Z1205/055

Female. Employee of London Brick Co. Father was electrical engineer for Marston Valley Co brickworks. Includes details of life as sales assistant at E.P.Rose department store in Bedford. b. 26.07.1930 Side A (00 mins)Father originally from Yorkshire but moved to Peterborough for work. Mother from a village outside Peterborough (05 mins)Grandparents. (10 mins)Move to Marston in 1932. Father electrical engineer for Marston Valley Co. brickworks. Company house. Other families moved there from Peterborough. (15 mins)Primary school. Sunday inspection visits to brickworks with Dad. (20 mins)Local children playing in knot holes (clay extraction pits). Other childhood pursuits in countryside. Moves to Lidlington, then Bedford. (25 mins)Attended Catholic convent school in Bedford. (30 mins)First job as sales assistant at Bedford department store. Training. End of Side A Side B (00 mins)Pay. Range of good sold & services offered. Assistants hostel in town. (05 mins)Ten years working at store. Details of work. Rationing during Second World War. Customers' monthly accounts & home delivery. (10 mins)Mainly women assistants. Males in management. Quality of service offered. Marriage & birth of son. Night-school short-hand typing course after 12 years as mother. Office job at London Brick Co. at Stewartby brickworks. Husband mechanic there. (15 mins)Death of father after war work. Work at Stewartby. (20 mins)More on her & husband's work. Redundancy after 20 years. (25 mins)Changes in Marston Vale since decline of brick industry. End of interview Original interview 60 mins

4 October 2001

From: 1925 To: 2001

item

London Brick Company,
Marston Valley Brickworks,
Rose, E P & Son

sales assistant, electrical engineer, primary schools, brick worker, Convent of the Holy Ghost Roman Catholic Secondary School for Girls, wages/conditions, lodging houses, rationing, World War Two, employment of women, shorthand typist, MARRIAGE, mechanic, unemployment, Yorkshire, Peterborough, MARSTON MORETAINE, LIDLINGTON, STEWARTBY