Z1205/232

Female. Marston Vale resident and ex-canteen worker at London Brick Company b. 04.11.1934 SIDE A (00 mins)Born at Greenfield near Flitwick. Mother came from Ampthill. Father from Blackburn. Came down here to work at London Brick Co. Moved to Stewartby (when she was an infant). Parent's marriage broke up during the war and he moved to Chelmsford then to Australia. She's never seen him since. Her two brothers aw him occasionally if he returned from Australia, because he would visit the Club in Stewartby. (05 mins)Swimming galas at Stewartby, post-war and sports days. (10 mins)Maternal grandmother was from Wells in Norfolk. She was a dressmaker in Ampthill. Grandfather was a shoe repairer. During the wartime, they would be given lifts in the tanks that were kept in sheds in the brick works and were tested locally. (15 mins)They were very noisy but it was exciting and they used to drop them off at the picture palace at Ampthill (on the way to Henlow) and they walked to their grandmothers. (20 mins)Cousins in Ampthill and Maulden. Uncle was a marker gardener. They used to go over and help pick raspberries and stop at their Aunty's. She remembers wartime restrictions - blackout regulations, buzz bombs coming over, air raid sirens and sheltering under the stairs. When she was 13 , began visiting her mother's brother in Liverpool. (25 mins)Once saw Al Jolson (American singer) in a Liverpool Theatre. Her mother remarried and her stepfather was a burner at London Brick. Mother cleaned the London Brick offices early in the morning. Interviewee loved school dinners but her brothers didn't. (30 mins)There were air raid shelters outside the school at Stewartby and they used to have to run out of school and down into them. Each had a tin down there with their name on, with chocolate and biscuits in. Pupils were expected to keep the garden at the side of the school, sewing seeds and hoeing. (32 mins)End of Side A Side B (00 mins)At school, she was called out of lessons sometimes to assist staff to run the netball or hockey lessons. She used to like sport. After school, a friend told her about an underwear factory, Horwins, in Bedford and she went to work there as a machinist. Two floors of young women working on piece work. She saved up and bought a new bicycle. Stewartby village hall put on film show - "the pictures" - on Saturday: children's films in the morning and adult show in the evening. They could also go to the cinema in Ampthill. (05 mins)Mr. Kitchener, who was the swimming pool superintendent in Stewartby, also projected the films. Met her future husband at the swimming pool. He was a carpenter and joiner and had served in Malaysia with the RAF during his National Service. After 3 years in Bedford she left, because her eyesight was affected. She moved to work at Stewartby in the brickwork's canteen. (10mins)Acted as a waitress for big dinners in the evening at London Brick. Married aged 22 years and left work. Used to garden and prepare the walls of the house for her husband to decorate them. (15 mins)45 years ago, there were very few cars around in Marston, just brick lorries. The M1 motorway hadn't been built. There were many brickwork chimneys. Discussion of health. Now suffers from asthma. Mother had bronchitis. Doesn't feel that the brickyard emissions had anything to do with it. (20 mins)She finds the smell from the present landfills more objectionable than the former brick chimney emissions. Changes in the countryside locally - the creation of Stewartby Lake form a former clay pit. (25 mins)More traffic in the area these days. (30 mins)End of Side B Original Interview 60 mins.

25 June 2003

From: 1930 To: 2003

item

London Brick Company,
Jolson, Al

World War Two, dressmaker, air raids over UK, air raid shelters, cleaner, gardening, games, cinema, RAF, brick worker, chimneys, asthma, pollution, MARSTON MORETAINE, Greenfield, Blackburn, STEWARTBY, Australia, Norfolk, AMPTHILL, Malaysia