Z1205/026

Male brickworks office workers at Marston & Ridgmont from 1936. b. 16.06.1914 SIDE A (00 mins)Family background in Wootton. First job at Cresalco, Bedford, then to Marston Vale Brickworks. Looking after hens for pocket money. Buying first bicycle. (5 mins)First job at Cresalco, Bedford, then to Marston Valley Brickworks. Father worked at knot hole, Stewartby brickworks. Uncles also worked at brickworks. (10 mins)Father walked from Wootton to Stewartby each day along footpath. Packed lunch and bottle of tea. (15 mins)Father worked seven days a week & earned 8s (40p) per week. Mother earned more making Bedfordshire lace. Won First Prize at Women's Institute, London. (20 mins)Mother made lace to sell to Braggins, Bedford, who sold it in their shop. Maternal grandmother was the local midwife and layer out of the dead. (25 mins)Maternal grandfather was itinerant sheep shearing in the East Anglian fens. Kept three pigs, including one for their own use. Visiting grandparents' home. Old-fashioned remedy - comfrey root boiled to make poultice for sprained wrists. (30 mins)Soldiers from Kempston Barracks billeted on parents during First World War. END OF SIDE A SIDE B (00 mins)Post-war recession, Men queuing daily for casual work at Stewartby brickworks. Rabbitting to earn money to survive. Father's allotments. Boyhood nicknames. (5 mins)School experiences. Singing in school choir and at Eisteddfod in Corn Exchange, Bedford. Baptist chapel choir. Subsequently, became Clerk of Parish Council. (10 mins)Childhood games. Wootton village shops: paraffin shop, household goods, three bakers, a post office & seven pubs (still 6 there). No butcher - meat came from neighbouring village. London Brick Company donated two fields to the village, one for a cemetery and another for a playing field. (15 mins)Playing with iron hoop as a boy. Watching drunken man riding with a pony and cart through village each Saturday night, singing his head off. Attending Baptist morning and evening services. Enjoyed singing. Heavy work at brickworks. Cheating over number of bricks recorded as produced. Average brick production. (20 mins)On leaving school, letter from vicar and reference from schoolteacher, when seeking first job. END OF SIDEBContinueson CS026C2 SIDE A (00 mins)Working in Wages Section of Marston Valley Company the calculating labour costs per thousand bricks produced. Rivalry between Marston Valley and London Brick companies. (10 mins)Conscription into wartime army, printing and stationery section (25 mins)Take -over of Marston Valley Co. by London Brick Co. (30 mins)Marston & Ridgmont brickmaking (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Impact of London Brick take-over of Marston Valley on workers (5 mins)Retirement. Changes in Marston Vale countryside. (19 mins)End of Side B.END OF INTERVIEW Original interview 110mins

19 July 2001

From: 1910 To: 2001

item

Cryselco Ltd,
Marston Valley Brick Company Limited,
London Brick Company,
Braggins of Bedford

Women's Institutes, corn exchanges, child labour, cycling, brick worker, footpaths, midwives, sheep shearing, pigs, health, World War One, rabbits, allotments, schools, games, parish council, public cemeteries, bakery, Baptist chapels, army, World War Two, MARSTON MORETAINE, WOOTTON, London, Kempston Barracks