P eople lived their lives to a rigid routine 60 years ago. For many Leek families, each day of the week had its own set meal. Their daily round ran like clockwork to the sound of the works bell or hooter and many took their annual holiday in the same week of the year at the same boarding house in the same holiday town.

Some of the ritual attached to choice of food had been dictated by rationing during and after the Second World War. People were well fed but supplies of many items were either severely restricted or, like bananas, non-existent.

For example, in the West End, Tuesday was the day for "ducks" – not the feathered variety but a type of faggot known as a savoury duck. These were made by Knowles's butchers in West Street – but only on Tuesdays.

Another West End treat was fritters from the chip shop, but again, so my memory says, this was a one-day a week speciality, made by Annie Frith, who had a chip shop in Garden Street. As far as I can recall, Wednesday was the day for fritters and there was also a steady queue for them.

Thanks to rationing, cakes were less plentiful in those days, although people could always bake their own. There were three bakers in the West End, Brassingtons in Garden Street, Broughs in Picton Street, and a small shop on Macclesfield Road, which were of course open every day. Other shops sold pork pies and fancy cakes from Tattons' town centre bakery – but only on Fridays. Friday was also the day for fish and chips.

Another fixed ritual was queuing for The Sentinel at Hammersleys' paper shop on Saturday evening. On weekdays the shop sold about 60 copies but on Saturdays the order trebled. The attraction was the football final with its list of results and the faint hope of a big win on the pools. Some people would take up their station inside the shop a good half hour before the breathless paper boy brought the precious load, and many others formed a queue on the corner of Garden Street.

Sunday also had a fixed routine, which might be augmented by lighting a fire in the "front room" – the best room in the house, usually out of bounds for the rest of the week. Men and boys wore their "best suits", mostly of blue serge, even if they were going for a walk in the country.

The main part of the meat ration formed the basis of the Sunday roast and large numbers of people walked to and from church or chapel before lunch. Then came another fixed routine, a walk round the Mount, or to Rudyard. And for many people annual holidays were dictated by the textile employers - the annual shut-down in the first week of August. This saw a large exodus by train to a limited number of places, mostly Blackpool, Southport or Rhyl.

"Youth" was not a separate species in those days. Young people dressed more or less like their parents and listened to the same sort of music. The arrival of rock'n'roll in the mid-Fifties coincided with the end of the old fixed rituals and the beginning of a new, less formal way of life.