Z1205/178

Male. Painter for London Brick Co. b. 01.04.1933 SIDE A (00 mins)Born and brought up in Wootton during wartime. Evacuees in the village, raising class sizes to 60. Searchlight battery with soldiers, but no anti-aircraft gun, on small hill at Down Hall End. They used to use the Chequers pub. A group of French-Canadian lumberjacks lived in a caravan behind the farm at Hall End. (05 mins)French partisans were trained at Wootton House for sabotage purposes and parachuted back into France. Home Guard presence locally. Father was a bricklayer at the Stewartby brick works. Failed his army medical and he wasn't even wanted in Home Guard. Interviewee an only child. (10 mins)Father helped repair the brick kilns. Suffered from arthritis and was often off work. Was in a convalescent home in Hunstanton when was broke out and was sent home. Grandfather worked on a farm, in charge of cattle. Lived next door to them, both opposite the Chequers in church Road. Father was one of 11 children (only 2 sisters who ended their life living with their father). (15 mins)Quite a few uncles worked at the brick works in various processes. Maternal grandparents also in Wootton. Long-living family: mum is 94, Aunty Gladys is 97, Uncle Alf was 89. Mother worked at vicarage as cook cum housekeeper, living there, before she married. Then she worked in a similar job for the colonel at Wootton House in a similar job. Family had to be more or less self- sufficient during the war, growing their own vegetables on an allotment. Children played in gangs, one part of the village hostile to another. 3 Mustang American fighter planes crashed round there during Second World War during a thunderstorm. Children stole some ammunition from the crashed pane before the local policeman arrived. Childhood pranks. Winter skating on ponds. Deep snow in winter of 1947. Waking up to a frozen fern patterns on bedroom windows. Knitted balaclavas to keep your head warm outside. Long days during wartime double summertime. Birds nesting, collecting eggs. Left school at 14 and started at Stewartby brickworks, where an uncle worked. (20 mins)48-hour week; 36 shillings pay, as a painter. Started an apprenticeship a year later. Worked all over the area on various London Brick properties, including their workers houses. 70 outsides a year, continuing sequence year round. When tenants left, they put the house back to its original conditions, stripped all paint work and restored original paint or stain and varnish. (23 mins)End of Side A Side B (00 mins)Papered staircases and living rooms in LBC estate houses. 6 permanent painters plus 2 or 3 more in summer plus 9 or 10 plumbers and 3 carpenters and a couple of apprentices. A couple of bricklayers plus labourers. Electricians were borrowed from the works or contracted. Together they formed a self-contained building department. LBC also owned 2 farms locally and farm workers' cottages, plus a farm at Houghton Conquest, one at Calvert, Bucks and some houses at Bletchley. All under an estates Manager and his staff. (05 mins)Did National Service after completing his apprenticeship. Some painters left for higher pay elsewhere but he stayed on and became a charge hand. (10 mins)Weekly day release for craft education at local further education college as an apprentice. National Service done in Royal Artillery during early 1950s. (15 mins)Extra training was done because the Korean War had only just ended and troops were still being put into the area but ended up spending 18 months on Salisbury plain working on radar. Married 3 September 1960. Remembers when he first started work that there were still Italian and German prisoners of war, then European displaced persons; later West Indians, then Indians and Pakistanis. (20 mins)Reflects on decline of the brick industry in Marston Vale. When Hanson took over London Brick, they closed down the estates department and sold off a lot of land. He was moved to a security job which he didn't like but stuck with. (25 mins)Many office workers were told to clear out in a few minutes. There had been gross overstaffing in many areas. He disliked the new shift work he had to do. He was also worried about his health. Lorry fleet was reduced. (30 mins)He worked there for 51 years and was presented with a clock. He stayed one more year. Enjoys retirement. Walks, goes square dancing, belongs to various clubs, gardens. Still has his mother to look after, as well as grandchildren. (32 mins)End of Side B END OF INTERVIEW.Original Interview 60 mins.

29 November 2002

From: 1930 To: 2002

item

London Brick Company,
Hanson Brick Limited

painter, evacuees, World War Two, air raids over UK, Canadian Army, Home Guard, health, farmer, allotments, American Army, flying, policeman, skating, birds, wages/conditions, apprenticeship, Royal Artillery, Italians, German Army, prisoners of war, Indians, Pakistanis, clocks, WOOTTON, Wootton House, France, STEWARTBY, Korea, Salisbury