' Oh No! My Beloved Debenhams!'

 Well, it may be December now at last but the news today that my BELOVED Debenhams now looks certain to close all of its remaining 120 stores for good has brought me close to tears...

I LOVE Debenhams so much because I have a LOT of history with the brand...

Rather than depress you all with my sorrow and to pay tribute to all those who work for and have ever worked for Debenhams I will instead reproduce for you here an article about my Christmas memories of Debenhams. Unlike the news today the following is a happy tale and (I hope) one that will bring back some special festive memories for you.

I send my love and thanks to all currently employed at Debenhams and pray that life will be kinder to you sooner rather than later...Screw Coronavirus, screw mobile phones and (ironically, I know) SCREW the Internet - no town centre will ever be the same again once its DEBENHAMS FLAGSHIP RETAIL DEPARTMENT STORE is gone! xxxxx 

I will always keep a candle lit in my heart for Debenhams...

FROM 'HASTINGS TOWN' MAGAZINE...

Seeing as I’m somewhat of a ‘self-opinionated swine’ I love filling in surveys and thus am a member of a number of websites where you can make a little bit of beer money from sharing your opinion. 

The other day I was asked about famous ‘brands’ and how much I loved them (or otherwise). I had to trawl through a seemingly endless barrage of questions for about half an hour and answer a fair few, which I thought quite bizarre. I mean, can anyone honestly say that a company ‘understands them and their needs’ to such an extent that they love the brand?

Love? 

Surely, that’s too strong a term, isn’t it? Isn’t it?

Well, the other night I had a dream about visiting Father Christmas in his grotto at Debenhams as a child. I can’t say exactly how old I was in the dream but no more than five, I would say. Long buried memories of standing in what then were horrendously long queues with either my Mum, Dad, Gran or Grandad came flooding back and I could really feel the sense of excitement inside of me. The ‘winter wonderland’ the store created each year was on the first floor if I remember correctly and it was not uncommon to queue up for over an hour to get in to see the man himself…

“And what would you like for Christmas, little boy?’ Would be the question once you were sat comfortably on Santa’s knee. Whatever your reply you could be assured that the next thing you would be asked was if you had been good this year or not?

If you had and your conscience was clear a great big YES would burst out of your mouth while if you knew you had been naughty your reply used to be much less animated and apologetic because you knew there was no use in trying to lie to Father Christmas. After all, he knew EVERYTHING and so your best line of attack was to own up and promise to be good from now on (or up until Christmas at least).

With a kindly smile and a crinkle of his long white beard Santa would then reach down into the large sack of presents by his side pull out one and place it in your hands…

“You be a good boy for your Mummy and Daddy now, won’t you? I will be watching don’t forget and remember its only good little boys and girls who get the things they want for Christmas”.

“If I’m good will I get the new bike I want!” 

“You will just have to wait and see now won’t you” Santa would say with a twinkle in his eye and after a final wave goodbye you left with your present. 

I was the kind of kid who always wanted to save opening the present Santa had given me until Christmas Day. Somehow the excitement of wondering what was inside the colourful paper for days on end was what made Christmas. Often though I was not a ‘good boy’ for Mummy and Daddy after my visit and used to have to hope Father Christmas wouldn’t find out about my misdemeanors. I always used to apologise for my bad behavior when I’d clamed down and used to hope that would count in my favour.

Toy’s & Games back in the 1970’s were a lot more fun than they are today. They were REAL for a start and you could pick them up and gaze for hours sometimes at the shiny box of a games compendium before even opening it! Games compendiums were all the rage back then and every Christmas I was sure to get another one. ‘100 Different Fantastic Games’ sounded so exciting but I often remember being so disappointed when on opening the box there didn’t seem to be anywhere near 100 games inside. All you used to see was plastic pieces, dice, some cardboard shapes and a pack of cards – how could that ever be 100 Games?

Debenhams was always the place to visit though at Christmas. I used to love the Christmas lights along the seafront and when we got to the store we used to park outside the rear entrance if there was a space. There is something inherently magical about fairy lights and Debenhams was always beautifully decorated with those, tinsel and Christmas trees everywhere. If you went into the store by the back entrance you only had to walk up one flight of steps to get to the floor where Father Christmas’s Grotto was. Waiting in the queue for your chance to see him was never boring as there were always loads of colourful things to look at.

