YOU see, this is why I shouldn’t be writing this column. I come across this picture from 1960 which simply says on the back “King’s sweet factory. Packing Oddfellows.” Ten minutes later I’m on the internet buying a large clear jar of them for thirty quid. How do I explain that?
But Oddfellows! Cinammon and clove. They were hard core Scottish sweets made by King’s in Wishaw at a time when Scotland had its own small sweetie manufacturers dotted across the country. Oddfellows were the preserve of grannies alongside pan drops.
The King family were originally farmers who moved into jam production in 1858, and from there into sweets. Tough business though as bigger manufacturers with big advertising budgets pushed their brands, and local producers fell out of favour.
King’s went out of business in the 1990s and I thought that was the last of Oddfellows until I went online and discovered there is a trade in retro sweeties.
Our young girl here doesn’t look that cheery, watching the Oddfellows pour out of the machine until she presses the lever to stop them while the packet is closed.
She probably wouldn’t want to see another Oddfellow when she finished work, but living in Wishaw that would be quite difficult to do...
And I’ve been back online, and you can get sherbert dabs as well! This is going to be an expensive day.
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