seemed as hopelessly far off as ever. Impulsively she confided to a friend, Mr. John Woolman, a Birmingham Flower shop owner and Chrysanthemum grower, about her burning ambition to have a flower shop of her own but now at 46 she was too old and had no money. Mr Woolman told her that she was definitely not too old and that he would help her financially.

Mrs Wilkinson's "burning" ambition looked at last as though it could be achieved. With the financial backing of Mr Woolman she searched for a shop. She found it far a field from Birmingham and took over the lease of No. 9 Spencer Street, Leamington Spa from W H Shakespeare, an Antique Dealer.

Mr & Mrs Wilkinson then moved their family from Birmingham to Leamington into No 9 Spencer Street and with the backing of John Woolman named the shop Woolman’s Florists. At the age of 46 her dreams were coming true. May was always a believer in hard work and concentrated all her energies into making the shop a success. She started to build up her reputation as a florist in the town and worked long hours. This meant starting work at 2am if she had important jobs to do. She would travel to Birmingham three times a week, first with daughter Margaret and later with son John, to buy fresh flowers from the market and be back in Leamington by 8am ready to open the shop where she stayed until 10pm at night. She was also one of the first florists to have flowers delivered from Holland.

May prided herself in supplying her customers with high quality fresh flowers. She also gained a reputation as a flower arranger, decorating a variety of local buildings. She decorated Warwick Castle, where she met the Earl of Warwick, and was congratulated on her displays by the Queen Mother. Her arrangements became well known, supplying fresh flowers for many festivals and important occasions. They could always be seen at the Leamington Flower Show, held during the 1950 and 60's. The flower show was held in the Pump Room gardens and the whole area was filled with the aroma of fresh flowers where all the local florists and growers would turn up to show off their blooms and displays.

Girls were employed to help Mrs Wilkinson in the shop. Training would take three to four years. “Girls start by learning to handle the flowers, and then graduate to making bouquets wreaths and displays and learning salesmanship. They would learn the skill of decorating churches and homes for weddings or hotels for parties, dinners or receptions”. Mrs Wilkinson’s views were that if a girl had an eye for colour and design she would do well as a florist and as her girls developed their skills they were entrusted with more and more responsibility, like daily decorating the dining rooms of large hotels.

Her girls would help her to decorate the Spencer Street Church, the Parish Church and the local Manor House Hotel, providing fresh flower displays daily or weekly.

Many brides carried Mrs W’s bouquets.

The shop became known as ‘THE Flower Shop’ of Leamington. The girls were very loyal to Mrs ‘W’ as they affectionately called her and loved working for her. “She was very strict where her flowers were concerned and every one had to be perfect.

She would throw flowers away rather than sell them if they were not up to her standard”. There was a bakers next door to the shop called Chedham’s and the girls would sneak out to buy hot rolls and crusty bread and Mrs W would go round and knock on the window and shout “ get out of there “ but would then join them and enjoy some herself. She was loved by all her girls. When they were busy the girls would sleep over above the shop ready for an early 5am start the next morning and look forward to breakfast at 7.30 cooked by Mrs W’s sister Doris, who did the shop accounts.

By 1968 she employed 15 full time and 5 part-time girls and orders came in from as far a field as Shrewsbury, Chipping Campden and Leicestershire. On occasions flowers were supplied to the shop by the Reverend of Spencer Street Church. His hobby was growing sweet peas for flower shows and he was very particular in the ones he entered so the ones that were not used were sold in the shop. The girls said these sweet peas were better than some of the ones they bought in. The shop girls also had a ‘perk’ to working in the shop. Because there were more boys than girls attending the dances in the Palais de Dance across the road the manager allowed the girls to go in free to provide dancing partners for the boys.

The family lived in the flat above the shop at No 9 and Alex would help May in the shop. He looked after the seeds and supplies while May tended her beloved flowers. The rooms in the flat were very large with high ceilings; there was a beautiful big fireplace and a balcony which looked out over Spencer Street. From here you could enjoy the smell of fresh bread from the bakers next door and ground coffee from Harris’s Grocery store on the corner. Living in the flat was hard work for son John. He remembers the coal was delivered into the cellar three floors below and he had to carry it upstairs to keep the fire going. The lovely fires he remembers were well worth all the hard work. Later alterations were made to the shop by covering over the back garden area to be used as a workroom for May and the girls. When John married Cicely Healey in 1952 he and his wife lived above no 9 and worked in the shop. When No 7, the electrical shop next door, came up for sale Mr and Mrs Wilkinson bought it from Smiths Electrical and Alex Wilkinson and his son John opened it as a separate garden supply and seed shop. The shops were now renamed Wilkinson’s (Leamington) Ltd. Mr. & Mrs Wilkinson then made their home above No 7 with John and his wife Cicely living above No 9 with their children Christine, Jenny and Roger.

Son John had worked with his father in the shop since moving from Birmingham and continued to do so with wife Cicely after he was married. Eldest daughter Margaret married Eric Pattenden and ran a nursery called Rusina in Charlotte Street The Nursery grew carnations and tulips, supplying her mother with fresh carnations for the shop. The nursery has now been pulled down and replaced with a block of flats named Rusina Court.

Margaret and Eric had two boys and a girl David Nicholas and Judith

Mrs Wilkinson achieved another of her ambitions when she travelled to Finland to watch her youngest daughter Daphne swim for England in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, She was later awarded Sports Personality and appeared with Randolph Turpin on a Television Show. Two years later Daphne married Spencer Harrison and they had four children, Rupert, Simon, Victoria and Charlotte.

Daughter Pat married Derek Neath and they ran a nursery in the Cotswolds near Broadway and also had a smallholding where they grew tomatoes, mushrooms and Chrysanthemums for the shop. They had three children Caroline, Pauline and Elizabeth.

Sadly May and Alex lost their daughter Pat.

Mr & Mrs Wilkinson, John and Cicely continued to run both shops until 1975 when the lease on No 9 ran out. Not renewing the tenancy they moved the entire contents of their shop from no 9 into No 7. John and Cecily left their flat above No 9 and went to live in Whitnash, taking with him some stained glass from the workroom which was put into an outbuilding at their new home.

No 9 was owned by the Bone family, so on the ending of the lease No 9 was sold and became a Spanish Restaurant. Alex and May continued running their business from No 7. Times were however changing and the demise of many of the small shops in Spencer Street was slowly being bought about. This was due to the painting of double yellow lines outside the shops, stopping parking, and in the case of Wilkinson’s Flower Shop the selling of flowers by petrol stations and supermarkets. Previously only specialist shops used to sell their own products, like flowers from a florists bread from a bakers, but when supermarkets and garden centres opened these products were being sold, which started the demise of the small retailer

Alex Wilkinson died at the age of 78

In 1978, when May was 78 she relinquished her fresh flowers and started selling exotic silk flowers from the Far East and Pacific Islands. Economy was the main reason combined with a decreasing variety of flowers available from market gardens. The price of fresh flowers had gone up so much that to keep ahead of the increases she would have had to raise her prices, too much for May who prided herself on giving good value to her customers. The flower shop no longer had the heavy scent of freshly cut flowers but instead was full of brightly coloured roses poppies, zinnias, sweet peas and lily of the valley all in washable silk.

May eventually retired and left No 7 Spencer Street after spending most of her years tending her flowers. She went to live in Park View Nursing Home in Warwick. John and Cicely continued to run the shop until around 1983 when they eventually sold it. They had been living in Whitnash since around 1975 so after selling the shop they moved to Kenilworth

May passed away late 1991 aged 91