Scope and Content
(00 mins)
KQ
Born and lived in Leighton Buzzard all his life, working in the sand industry for nearly 35 years
PH
Philip lived and worked in Leighton Buzzard all his life but born in Portsmouth. Father, George, served in the Royal Marine Commandoes during Second World War and met his wife there but returned to his home town, Leighton Buzzard after the war. Father and grandfather, Frederick, both worked in local sand industry for Arnolds as ‘sand dobbers’ (labourers).
(05 mins)
PH
Grandfather worked at Nine Acres quarry.
Phillip, as a child, played football in Chamberlain’s Barn
KQ
Kelvin’s father, Alfred, would sometimes take him to his place of work – Arnold’s Pit in Stone, near Aylesbury. Kelvin’s grandfather, Victor, had also worked in the sand industry, for Garside’s. Some of Kelvin’s relatives were and are in the Salvation Army [religious organisation].
In the days of his father and grandfather – men either worked in the tile works, such as Redlands Tiles (previously Beds Tiles), or in a local foundry, or in the sand pits. There was a metal factory down Grovebury Road.
Kelvin’s grandfather suffered an injury to his head, being thrown out of a pub, he thinks, and subsequently died of a fractured skull.
(10 mins)
KQ
Kelvin’s father was an engine driver from a young age– for the light railway serving the sand quarries in Leighton Buzzard. Died aged 86. Final job – as machine driver on refuse tip for Bedfordshire County Council.
Kelvin’s first job at John Dickinson’s, printers and stationers. Then, aged 22 when he started work at Arnold’s Stonehenge Brick and Tile works. Moved on to Anchor Tiles, then back to Stonehenge works – easy to switch work in those days. Stayed with Arnold’s for the rest of his life.
Drove small diesel locomotive pulling six wagons of sand from pit to the processing area in town. Then moved to drive dumper trucks, removing the clay to get to the sand. Also worked at Nine Acre quarry for about 4 years, before moving on to Double Arches for the last 30 years.
Process explained – drag line or JCB scooping up sand – then to sifters to screen the sand – then to the washer.
Kelvin then worked as fork-lift truck driver, together with Philip Harding.
(15 mins)
KQ
Today’s process – instead of filling bags manually with sand – mechanised bag filling – a hundredweight each shift – stacked bags placed on pallets for transporting. Each bag weighs 50 kilos.
PH
Previously, Phil filled by hand a hundredweight and a half (75 kilos) in large brown cardboard tubs taking 3 hundredweight – then sealed and moved by wheelbarrow. All done by ‘robot’-controlled machinery now.
KQ
Process more complicated and can be stopped by one tiny failure in the processor. All machinery guarded by safety guard doors requiring special keys. One work station involved a fork-lift truck driver and three others operating the bagging process.
(20 mins)
PH
Philip sometimes bagged 120 tonnes (more than the present ‘robot’) in the old days. Now a robotic-controlled machine digs the sand, at between 10 and 12 tons an hour (10 bags a minute), depending on the grade of sand.
Before current economic recession, sand could not be got out quickly enough.
KQ
Started work at 7am each day and finished at 3pm [i.e. daylight hours in winter]
The Japanese ‘robot’ and Italian machinery installed in March [2007?]
(25 mins)
PH
Brick and tiles no longer required in previous quantities because of downturn in building industry and concrete products. Tile works and brick yards at a standstill reduced from 24 hours working to only one shift of work each day.
KQ
Quality of sand in each quarry deteriorates as the pit comes to the end of its life. Poorer quality OK for bricklaying and for certain ceramics and concrete products.
House now being built as soon as local pits, e.g. Pratt’s, are “dug out” (exhausted) and are back-filled.
PH
When Philip first started work in the quarries – over a hundred workers – in addition to sand dobbers, carpenters, bricklayers, conveyor and hopper maintenance men. As firms amalgamated – into Arnold Whites – this work was outsourced.
(30 mins)
KQ
Kelvin, once made redundant, aged 58, will continue to breed canaries with his brother and do small gardening jobs.
PH
Now, only Chamberlains Barn and one other quarry operating, with few men. More redundancies expected. Once made redundant, he will concentrate on his gardening – won’t be sorry to retire from sand industry. Used to enjoy job very much – especially working on the light railway during the summer months – pulling the sand wagons – two clear-water lakes on the way from pits to the washer. Used to fish in them. Now there are only 8 or 9 years to go before all the useful sand is completely extracted – the best sand has already been taken. Leighton Buzzard was expected to build another 20,000 houses over next 5 years but recession has brought a slow-down in building.
Philip laments the growth of the town as a commuter town for London or Milton Keynes workers, with few jobs remaining in the area. Once the sand firms were family companies and everyone knew everyone who worked there; now management is distant. Peter Arnold was the last to be a manger, who knew every worker. Arnolds has had many new owners over the last 17 years. Only the few older workers coming up to retirement remember how it was.
Once, a bookie’s runner [someone taking illegal bets for a bookmaker, before the law allowed licensed booking away from horse racing tracks] would take small-money bets (e.g. sixpence ‘each way’) each morning for races that day and then pay out to workers who had won the next morning. Jack Toms was a ‘bookie’s runner’. Some workers only gambled on famous races such as the Grand National or the ‘Lincoln’.
Workers would take their own bottle of cold tea and cheese sandwiches into work, because there was no canteen, then. There were ‘grub huts’ with a wood-burning stove to heat kettles but they were too hot to be in, in summer.
(45 mins)
PH
The last one worker to be killed at work in the sand industry was ?Tony? Kempster, nearly 40 years [?] ago at ‘the Barn’. Otherwise a good record for safety, except for some men losing a finger. ‘Health and Safety’ concerns have now gone to the other extreme – you are not allowed to boil a kettle!
(50 mins)
KQ
Double Arches quarry is due to be transformed into a leisure lake and wildlife habitat. Kelvin likes walking and cycling in the countryside. Often sees kingfishers and many other birds and there are fish such as carp, catfish and pike in the quarry lakes. Foxes, deer and pheasants can also be seen. Wild orchids come up once a year.
PH
A lot of wildlife in the area – sand martins, wagtails, rabbits, frogs and toads
KQ
Quarries have also been used for making feature films over the years – mainly science fiction and horror– “The Mummy” filmed at Walpole’s Pit, Heath and Reach
(55 mins)
KQ
In winter months in the old days – workers used to tie sacks round their backs to stop cold air getting into their joints. Rats and mice used to be in the sheds and they had to tie strings round their trouser legs to stop them getting up their legs.
The old stables buildings – from horse and cart days – are still standing at Stonehenge, where the preserved light railway society have their engine shed. Horse boys, such as Arthur Shale, were once employed in the days when sand was transported to the canal barges in Leighton Buzzard
(60 mins)
End of interview
Summarised by Stuart Antrobus (30 July 2009)