Z1205/260

Female. Marston Vale resident. Brickworks property development manager. b. 22.09.1963 Side A (00 mins)Born in Kempston Hardwick. Went to school in Stewartby, then Wootton Upper School. Learned to swim in the outdoor swimming pool at Stewartby. Youth club at rear of Stewartby Church, once a week. Wootton Upper School was still being built when she started there. There were only half the 1400-1500 pupils there now. Stayed on to Sixth Form then got a job with Cryselco Lighting for six years. (05 mins)Move to London Brick Company in October 1988 in Stewartby. Only 3 women started at that time. It was a novelty for the men there to see women in the brick yard. She was a production clerk and started at either 5am or 7am, recording the number of bricks, of different types, that had been produced. Asian, English and Italian workers on piece work. The most productive labourer could make 20-22 blocks of bricks (1170 bricks per block). Mostly outdoor work. 5 blockers per kiln. (10 mins)Stocktaking for 15 men. They were paid according to their production. Monitored the loading of lorries with correct bricks. Had to know what was a good brick and a bad brick. After a year, she moved into the offices and worked in the property department. Sites in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Cambridgeshire. Local knowledge helped. Had to learn about plans and acreage. After a further year, took on her supervisor's job, when she left after having a baby. Dealt with leaseholds and disposals, then acquisitions. Has spent the majority of her working life at Stewartby brick works, after an early period at Valley House, Marston. Worked out of Peterborough for a year. Works with a wide range of people from "tree surgeons" to lawyers - everyone related to property. (15 mins)When at school she wanted to join the Police Force but her uncle, who was a policeman, put her off. She ended up with business qualifications. She enjoys challenges and likes to get trained up for new tasks. (20 mins)Career development within the brickwork industry. Heavy clay is still a male-dominated industry. Some women can't cope with that. (25 mins)Variety of job. Changing world and the need not to get left behind. When she first started working with men, they "watched their language" but once they got used to her, she was treated as one of them. Learned how to work out what those speaking Punjabi were talking about. Site nurse. Health and Safety issues. (32 mins)End of Side A Side B (00 mins)Things once done are now no longer allowed under better health and Safety rules. More about processes. Use of sub-standard bricks as brickbats, recycled through a crusher to make various grades of secondary aggregate for building roads. Health and Safety sign needed in a number of languages on brickwork sites because of multi-lingual workers. (05 mins)Contractors have to satisfy all the relevant Health and Safety standards before being allowed on to brickwork sites. When she lived at Kempston Hardwick, Coronation brick works was there and she remembers steeplejacks working on the chimneys. She saw the chimneys being demolished by explosion. London Brick Co. had a dairy farm there which her family worked. There were suspicions that chimney emissions may have caused some teeth disease in dairy cattle but none was sound in their family's herd. (10 mins)Veterinary inspections. Over a hundred chimneys operating at that time. Now only 3 of the 7 remaining are operating. Nowadays the local farms are arable, growing wheat, barley and beans. (15 mins)At their father's death, she and her brother had to decide whether to continue with dairy farming. They decided to concentrate on arable farming, about two years before the BSE cattle disease crisis arose in England (1997-98?). When children, she and her brother could roam around the countryside, as they wished, particularly in the summer. She spent a lot of time in Stewartby village on her bike with friends. Doors were not locked on houses. You could go straight into your friend's house in the 1970s. She helped her grandfather during school holidays with his grocery "round" in Stewartby. (20 mins)She doesn't remember vandalism being a problem. There was more for young folk to do. Sports facilities. Swimming. Youth Club. Playing musical instruments. "Prefects" and House systems at school to give a sense of belonging. Uniform. After-school activities. (25 mins)Christmases spent at grandparents'. Access to warehouse of chocolates and sweets and fizzy drinks. She had three aunties (Mother's sisters) and six nephews/nieces. Paternal grandfather was a farmer. Grandma died when Interviewee was young. Granddad had a vicious Jack Russell terrier dog. (30 mins)When they had the dairy farm, they had fresh milk for the family. Hillsons, bakers, in the village of Marston. Loaves delivered and left on your windowsill, where you'd left your money. The bulk of the milk from the farm was collected each day, originally in churns, then by a tanker. (32 mins)End of Side B.CONTINUED ON CS260C Side A (00 mins)Close community when she was young. She helped on her grandfather's mobile grocery van and was expected to talk to customers and keep an eye on elderly people. Stewartby was an industrial village and everybody knew everybody else. School concerts brought the community together. Local amateur musical theatre society, the Marionettes, putting on Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Today's youngsters are more interested in computer games and solo activities. Less socialising. (05 mins)She had freedom to roam when she was young, as long as her parents knew where she was and didn't do things she shouldn't do. Reflections on an increasing electronic age, increasing travel to work, more legislation to restrict what can be done and how. Computers and emails taking over from paper-based offices. Brickworks have moved from manual handling to increased mechanisation. Fletton industry still more manual but Butterley brick industry now has electronic robots producing bricks. (Some details on Peterborough operation) (10 mins)Recent merger of brick and concrete industries under Hanson: 14 brick sites across the country and 38 concrete sites. Still a building business / construction business supplier. Despite contraction of, Bedfordshire brickworks, Hanson Head Office is still at Stewartby. After quarrying restoration of the landscape is required and is now progressive restoration instead of waiting for the end of quarrying. In Peterborough there is now an estate of over 5000 houses where there was once brickyards and claypits. (18mins)End of Side A ORIGINAL INTERVIEW 80 mins.

18 February 2004

From: 1960 To: 2004

item

Hanson Brick Limited,
London Brick Company,
Cryselco Ltd,
Marston Valley Brickworks

manager, property manager, Wootton Upper School, swimming, employment of women, clerk, Asians, Italians, brick worker, lorry driver, businesses, HEALTH & SAFETY, LANGUAGE, pollution, chimneys, veterinary medicine, farms, cattle disease, operas, landfill, Kempston Hardwick, STEWARTBY, WOOTTON, Buckingham, Cambridgeshire, MARSTON MORETAINE