Z1205/129

Female. Switchboard operator. London Brick Company. b. 05.08.1933 Side A (00 mins)Born in Wootton but raised in Stewartby. Mother, youngest of 14 children, was from Wootton. Father, a brickworker, originally from Houghton Conquest. Family lived at 137 Montgomery Close (second square), Stewartby. Recollections of grandparents. (05 mins)Death of cousin. Touching his body. Grandfather was brickwork's burner at the Kimberley site. Watching him work, as a child. Dad was a burner. (10 mins)All the family worked at brickworks. Spent weekend with Grandad and Aunties. Sometimes 12 round table, including cousins. Christmas memories, especially during Second World War. (15 mins)Only child. Auntie had 7 children, so plenty of cousins in Stewartby. Used to pick fruit at the farm in Stewartby during war. Gymnasium for adults there. Swimming pool open for children up to 6pm and then adults only. Wide range of sports pitches. Pets allowed only when the war came and afterwards. Immaculate grass cutting of model village. Every child was terrified of Mr. Young, the village groundsman, who was very strict about no walking on the grass. Villagers only allowed to cultivate their back gardens. All front gardens kept by London Brick Company gardeners. (20 mins)Workers were delighted with their subsidised housing. Village grew in 1950s from open fields. Churchill Close (first square), village hall, ship, the social club, youth club (a big wooden hut), Stewartby Way, The crescent, Alexander Close, Montgomery Close, Wavell Close. Left school in 1948. Old folk's bungalows built where farm was demolished. Wartime dances in village hall with a RAF bands. Evacuees from London stayed for 18 months. Tank Regiment billeted in village, using brickworks as their base. (25 mins)Americans had a rifle range down the knot hole where Stewartby Lake is now. Stewartby Road was specially reinforced to take the tanks during the war. Some RAF crew from Cranfield were billeted in Stewartby. (30 mins)Father injured in a railway accident at the brickworks in 1940 and had to do light work, including burning. No compensation & only £1.50 per week sick money (32 mins)End of Side A Z1205/129.SIDE B (00mins)Father developed chronic asthma. Retired to Sir Malcolm Stewart Homes bungalow in the village. (05 mins)Food from Aunty's shop in village kept the family going. Earned pocket money of 1s.3d (6p) per week by doing a lot of household work. Mother worked at the Bovril factory outside Ampthill. Had to stay on until 15 at school because of raising of school leaving age. Apprenticed for 5 years in floristry at Blaxton Brothers nurseries on Goldington Road corner, Bedford, near the college. Married and worked for friend in hairdressing in Kempston. (10 mins)Recollections of childhood in Stewartby when everyone cycled. Cars only came in well after the war. Respect for the model village went. Cars now parked on grass in front of houses, which wouldn't have been allowed before. Stewartby Club was men only until the war, when London office staff were billeted down here. Before that, Ladies Room on Sunday night only allowed women to drink soft drinks. Husband worked for Stewartby brick yard but he wasn't born in the village, so they were given a flat outside, in Kempston Hardwick. (15 mins)Moved into Stewartby when children were of school age. Rules and regulations regarding who could apply for what housing in the village. (20 mins)Worked for 13 years for London Brick Landfill, later Shanks & McEwan, first in Bedford and then in Woburn Sands, later Bletchley. Previously worked a telephone switchboard with about 100 lines allowing contact with every brickyard the firm owned all over the country. When Hanson took over LBC she was made redundant but moved to Landfill. At 65 found it hard to adjust to the loneliness of retirement. Took up flower gardening and bought a greenhouse. (25 mins)More about LBC switchboard: no one was allowed to dial direct - all had to go through switchboard. 3 women on switchboard, 9 - 4. Italian project led to difficulties in maintaining contact with workers there. Harsh impact of Hanson redundancies on the village; workers losing their homes and having to move out. (30 mins.)Automated switchboard made telephonists redundant. She moved to London Brick Landfill, later Shanks & McEwan. Reflects on a future without any chimneys in Marston Vale. (31 mins)End of Side A.END OF INTERVIEW. Original Interview 60 mins.

3 May 2002

From: 1930 To: 2002

item

London Brick Company,
Bovril Limited,
London Brick Landfill Limited,
Shanks McEwan,
Hanson Brick Limited

brick worker, DEATH, World War Two, Christmas, fruit farming, gardening, HOUSING, village halls, Sir Malcolm Stewart Trust, RAF, dancing, evacuees, American Army, injury, railway accidents, asthma, shopkeeper, apprenticeship, cycling, gender issues, landfill, greenhouses, Italians, chimneys, pollution, unemployment, telephonist, WOOTTON, STEWARTBY, HOUGHTON CONQUEST, CRANFIELD, Stewartby Stewartby Way, AMPTHILL, Bedford Goldington Road, KEMPSTON, Kempston Hardwick, WOBURN SANDS, Bletchley