“Put that back!” Would come Mum or Dad’s anguished voice as a picked up a sparkling little glass frog or something. It all seemed so innocent then as I knew nothing about prices.

In my dream the other night I got into a kind of ‘Ghost Train’ ride after visiting Santa. The little car I sat in went through a series of Christmas scenes before delivering me back to Mum & Dad again. I can’t be sure though whether this part of my dream is a false memory or not? Could a bit of ‘Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory’ have crept into my subconscious or did the Debenhams of the 1970’s really set up some kind of little ride in store for tots back then? I would love to know the truth about that as it all seemed so real and familiar in the dream…

Searching for information/reminiscences on the Internet while researching this piece I found a news article from 2012 which stated that Debenhams had decided that year to do away with in store Grotto’s. The company felt that as most of their branches were situated in town centers where there would also be a Santa’s Grotto it was both confusing and disillusioning for kids who still believed in Father Christmas to see TWO in the same area. I think that was a wonderfully caring thing to do and a move totally in the spirit of Christmas.

Meanwhile, at http://andysretrospace.blogspot.co.uk I came across a page dated Monday the 13^th December, 2010 where there was a picture of an old ‘We Met At Debenhams’ Christmas badge from around 1975.

A jollier reminder of your visit to see Father Christmas no boy or girl could wish to have and I so wish now that I had kept one of my old badges… 

Coming back to those surveys I was telling you about earlier I suppose with this article I have answered my own question regarding whether it is possible to love a brand or not? As the world has moved on, as time has taken away so much and as traditional High Street shopping has become a thing of the past, I have become more and more attached to Debenhams. Ironically, while I did work in the Hastings branch briefly on a ‘Manpower Services Commission’ scheme in the early 1980’s (and was applauded for achieving the highest sales figures ever on the ‘Lighting’ department one year) I have very rarely since ever had the money to spend much in the store over the years. If I ever win the lottery though I think my very first spending spree will involve a trip on the bus (I will hire one of the old ‘Double Deckers’ to help recreate my childhood) along the seafront to the Hastings branch where, once inside, I will say ‘I’ll take that!’ as often as I like!

So yes, it IS true, I DO love Debenhams and know now I always will. With connections to my childhood and to all of the 70’s things I used to love (including ‘Are You Being Served?) I think the brand has me trussed up like the proverbial Christmas Turkey these days…

You see, those advertising chappies do know a thing or two after all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS xx

'A Merry Christmas To All!'

Well folks, today is the day! I've just this minute got in from my around the world trip delivering your presents and feel very happy and contented with my nights work! The weather was quite nice this year and so the sleigh wasn't subject to a great deal of turbulence. No pesky 'drone' can get up high enough to interfere with my global tracking system either so Rudolph and the other reindeers don't have that problem to content with!

My host yesterday, D.J. Jeff Belton

I tell you what it gets VERY tiring being Santa in this modern age though? We didn't have all this 'blogging lark' when I first started and sometimes I feel a bit like The Queen having to write something meaningful, festive and jolly each year on here for you all to read on Christmas morning!

Still, being Santa does have its benefits! I don't have to buy a single mince pie all the year round because I collect so many on Christmas Eve  I have a years supply in one night gifted to me! With the weather up here at the north pole as cold and chilly as it is I don't need a fridge either - I just 'do a squirrel job' and bury mince pies out in the snow all around my cottage. I don't always manage to find all of them again but the Reindeer love them (though I don't want them getting so fat that they can't fly!) and 'Mrs Christmas' is always on to me about 'that stomach of yours'!

I have literally WAREHOUSES full of Sherry and Carrots as well thanks to all of you. My magic dust helps me to shrink them to such a tiny size that I can fit them into just one sack on the sleigh Christmas Eve, which is very handy, I can tell you! I do eat some of the things you leave out for me though on the night. Delivering Christmas presents at breakneck speed is hard work you know and even a man with 'a weight problem and no chance of joining his local weight watchers group' like me needs something to keep him going! A Mrs. Jones from Carshalton, in Surrey U.K. always leaves me a WONDERFUL spread of stuff! She bakes it all herself and puts a lot of love and care into it. If its a really cold night she often leaves me a thick, home made scarf and a pair of matching gloves and makes sure that the fire will still be raging in the hearth for when I arrive. I got a 'nasty surprise' the first time she did that because I got in to her house 'the traditional way' down the chimney but now I know what to expect I try to make enough time on my round to stop and enjoy Mrs. Jones 'festive fare' each year.

