Memories of John Booth from the Southampton store from Les Netherwood our volunteer visitor for Bath/Taunton area
John Booth is pictured right on this photograph which I belive was taken down at the warehouse at American Wharf in Southampton. John came down from Livepool with his family in January 1963 as Manager of the Sales Promotion Studio at the Southampton store. He was a talented sign writer and artist and would have been involved in the name change of the Southampton store from Mayes to Owen Owen in 1967.
Thanks to our volunteer visitor for the Bath/ Taunton area Les Netherwood who worked with John at the Southampton store for these wonderful photographs showing the Sphinx carnival queen float from 1968 which was produced by John Booth’s team at Southampton alongside Les Brownrigg and his team in Liverpool. The theme for the Sphinx was inspired by the big film that year Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor. The photos show a lorry converted into the Sphinx ready for the parade down at Amercian Wharf Warehouse and pictured sitting in the carnival queen seat are Les’s son David Netherwood (left) and John Booth’s daughter Joyce (right)
The giant head of the Sphinx was carved from polystyrene in Liverpool by the team up there and the lorry was framed and covered in chicken wire and paper mache finished by John Booth and his team. The procession was a great success and the float was a credit to the Owen Owen store.
John retired from the Owen Owen store in 1980. The Trust is still in touch with his wife Nora who lives in Tewkesbury and his son Malcolm. Les Netherwood contacts the family regularly and he has fond memories of his time working with John. John and Nora used to let him park his car in their driveway near the Dell which was Southampton’s football ground in those days when Les went to watch Liverpool or Everton play there. Les used to borrow John occasionally when he was at the Bath store to do poster work for him. He also designed church notice boards in the Hampshire area and served as a lay preacher at his local church in Shirley in Southampton.
