Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    Z1205/014
  • Title
    Male London Brick Company office worker b. 03.10.1922 Side A (Tape 00) Childhood in Marston Moretaine. Grandfather worked at Stewartby brickworks. (5 mins)Grandfather used long, narrow spade to dig clay for brickmaking (10 mins)Handmade brickmaking. Father a press fitter for London Brick o. (15 mins)Childhood in Marston. Village school. Gardening lessons. (20 mins)Childhood sweets (25 mins)Attending Methodist chapel. Father won Military Medal during First World War at the Somme. (30 mins)Starting work as office boy at London Brick Co., Dec. 1936. (32 mins)END OF SIDE A Side B (Tape 00) Left school in 1936. Night school classes in shorthand and bookkeeping. (5 mins)Office work (10 mins)Use of horses at brickworks (15 mins)Office workers had to wear a suit but were allowed a sports jacket on Saturday mornings. (20 mins)Cinema-going : Zenita in Cranfield High Street. Films shown in Stewartby village hall. Army medical at 18 yrs, in Crofton Rooms, Bedford. (25 mins)London Brick Co. rail day trips to seaside - Brighton or Southend; camping holidays in Ramsgate. (30 mins)Stint at RAF school of photography, then developing reconnaissance films a fighter station Side A (00 mins) Meeting wife in Manchester just after war & marrying in 1947. (5 mins)Life in Stewartby (moved into house in 1951): social & sports club facilities fo London Brick Co workers (10 mins)Trade unions for various workers at brick works (15 mins)Strikes. (20 mins)Post-war work experience: statistical dept, wages, staff salaries, chief cashier (25 mins)Maximum 1800 workers at one time at Stewartby. Increased use of computers when Hanson took over London Brick Co. (30 mins)39 chimneys in valley when Hanson took over; only 8 now (June 2001) (32 mins) END OF SIDE A Side B (00 mins) Staff at LBC now around 2 - 300, compared with 1800. There used to be a strong sense of community in the village, as everybody knew everyone else but now, with a majority no longer working in the brickworks. Many tenants no longer cut the grass in front of their houses; once brickworks staff did it. (10 mins) END OF INTERVIEW Original interview 100 mins.
  • Date free text
    11 June 2001
  • Production date
    From: 1920 To: 2001
  • Reference
  • Level of description
    item
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