Eden Valley Messenger

ICE CREAM MEMORIES WANTED

A PENRITH ice cream seller is celebrating 75 years of sales to local communities this summer and is trying to find its oldest customers.  Slee’s of Winskill was established in the early 1930s with the first mobile sales made from a motorbike and sidecar by William “Ossie” Slee just before the war.

The business now has four ice cream vans in all, each one having a regular weekly route as well as serving ice cream at events and celebrations across the Eden valley.

David Rackham, who took over the business from Chris Slee in 2004 said: “The Slee’s vans and their drivers are well known on their routes and know their regular customers well.

“It is hard to pin down exactly when the mobile sales started but I know that Ossie was selling Slee’s ice cream made in Winskill from the bike and side car before the war so we decided to celebrate this summer as the 75 year anniversary.”

As part of the celebrations, David is trying to find anyone who might remember having bought an ice cream from the bike or from the early van. 

David added: “Some of our regular customers around the villages have certainly been buying our ice cream for over 50 years, so there may well be someone still alive who remembers something from before the war.

“I am also trying to find pictures of the early vans out and about – Chris Slee passed on to me a picture of Ossie serving customers in Murton in the post-war years but there could be something even older sat in a box in someone’s loft or cupboard.  If we could gather together any memories, stories or early pictures then it would really add something to the 75 year celebration.”

If you or a family member remember Ossie and the early Slee’s of Winskill vans – or even the motor bike – and would like to share your memories with current customers, please contact David on 01768 881221 or let your regular Slee’s driver know when he next visits your village.

CAPTION

THE earliest image currently known shows the late Ossie Slee serving ice cream from an Austin A40 van in Murton soon after the war.  It was featured in the Herald on 15 January 2000 and again when Chris Slee retired on 31 May 2003.