Z1205/106

Male. Architect. (Father was the Engineering Manager of London Brick Company during the 1930s and 1940s.) b. 12.07.1931 Side A (00 mins)Only child. Raised in Stewartby, where his Father was the Works Manager of the London Brick Company. Father was a graduate engineer originally from Derbyshire. Mother was from a shop-owner's family in Bedford. Paternal grandmother was academic and severe. Maternal grandmother was friendly. (05 mins)Sent to boarding school aged 8, then to Wellingborough as a boarder. Resolved not to send his children to boarding school. Mother unhappy living at Stewartby. Father had been a civilian engineer working on submarine diesel engines during First World War. (10 mins)Father first moved to Wootton Pillinge (later know as Stewartby) around 1920. Brick works had no electricity. He introduced it, as the work's engineer. During Second World War, women took over men's jobs, as men went into armed forces. Family lived close to works in company house. Was familiar with the works, as a child, following his father round. (15 mins)As Father changed positions in management at Stewartby they changed company houses there, ending in Stewartby House. "Staff" children not encouraged to play with "workers" children. Mother was given a car to enable her to get into Bedford. Was a "loner" as a child. Sports at Stewartby village. (20 mins)Mother was expected, a Manager's wife, to take an active part in women's social activities in the village. Wartime YMCA "tea wagon" staffed by volunteer Stewartby women in early 1940s, serving local airmen at Cranfield and Stewartby. Prisoners of war locally. Billeted airmen and affair with local woman. (25 mins)Good community spirit in Stewartby during Second World War. Fire watching air-raid precautions. Blackout material for all windows. One incendiary bomb dropped in chicken run in Stewartby. German plane machine-gunned and injured one man. Air-raid shelter design tested at Field 99, near what is now Stewartby Lake (where Universal Salvage is). Wartime shortages. Increased vegetable production at home. Full-time gardener. Father had a gas producer machine hooked to the back of his car, burning charcoal, to help overcome petrol shortage. (30 mins)Cold winters. Warmed only one room in the house. Had central heating, which was rare I those days, but didn't' use it during war. When it was used, fuelled by coke, delivered 9 tons at a time by railway truck and wheel-barrowed to boiler shed. Reinforced during war with steel joists for use as air raid shelter. (32 mins)End of Side A Side B (00 mins)Church-going at Stewartby. Family left Stewartby and moved to Bedford. He commuted to London to study architect for 5 years. (Father was Chief Engineer of all LBC brick works, Peterborough and Bedford, at the end of his career.) Joined architects firm in Bedford then Bedford Borough Council. Designed houses, schools and Robinson Swimming Pool. (05 mins)Got married in 1961. 30 years of marriage then wife died. Reflections on major changes in society during his lifetime: computers, wide car ownership, increased standard of living for the masses in Britain. Dislike of smell caused by landfill. Brick chimney fumes enabled local people to tell when rain was coming. (10 mins)Links between emissions and ill-health used not to be made. Wide-spread cigarette smoking. No link with ill-health until 1965-ish. Similar ignorance on effects of asbestos dust. Father patented his idea of pneumatic bags fixed to fork-lift truck prongs. Reflections on decline in labour force and production in brick industry. A421 used to be quiet road, with workers cycling three-abreast. (14 mins)End of Side B End of Interview. Original Interview 45 mins.

25 February 2002

From: 1925 To: 2002

item

London Brick Company,
Universal Salvage Limited,
Bedford Borough Council

Architeknic Chartered Architects, architect, manager, engineer, shops, schools, World War One, submarines, fuel, electricity, World War Two, employment of women, army, brick making, brick worker, gender issues, car driver, social activities, YMCA, tea, volunteers, prisoners of war, lodging houses, FIRE, Air Raid Precautions, air raids over UK, Germans, injury, rationing, vegetables, gas, fuel, central heating, air raid shelters, coal, railway carriages, schools, swimming, computers, landfill, chimneys, class issues, pollution, health, cycling, STEWARTBY, Derbyshire, Wellingborough, Wootton Pillinge, Peterborough