Z1205/062

Female brickworks laboratory assistant b. 29.01.1936 SIDE A (00 mins)Childhood in Kempston. Church-going. Girls Friendly Society. Church choir. Maternal grandmother very strict Victorian lady. (05 mins)Maternal grandfather, traveller for Quenby Mills, Bromham, taking orders from local farms for animal foodstuffs. Attendance at All Saints Church, Kempston, by all members of family. Mothers and her three sisters all sang together at Christmas at home. (10 mins)Children sitting quietly, listening to "grown ups". Unmarried uncle stayed at parents' home and kept pigeons for a hobby. During the Second World War, in India, he worked on the pigeon post. (15 mins)Father - strict but lovely. Worked for Igranic, Bedford, producing electrical switchgear. Reserved occupation during WWII. Father and mother met when in service to a vicar at Kempston, she was cook, he was gardener. Mother still alive, aged 95 yrs. Always at home, except for school dinner job. Church End School, Kempston, then scholarship to Dame Alice School, Bedford. (20 mins)Wanted to be teacher but father said that only her brother could go to college. (Subsequently, he didn't.) Interested in Science & Maths. Possible research places with Milk Marketing Board and Meteorological Office. Opted for brickworks at Stewartby. (25 mins)Laboratory Assistant with London Brick Company in Physics Section. Quality control work, ensuring that bricks kept within British Standards, plus research into aspects of production. Learnt on the job. Several scientists plus up to 30 lab. assistants of both sexes. Married women left when they had their children. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Made life-long friends at work. Suspects that men earned more than women, doing same job. Yearly increments and occasional cost of living allowances. Lab. assistant considered well-paid job. Gave half pay to mother for board & lodging. (05 mins)Was a Sunday School teacher. Played tennis in summer. Holidays. Married, aged 20. Camping holidays with her husband and 3 children. Left work to care for her children. Dinner supervision at upper school. (10 mins)Became school lab. technician. Enjoyed assisting 6th. Formers doing "A" Level research. Stayed for nearly 20 years. Retirement interests - patchwork, grandchildren, travel. Feel people are less contented with life thee days. (15 mins)Brief memories of wartime childhood, sitting with gas mask on, being read to. Was 3 when war broke out so didn't remember it as a dreadful item (not being in a danger area). Reflection on increased road traffic and poorer quality of life. Brickworks and chimney emissions. Eldest daughter victim of these, with breathing problems. (20 mins)End of Side B.End of interview. Original interview 50 mins

18 October 2001

From: 1930 To: 2001

item

London Brick Company,
Quenby Fry & Company Limited,
Igranic Control Systems

brick worker, technical design and craftsmanship, church choirs, CHILDREN, Girls Friendly Societies, animals, Christmas, pigeons, hobbies, World War Two, post, electrical engineer, cook, gardener, Dame Alice Harpur School, physics, employment of women, wages/conditions, Sunday Schools, tennis, married woman, gas mask, general road transport, chimneys, pollution, KEMPSTON, STEWARTBY, BROMHAM, India