Reference
X962/R18
Title
Interview with Mrs Pat Hack, born 21 January 1953, Leighton Buzzard. Office worker at Garside's sand business. Interviewed by Carmela Semeraro.
Date free text
Interview date 24 October 2008
Production date
From: 2008 To: 2008
Scope and Content
(00mins)
Born in Aylesbury Hospital. Her large family – seven children - lived in Stoke Road, Linslade; later in Leighton Buzzard. Four brothers and two sisters. Last two boys were twins. Father was a telephonist at Tindale Hospital, Aylesbury.
Pat attended Brooklands Secondary School, then Dunstable College, doing a two-year secretarial course. First job with an insurance company, then moved to Garside’s, the sand business, in Leighton Buzzard, in April 1971.
(05 mins)
Stayed there, apart from a break when her two boys were born. The offices were at the back of The White House in the centre of town. There was a receptionist, sales manager, office manager, transport manager, and overall manager. Family firm owned by the Delafield family: Vera, William and John.
Pat did secretarial work and wages. Wages took 1½ days – all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning to calculate. Two men collected the cash form the bank on Fridays and she made up the wage packets which were collected by the quarry manager, ready for distribution to the workers at the quarries.
(10 mins)
When William Delafield, who lived and worked in London, visited the Leighton Buzzard office every two months or so, he always brought a chocolate cake from Fortnum and Mason for the office staff, then claimed it on expenses. Carol Sinfield was the Receptionist and did filing. The two of them, the youngest of the staff, shared the top floor office with their boss, Mr. Sinfield, Carol’s uncle.
Pat left in 1980 to have her two boys, Oliver and Kevin, but returned to Garside’s when her marriage broke up in 1983/4.
(15 mins)
Computers had not been introduced into offices when Pat started at Garside’s. Salesmen were the first to take them onboard. Training rooms were set up for staff to become computer literate.
Pat is now the Customer Service Manager, giving quotations, controlling credit, chasing money, administration. The only work she has not done in the firm is the laboratory side. Previously she had worked in distribution.
The firms offices are now located on the site of the quarries. Cars get a bit dusty but it makes it easier to understand the business and see what is going on.
(20 mins)
The firm is very friendly and family-orientated. Pat will stay until she retires. She has not really done anything else in her working life.
She has seen many changes in Leighton Buzzard over her life: physical changes in the layout of roads; less trust in others – doors were not locked in her parents’ house.
She would like to go to Australia where her sister and two brothers live. She did visit for a month when she was 50 and her boys treated her. She loved the relaxed, friendly lifestyle there but she wouldn’t leave Linslade.
(25 mins)
End of interview
Summarised by Stuart Antrobus (30 November 2009)
Exent
25 minutes
Format
Wave Sound file
Reference
Level of description
item