It's love at first sight for Jeff and Ernie! 

Not that I am into all this new 'gender labelling or NOT labelling' thing but I have to say in fairness that a lot more Men are now becoming great cooks and 'doing right by me' on Christmas Eve. I think the Hairy Bikers have a lot to do with the improvement in their cooking skills as they somehow made riding a BIG motorcycle while 'looking hard' and filling fairy cake cases with a gooey mixture go together. Its good to learn as many skills as you can kids - no knowledge is a waste of time as you never know in this life when or if it will be needed!

Well, its nearly time for me to go (the old eyes are hard to keep open now) but before I do I would like to tell you that I had a WONDERFUL time yesterday morning on the Jeff Belton 'Christmas Jamboree Bag' Christmas show on CHR. I really 'kippered' poor old Jeff with my 'making him a father live on air' ruse and he was TERRIFIED when he first arrived in the car to pick me up that morning(lol). Jeff is always VERY high on my 'nice list' each year though (always has been - good lad!) and so I thought he would see the funny side of my 'little joke'.

Like father, like son!

He did in the end, of course and I am fulfilled in the knowledge now that I have managed to find another loving home for one of my little Elves. 'Ernie The Elf Belton' will watch over Jeff and look after him throughout his lifetime but Jeff has to be a 'good Dad' and care for Ernie as well. That Jeff was teaching Ernie all about broadcasting and giving him lots of cuddles as soon as he saw him tells me that they will be a 'match made in heaven'!

As for the CRAZY, Tony May, well, you will just have to work out for yourselves whether you think this post was really written by him or by me? Won't you?

That 'crazy' Tony May fella - or it it? HA HA

HO HO HO

Love and a Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus xx

P.S.) Mrs. Claus says to tell, Sally Patricia Gardner that though she does all of the cooking in our household she's quite happy to do so as I can't cook and she is hopeless with a hammer and chisel - unless I've upset her, of course! xx

'New Videos On Youtube & J.R.R. Tolkein'

Well folks, I have been working like stink since returning from Grassington and have now uploaded two videos of my adventures there to my Youtube channel, Maybrick44. Sadly, we bloggers are no longer allowed to posts video links as part of our posts here and so you will need to actually visit channel Maybrick44 to view the films. While you are there check out the video for my Christmas Video Single this year, 'Heart Full Of Joy' - I uploaded that a few days before I went on my break but forgot to post about it here, until now!

One of the other places we visited on the holiday was Harrogate. Now, I thought Harrogate was a quaint old Yorkshire village like Grassington but actually it is nothing of the sort! We only had about a couple of hours to look round and I did not get to see very much at all because I came across a record shop en-route to the main part of the town and got no further!

Before that, however, I had browsed in a few of the charity shops on the far reaches of the town centre and found a few 'christmassy finds' including a hardback book all about the letters from Father Christmas that J.R.R. Tolkein habitually made up and sent to his children each year.

Aside from, 'Lord Of The Rings' I know nothing at all about Tolkein and had no idea that he was a 'Christmas person'. Mind you, I suppose its not much of a leap of faith to think that a fantasy writer who pens tales of elves, goblins and made up lands might be a 'believer' in Father Christmas and do all he can to spread the word and keep Christmas alive, is it!

The book has lots of lovely colour photos of the letters themselves and of the paintings and drawings that J.R.R. sent with his letters. He even went to the trouble to paint fake stamps on the envelopes and fake post office markings! The letters themselves (which date from the 1920's) are great fun to read and paint a calamitous picture of life at the North Pole and I can only imagine how magical it must have been to have had J.R.R. for a Dad! Mind you, I've been pretty lucky with mine as well - even if he does HATE Christmas!

I only paid £1.50 for the book so I reckon I got a bargain as I've not seen nor heard of it before?

Christmas time is THE perfect time to believe in fairy stories and I plan to take the book with me on Friday when I go to my monthly Storytelling, Poetry and Song evening at Horum (The Steelyard Collective - check them out on Facebook) and read out a few of the best of J.R.R.'s festive tales!