Z1205/211

Female. Office worker at London Brick Company. b. 28.01.1931 SIDE A (00 mins)Born in Clifton, Bedfordshire. Father from Henlow, the neighbouring village and Mother from Henlow. Maternal grandfather, also in Henlow, worked on the land. He used to play dominoes with grandmother. Didn't get on well at local infants school, so parents sent her to a small private school in Arlesey. Paternal grandfather worked on the land but his wife was the publican at the Sir John Barleycorn public house in Henlow. They had a number of children who died in childhood. Her father and an uncle were left. Grandmother was 98 when she died. Her maternal grandmother was very domineering. (05 mins)She and her sister. Many cousins in the village. Two evacuee girls came to stay with them during the Second World War, one of them a Pole. Brother born in 1944. (10 mins)Family moved to Stewartby when Father got a job as a driver with London brick Co. Lived in a number of brickworks' houses in Stewartby over the years. Father worked normal hours, from early in the morning to afternoon. (15 mins)During the war, she contracted scarlet fever and had to have a period in Biggleswade Isolation Hospital. Her Aunt's house had to be fumigated when she had evacuees staying. Air raids spent in the school shelter at Stewartby. (20mins)Attended a Baptist Chapel when in Clifton. Non-denominational church in Stewartby. Belonged to St. John's Ambulance Brigade. Shopping in Bedford on Saturdays. Dancing in the Crofton Rooms in Midland Road. Cycling to Bedford. (25 mins)No alcoholic drinks at the dance. Door closed at 10pm to prevent men coming in from the pubs at closing time. Met husband to be at a dance. Had previously met him at dances at the foreign brickworkers' hostel. He was Polish. (30 mins)Some anti-foreigner comments. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Parents didn't like the fact that her husband was a Catholic. Did shorthand and typing night classes after school and got a junior post in a solicitor's office in Bedford. (05 mins)After two years got a job in the brickworks office at Stewartby. Moved to accounts. Left to have children. Bought a house in Elstow (in 1953). (10 mins)When all 3 children were at school, she returned to part-time work in the offices at London Brick Co. under the same office manager. (15 mins)More men than women in the wages department. Women worked on the comptometers. Women supervisors of women on machines. No women managers or heads of department. (20 mins)She worked there for a further 13 years. Took early retirement when Hanson took over but then got a part-time job as switchboard operator in the Engineering Block at Stewartby, followed by a stint at Shanks and McEwan at Woburn Sands. Now retired. Active social life. (25 mins)She is sad that almost all the brickworks chimneys have gone and hopes that one will be left, when brickmaking ends. Is pleased that there is now Stewartby Lake and the visitor centre. Remembers when Stewartby was a well-kept village looked after by London brick employees. Father was 90 when he died; one grandmother was 98. (30 mins)Proud of her three children. (32 mins)End of Side B ORIGINAL INTERVIEW 60 mins

26 February 2003

From: 1930 To: 2003

item

London Brick Company,
Hanson Brick Limited,
Shanks & McEwan (Southern Waste Services) Limited

clerk, Henlow Sir John Barleycorn, farmer, evacuees, World War Two, Polish, lorry driver, scarlet fever, Biggleswade Hospital, air raid shelters, Baptist chapel, St.John Ambulance, DANCE, Polish, brick worker, Catholicism, curriculum shorthand, employment of women, chimneys, STEWARTBY, CLIFTON, HENLOW, ARLESEY, ELSTOW, WOBURN SANDS