Pick Up A Pint

As a young boy, William George Cochrane (b. 1913) moved to Berry with his family and in the 1930s he began work at the local Horlick’s Factory, famous for producing malted milk. In 1937, George married Reta Gall (1918-1996) and they opened their grocery store in Bomaderry while continuing to live in Berry, at Meroo […]

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Keeping the Fizz In

Imagine the sweltering summer days in West Wallsend, when tired and dusty miners crowded into the Clyde Inn (est c. 1893) on Carrington Street to quench their thirst. Many ordered beer, but others had a taste for the fizzy lemonade, soda water, ginger ale, and ‘fruit champagne’, which the bar-keep William ‘Bill’ Smith (licensee 1899 – […]

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