Z1205/241

Male. Former brickworker. Immigrant from West Indies. b. 26.11.1936 SIDE A (00 mins)Born on the small island of Nevis in the West Indies, eldest of a large family. One of his brothers also came to England. The rest are still in the West Indies. Cotton and sugar production used to be the main industries on Nevis. Tourism is now the main activity. (05 mins)Princess Margaret used to holiday there. Father worked on a cotton farm. The last sugar factory stopped in 1954. They now take the sugar cane crop to neighbouring St. Kitts and other islands to grind it. (10 mins)Sugar cane was as big as your wrists. Sugar-making process. (15 mins)More about sugar production. (20 mins)Growing cycle for sugar (25 mins)Cotton processing. (30 mins)He preferred cotton production to sugar production. (32 mins)End of Side A SIDE B (00 mins)Schooling on Nevis. Left in 1953. Went to learn carpentry and joinery. (05 mins)Migration from the island started about 1954/55. The boats took about 4 weeks to England. (10 mins)He came here on an Italian boat. It cost him 312 dollars (£84). He had an address in Bedford to come to. (15 mins)Docked at Southampton Travelled by train to Waterloo, then on to Bedford. A school friend of his, who was already in Bedford, found him a job for 4 days working on the new M1 motorway, locally, and a room to rent. Another friend found him a job at Stewartby brickworks. (20 mins) His job for the next 10 years was plastering ("washing") the entrance ("wicket") to kilns before firing. In addition, he learned other skills. (25 mins)Introduction of fork lifts. Hand setting of bricks prior to mechanisation. (30mins)Kilns with small wickets got rid of in early 1960s and larger entrance kilns used to allow the entrance of fork lift trucks. Hand-lifting phased out completely. (32 mins)End of Side B CONTINUED ON CS241C SIDE A (00 mins)Learning the craft of smudging - feeding small amounts of coal dust into the kilns to increase temperature. Multi-cultural workforce. (05 mins)Playing practical jokes on work mates. (10 mins)Changing workforce over the years. Use of electric trams and bogeys within factory. Introduction of fork lift trucks. (15 mins)He has never returned to West Indies. First days in Bedford. (20 mins)Early life in Bedford. Had children by a woman in Bedford but they split up after a year. Married another, younger woman in 1991. Left brickyard in 1988, went window cleaning for 2 years. Since then, has worked for a meat processing factory. He now has grandchildren. (25 mins)Made good friends at work. Knew lorry drivers from all over the county. Used to cycle to work from Bedford. Because he worked days only, he knew men who worked on both nights and days shift every other week. (31 mins)End of Side A ORIGINAL INTERVIEW 90 mins.

29 August 2003

From: 1930 To: 2003

item

Princess Margaret,
London Brick Company

brick worker, immigration, cotton, sugar, tourism, industry, carpentry, boats, M1, kiln, multicultural education, West Indies, Nevis, St. Kitts, STEWARTBY