Pollywasher

Betting shops only became legal in 1961, before then you had to place your bets on course or have a telephone account. If you wanted to stay on the right side of the law. If you were poor, neither of these options were really in your grasp. So to keep hope alive, you placed your bets with the local runner -  on the street, in a backyard or under the counter. This came with occupational hazards. As described here in "Pollywasher": As a rule the Bobbies left Sparkes’ mob alone, most of them were betting men themselves and they thought they had better things to do I mean, you’ll never stop gambling will you? But every now and again I think there’d be this new broom who wanted to make an impression by arresting loads of bookies and there’d be these raids. Most of the time it just ended in a fine, which Sparkes could take in his stride, it was nothing to him just expenses. Then it would just start again where it had left off. But Joe was duty bound to at least try and make an effo...

As this still from a BBC documentary on the new phenomenon of betting shops (1961) shows, you always had to be 18 or over to go in there. As far as I remember it was strictly observed. When I went to town on a Saturday with my friends as a young teenager, if I needed my Mum I couldn't just walk into her workplace (Ladbrokes). I had to peer round the door and wave frantically, then wait until she was able to come out to see me.  But keeping gambling out of a child's life is almost impossible. Here's an extract from "Pollywasher" to demonstrate: " And it wasn’t slapped down at home either because our Mother and Dad were in with it all, they half lived for gambling. I remember ever so well being upset when my friend at school, Sheila, got some new shoes and I was in need of some myself. I went snivelling to Mother, begging to know why I couldn’t have shoes like Sheila’s and she told me that the reason why she’d got them was that her Dad had been lucky with a tre...

 This scene from the 1952 Googie Withers film "Derby Day" shows some of the many coaches lined up at Epsom for The Derby. It was actually filmed at the previous year's event. The popularity of the charabanc outing to a racing event needs no further explanation. It was a moneyspinner for many. In "Pollywasher" our Barbara has a go at getting something out of it: " Barbara always asked for me when she was hiring a coach off us. While she was at Mottram’s she used to organise trips out to the races. She wasn’t there that long really, but there were a few outings because she was mad keen on doing it. She probably made a bit from it on the side knowing how she was. The coach would leave the factory gates on a Saturday dinner time and go for the afternoon’s racing, usually at one of the Yorkshire courses but once we did Market Rasen. Then they would come back late on Saturday night with a belly full of beer, all merry or not depending on how much they’d won or lo...

 This 1979 advert from a London area newspaper shows that Mecca Bookmakers were actively recruiting women to work behind the counter at the betting shop. For an industry that had been traditionally dominated by men, this must have been a bit jarring for some of the old guard. Here's the "Pollywasher" take on it:  " Well I had her landed on me, didn’t I? No say in it. I suppose Charlie Sparkes was ahead of his time because it wasn’t long before the betting shops were full of women behind the counter, you couldn’t move for them. All the big chains did it as they spread round all the towns. But when he told me I was being lumbered with one to help me in the shop I won’t repeat what I said to him but let's just say I wasn’t happy about it. Sparkes, he says to me, “well a dolly bird might fetch the punters in and make the housewives feel more at home.” There were more of them coming in to put their bets on than we expected, all blowing their housekeeping on the favour...

Gamblers do some funny things sometimes. They get ideas in their heads about actions or objects that are lucky for them. The example of Sid James in "Carry on at Your Convenience" is extreme, but I wouldn't disbelieve it if you told me that some punter thought he had a lucky budgie. The worst thing is when they decide that you are their lucky mascot, and they insist on touching you as you take their bet. It inspired this extract from "Pollywasher". " Well anyway, one day not long after Barbara started calling round she ended up writing the bet out for me. She used her own pencil and I tore off a bit from my little notepad. I was that hassled, I think the baby had been poorly or something. So I just managed to remember and shout out what I wanted and she wrote it out with my secret name at the top and then she showed it me to make sure that she’d got it down right. Anyway, the first time she did it, this here bet went and won. It was a double and one of the ...

 This new book by Sarah Miller Walters is available to purchase now from Amazon Click here to download the e book for £2.79 Pollywasher is the story of one woman's journey through the gambling industry of the late 20th Century. Barbara Toller is introduced to gambling as a child in the 1950s, when she becomes a look out for the local back street bookie's runner. She progresses into becoming a runner herself, and then when the betting shops are legalised she becomes a cashier along with a brief sojourn as a casino croupier. But Barbara is a gambler herself and this is her downfall - because she knows the system she thinks she can beat it. No one can beat the bookie, as she finds out to her cost. Written by a former bookmaker's boardmarker and cashier and croupier, this weaves in the stories and experiences that she learned during that part of her working life. This is a short story/novella of 17.5k words, told through a series of talking heads.