Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue
  • Reference
    Z1205/212
  • Title
    Female. Immigrant Italian. Former social worker b.13.01.1940
  • Date free text
    3 March 2003
  • Production date
    From: 1940 To: 2003
  • Scope and Content
    (00 mins)Born in Ferrara, Italy. Maternal grandfather had quite a large farm. 30 pigs. Hundreds of chickens & ducks, 3 cows, 8 goats plus crops of wheat, a vineyard and orchards. Two horses to plough with. Large farmhouse. 12 children. (05 mins)Unmade roads. Bread and soap made by Grandma. Coarse cloth made on a loom. Made olive oil. The family was self-sufficient. Surplus fruit taken to sell in the market. After the senior members of her mother's family died, the farm was split up. (10 mins)Father went to war and never came back. Her unmarried mother was pregnant with informant, so grandparents took her from the hospital and brought her up as their own. Up to the age of 8 she called them Mamma and Papa`. Her Mum was not allowed to see her and was referred to as "Auntie". In fact, her mother used to come over to neighbours to see her without grandparents knowing. Informant's mother married a man who got a job in Bedfordshire as an interpreter for Marstone Valley Brick Company. Before they married, the man wrote to the daughter's secondary school asking for the girl's blessing on the marriage. They collected her and took her to England on 13 October 1950, when she was 10 years old. (15 mins)Hated England - smoggy, dirty, cold. Missed her grandparents. Kept running away and being brought back by the police. Having come from a private school she was not pleased at living in a terraced house with no toilet or bathroom or hot water. Hated being kept out of school at break time. (20 mins)Bedford children were unsociable. They had no telephone and so could not ring her Grandparents in Italy and she couldn't write because they couldn't read or write. It was only when she moved school to Silver Jubilee School that she felt better. The Headmistress of the girls school encouraged her by making her a prefect. She wasn't popular with the English girls but did become Captain of the Netball Team. (25 mins)Became Head Girl. Life was a bit easier but she still had no friends. There were no other foreign girls at the school. At 16 she enrolled at Mander College for further education courses in typing, shorthand and commerce. Family moved to a better house. Was asked to work at the office of Italian Consular Agent for a few hours per week. (30 mins)Eventually the Italian Consulate was opened at 9 Union Street. She was given a full-time job with the first Vice Consul, Dr. Enrico Capobianco. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Her father was at the Marston Valley brickworks office with another young Italian Gioberto Astori, liaising with the Ministry of Labour in Milan. Italian workers arrived by boat at Folkestone and her father was there to accompany them. They had a medical check up. They were young men aged between 20 and 30. Some of them had had to leave behind wives and small children. They were accommodated in Nissen huts, with curved steel roofs. There were rows of beds in a dormitory, with no privacy. All had 4-year contracts and couldn't change to any other job in that time. There was a hostel in Ampthill, near where the police station is. (05 mins)Kempston Hardwick hostel. She met her paternal grandmother, from Sicily, when she came over to England. (10 mins)Description of hard, dusty work conditions. She began to make some English friends at Mander College. Remembers being assaulted by three girls at school (15 mins)Mother used to work at Britannia factory on the production belt for 7 years, then at Meltis for another 9 or 10 years. There was an Italian Club in Spencer Road. Every Sunday evening there was an Italian music group and dancing, and a room where you could play cards. Close Italian community. (20 mins)Italians attended the English services at the Roman Catholic church in Midlands Road, St. Joseph's, but felt that there should be an Italian church. A committee was formed and fund-raising started in the Italian community. She was married by an Italian priest at Holy Cross church. Italian associations from Italy started forming, e.g. I.N.C.A. and A.C.L.I.., She worked for 7 years at the Vice Consulate in Bedford. (25 mins)"Us" and "them" attitude of workers at Italian Vice-Consulate toward the Italian immigrants. Then Mario Alessi arrived as a new Vice-Consul and changed things for the better. Father left Marston Valley Co.and opened his own restaurant with his wife. After they had made their money they moved back to Italy to retire. She returned but didn't like it. (30 mins)She settled here after the first two years. (32 mins) End of Side B CONTINUED FROM ST 212C Side A (00 mins)Informant worked at Italian Vice-consulate, there she meet her future husband. He had been to hotelier school in Milan and was working all over England in order to acquire experience in his field. Her parents had restaurant "Pascal" in Mill Street, he went there often became friend with her parents. 2 years later they got married. Before that she used to go dancing at Corn Exchange, her father took her there and collected her at 11 pm. There was no Italian girls then going dancing, only Italian boys (second generation). It felt safe to go dancing there. There were bands playing usually rock and roll, twist etcetera. Went to live in Putnoe when got married. (10 mins)Her daughter was born a year later. Her parents moved back to Italy. They joined them a year later. They could not settle there and came back to live in Bedford. Husband got job at Swan Hotel. They rented apartment in Lansdowne Road. She did various jobs then she had twins boys, followed by few years of bad heath. (15 mins)She worked for A.C.L.I. (Italian Christian Workers Association) from Italy, as social worker in Union Street, Bedford, after she had attended courses in London and at Mander College. She helped many first generation Italian dealing with the intricacy of Italian burocrazy in obtaining old age pension. She helped organizing social activities. In the same building there were also adult classes for men organized by Michele Arpaia financed by the Italian government. (20 mins)The problems she was called to dealt with the second generation were related to unaceptance by the first generation, of romantic attachment to young English boys & girls. Often she worked with Social Services as interpreter in Courts, and Industrial Tribunal. For 3 evenings per week she had to go to other towns were there were Italian migrants, Bletchley, Hitchin, Letchworth. Working long hours, she enjoyed her work although was not paid adequately. One not so unusual case she worked on was that of an old lady having to wait 9 years before she was given her pension. This great delay was due to the slow and inefficient Social Security Offices in the towns of proveniences in Italy. Side B (00 mins)She worked there for 18 years on a minimum salary which did not include expenses or stationery. In all that time there was very little improvement regarding the delaying of arrival of old age pensions. In some cases the elder would die before receiving a pension. The widow would then make a request of transfer of pension, they would still not had a pension when they would die. Their children then would get a very small sum. A lot of people suffered because the system was at fault and there was no way to appeal. (15 mins)She spent a lot of her own free time with Italian families involved in tragedies & accidents at work. (20 mins)She is hoping to go to live in Italy to be near her own daughter. The biggest change in her life has been to live in rented accommodation and her son divorce. End of Interview Original Interview 115 mins.
  • Language
    English. + Italian
  • Reference
  • Level of description
    item
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