Z1205/054

Male brickworks shop steward. b. 28.02.1927 SIDE A (00 mins)Infancy in Haynes, with mother at maternal great-grandmother's house. She was the district nurse. (05 mins)Mother's Union club card to help poor people save for clothing. (10 mins)Grandmother in Marston. (15 mins)Father was a steel erector, working for Pirelli General, erecting pylons in south and east of England for overhead electric power cables (20 mins)Father was born in Cardington and brought up by his paternal grandmother. He helped build the Granada cinema in Bedford (25 mins)Early schooling in Haynes, then Wilstead and Marston. Gained scholarship to Bedford Modern School. First job in accounts dept. of Marston Valley Brickworks. SIDE B (00 mins)His father eventually worked for Marston Valley brickworks, responsible for their heavy engineering but, when the Second World War broke out, was directed to work in Southampton for Thorneycrofts in shipbuilding. (05 mins)Interviewee conscripted into army in March 1945 as a clerk in Gibraltar. On mother's death, transferred to Colchester. Demobbed August 1945. (10 mins)Moved into manual work at Eastwoods brickworks, after war. Good money. Got married. Input of Italian workers in 1950s. (15 mins)Dispute with Asian workers re. finding work hard during fasting. Racial tension between Asian and West Indian workers. (20 mins)Became Chief Shop Steward. Trade unions in brickworks became stronger when they formed a fletton brick industry executive committee. (25 mins)Brick extrusion process at Eastwoods. Clay from Kempston Hardwick pit contained tiny droplets of water and tended to clog up machinery during conventional brick production. (30 mins)Reflections on changes in valley over lifetime. End of interview. Original interview 60 mins

8 October 2001

From: 1920 To: 2001

item

Mothers' Union,
Marston Valley Brickworks,
Eastwood Flettons Brick Company

brickworker, nurse, POVERTY, clothing, electrical fitter, Bedford Granada Cinema, EDUCATION, Bedford Modern School, accounts, engineering, army, clerk, World War Two, wages/conditions, Italians, Asians, fasts, West Indians, trades unions, brickworker, unions, manufacturing machinery, HAYNES, MARSTON MORETAINE, CARDINGTON, Wilstead, Southampton, Gibraltar, Colchester, Kempston Hardwick