Z1205/168

Male. Forestry worker. Immigrant from Ireland. b. 06.08.1939 (00 mins)Born in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Grew up on a small farm with ten milking cows and 10 store cattle. He was last of 4 boys and there were 2 girls after him. No money but a good life. (05 mins)8 miles from town. He worked on their farm after school but left for England when 21 (1950) and his elder had married and moved into their farmhouse. No such thing as pocket money in his childhood. (10 mins)Got a job in St. Albans, sweeping up in a furniture factory. Then transferred to burning sawdust to fuel a boiler on a night shift. (15 mins)Decided to move to Bedford and got a job at the Coronation brickyard on clay extraction. Shift work on mechanical "navvy", digging out clay. Good pay. (20 mins)8 worked in clay pit. Clay sent to brickworks on wagons via railway track. Made redundant in 1970 and set up business selling logs - he had been doing it as a sideline before. Briefly lived in brickworks hostel then moved into a cottage belonging to the brickworks, close to the pit. Many nationalities worked there - Italians, Poles, Ukrainians. Moved to prefab bungalow in Manor Road, belonging to brickworks. Married and bought house in Bedford. Used bungalow as an office. (25 mins)Felled trees, cut them up into logs, split them and delivered them to people. Started employing people. Got landscaping contracts. Sub-contracted contracts on M25 in 1985/86, planting 187,000 trees. Did local government work. Did a lot of work for Wolverhampton over 15 years. Got involved early on for the new Forest of Marston Vale. (30 mins)Have done work ever since on the Country Park but not the Wetlands. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Unhappy with the landfill sites. Has recently been fencing for livestock - cows and sheep - in Country Park. (06 mins)End of Side B END OF INTERVIEW Original Interview 40 mins

21 October 2002

From: 1935 To: 2002

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farmer, dairy, cattle, forestry worker, immigration, child labour, brick worker, mechanic, railway carriages, lodging houses, Italians, Poles, Ukrainians, trees, Marston Vale Trust, landfill, Ireland, St.Albans, MARSTON MORETAINE, Wolverhampton