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When Margins were the only soft drinks

 

I remember Margins used to have the ice-works and a soft drink bottling factory in Woy Woy.

Margins used to be the only soft drinks you could buy from 1940 to 1942.

The Coastal Steamers were quite big and the channel at Ettalong Beach had to be constantly dredged for them.

The steamers went as far as Gosford and unloaded at the markets that were close to the wharf.

I remember one was called "The Erina" and to my knowledge it steamed to Gosford from 1938 to 1940.

I think they were stopped because of the War.

My father, Horrie Whitfield, had his little boat towed away to Gosford, where it was impounded with hundreds of others.

This measure was to prevent the Japanese getting access to the boats on the Coast, but even as a child, I couldn't imagine what the Japanese would want with hundreds of tiny boats, most of them very temperamental to start.

Perhaps they would have used them as a mini fishing fleet, or for rest and recreation.

Shirley Lawler, Tweed Heads