Z1205/116

Male. Brick worker b. 03.02.1920 Side A (00 mins)Born in Bletchley, Bucks. Moved to Woburn Sands, where father was postman, then to Aspley Guise, when 11. Terror of visits by school dentist. (05 mins)Missed 11+ examination through illness. Left school at 14. (10 mins)Father's work as postman did not appeal. Joined Marston Valley brick works. (15 min)Work as press boy, making bricks. Dangerous conditions. Accidents to young men. Dangerous cycling down Brogborough Hill. (20 mins)Cycling accidents at bottom of Brogborough Hill. Moved to Marston Valley Co.'s new Ridgmont brick works in 1936. Lack of canteen facilities. (25 mins)Mischievous behaviour by young male workers. Strike action and increase in pay. (30 mins)Paying mother for board and lodging. Spending pocket money in Bedford. (32 mins)End of Side A Side B (00 mins)Paternal grandparents in London. Frequent visits and stays during holidays. Mother suffered from arthritis and was treated at Bartholomew's Hospital Father maintained discipline of boys without any corporal punishment. (05 mins)Maternal grandparents in Bletchley. Grandfather was a carter (horse and cart driver) (10 mins)Exploring London as a child. Didn't get on with older step-brother. Transferred to Ridgmont. Brick burning started in 1936. (15 mins)Electrically-heated plates for die plates. Loading barrows with bricks. Learned to set bricks in kiln. (20 mins)On night shifts, could earn £4 a week, if 14,000 bricks per night for 5 days. On days, could only produce 12,500 per day. Some heavy gambling on pay day. (25 mins)Married in 1939, two weeks before Second World War broke out. Called up in 1940 and joined Royal Navy. Convoy work around world. When at home, lived in parent's house. (32 mins) End of Side B Side A (00 mins)Honeymoon in Margate in 1939, immediately pre-War. He and father joined Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) when Anthony Eden called for volunteers. (05 mins)Inadequacy of LDV (which became Home Guard) equipment. Became setter at Marston brick works. Could earn £4 a week if setting 14,000 bricks nightly for five days. Met his Austrian wife when she was an au pair in Husborne Crawley. (10 mins)Married at local church after difficulties with reading of banns. When war was declared, his wife was worried about her parents in Austria. (15 mins)Migrant workers at brick works - Irish, Geordies (following depression in North East of England). Married local girls and settled here. Brick works lost skilled workers to Vauxhalls car factory in Luton. War service in Royal Navy (didn't want possible prospect of killing wife's brothers as a soldier). Relief of Malta by convoy. (20 mins)Hated the barracks at Portsmouth. Disliked the emphasis on traditional but outdated customs and practises on the navy. Rivalry between "regular" sailors and those called up for war service. (25 mins)Friendship in the navy. Losing touch after the war. Meeting a fellow sailor in Malta who knew his wife. Demobilisation from Ceylon in December 1945. (32 mins)End of Side A Side B (00 mins)Incident when new captain took over and didn't know how to make the most of his sailors' ability. (05 mins)Return home via Suez Canal. Arrived home, March 1946. Regrets that he didn't see his daughter growing up, during 5 years at war. (10 mins)Returned to brick making. Caught dermatitis through contact with the oxides used to colour bricks at that time. Transferred to burning bricks. Skills involved, pre-electronic heat sensors. (15 mins)Became a shop steward. Relationship between burners. Burning procedures. (20 mins)Worker's own self-help insurance scheme for illness. Workmates bought him a greenhouse when he retired. (25 mins)89 men burning at one time. Reflections on innovations: loading kilns by fork-lift trucks, etc. Increasing emphasis on quantity of output rather than quality. (32 mins)End of Side B End of Interview. Original Interview120 mins

3 April 2002

From: 1915 To: 2002

item

Marston Valley Brickworks,
Vauxhall,
London Brick Company

brick worker, postman, dentists, schools, health, brick making, HEALTH & SAFETY, injury, cycling, wages/conditions, lodging houses, holidays, rheumatism, hospitals, carter, electricity, World War Two, Local Defence Volunteers, military equipment, gambling, wages/conditions, Austrians, MARRIAGE, Irish, sailor, captain, pollution, HEALTH & SAFETY, insurance, Bletchley, WOBURN SANDS, ASPLEY GUISE, BROGBOROUGH, RIDGMONT, London, Margate, Malta, Portsmouth, Ceylon, Suez Canal