our working lives, then and now

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Reginald was born in Hackney, East London in October in October 1924. His father owned a butchers shop where he used to help at the back whilst he was still at school. Sometimes his father would take him to buy meat at Smithfields. He would go on the 5am train, aged 7 to help choose the meat. Although he loved doing this, Reginald’s ambition was to be an electrician when he left school.

Accordingly his father found him an apprenticeship at 14, through a Freemason contact. He was taken on as an apprentice at Thomas H. Smurdens on the outskirts of London. To get to work he had to travel by train to Liverpool station and on from there either by bus or on the underground. He was provided with a travel pass by his firm.

Reginald had to attend evening classes three times a week in order to qualify. His practical experience was learnt from another apprentice until he qualified. Because Reginald worked for a friend of his fathers’ his mistakes were reported back to his father who gave him a clip round the ear!

Reginald usually wore overalls to work but if he was going to work in a “posh” house he had to wear his best clothes. As an apprentice Reginald had to belong to the E.T.U. and carried a card around which had to be shown wherever he worked. Sometimes a job was to re-wire a property. This involved pushing wires through a conduit which was put into a junction box and set into concrete. It was called a loop system and had to be very accurate.

At the time there was an agreement between the firms and the union that apprentices could be moved anywhere in the country. Reginald, therefore, went as far as Scotland, and travel passes were issued and lodgings found wherever he went. One such posting was somewhere near Bath, in a secret factory 110 feet underground. Land Army girls were working above them. Reginald and his crew were then moved to Swansea.

An apprenticeship lasted 5 or 6 years after which you became an improver. This was one step below becoming an electrician and by then you were familiar with all the relevant technical terms. The general method of correcting mistakes for an apprentice then was a belt round the ear. which Reginald did in his turn when he became a fully qualified electrician.

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Graham, aged 70, was born and brought up in Oakdale. He first attended Stanley Green School, then Oakdale Junior before going to Henry Harbin, aged 11. He only spent two years there, as his father got him into a college, Shelley Park, in Boscombe, to learn building and technical skills. Graham traveled there on the bus or cycled when he got older.

He left college at 15, but the building trade had hit a bit of a slump so he wondered what to do next. Graham’s father was friendly with Mr Hines, the head of Poole Technical College, so it was suggested that Graham go to the Market Street Department to learn engineering skills in the machine shop. After six months Graham’s father got in touch with Hamworthy Engineering and following an interview, Graham was offered an apprenticeship with a day’s release at Poole College. This lasted for four years, after which Graham got a City and Guilds Certificate in engineering. Graham remained with the firm for 48 years until his retirement.

At the start of his apprenticeship the pay was £1-18s and 4d per week. Hamworthy Engineering was then on Poole quay and Graham used to cycle to work. In 1959 the firm moved to the Old Poole Labor Sports Ground at Fleetbridge. At that time there were four bays and an office block.

As an apprentice Graham was taught on the job – moving from machine to machine to gain experience. He had to buy his own overalls. There were 32 apprentices starting at the same time as Graham, so he made a lot of friends. They had to do night shifts, working two weeks on, two weeks off. Graham made pumps and compressors and worked in the hydraulics division where they manufactured valves and pumps.

After his apprenticeship Graham was called up for National Service in about 1959. He went into the RAF police and after going to various training camps ended up in a little radar station in North Devon – quite close to Clovelly. There he stayed for two years – the work was certainly not arduous and he never put anyone on charge. He earned £1-20s per week, all included.

After his demob, Graham returned to Hamworthy Engineering. He was put in the same machine shop – the same employees were still there – and he was a machine operator, working a crankshaft grinding. Graham then progressed to being a setter, which was setting up machines for other people and meant more pay. The next step was section foreman, where he was in charge of other people. He was then promoted to shop superintendent, which gave him total responsibility. This meant a better salary and as part of management staff Graham was now entitled to a pension and he now wore a suit to work.

However times were changing – certain departments moved or closed down – only pumps and compressors remained. There arose the opportunity for Graham to become a buyer in about 1976 and he had to drive around the area taking materials to various sub-contractors. The firm then decoded to split into smaller divisions and created Hamworthy Heating. Graham become senior buyer there and stayed until 2003 when he retired.

Graham’s favorite job was purchasing – looking at design and buying all the relevant materials at the right price and quality. He loved traveling all over the country. He attended many management courses and liked meeting and exchanging ideas with people from other trades.

Hamworthy was sold to a Japanese company who brought in many new ideas. Changes were made, not always for the better, which is when Graham decided to retire. He was happy throughout his working life.

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Barry was born in Poole in 1938 and spent his youth mainly in Oakdale – with a brief stay on Turlin Farm when his father was called up. Barry’s mother died when he was about 12 years old and his father later married his sister-in-law providing Barry with a stepmother.

He went to Oakdale School initially and then Henry Harbin until he was 15. Whilst he was there a technical class was established – parallel to Weymouth Technical School – and Barry went in to this class. His ambition was to be an engineer. To this end Barry’s father got him an interview, via a friend, at Hamworthy Engineering. He was accepted for an apprenticeship course on the proviso that he attended Poole College to improve his academic qualifications. He was further told that if he didn’t pass the yearly exams his apprenticeship would finish. Barry’s interview was before he left school and they were surprised as he was marked down to be a baker.

Barry joined Hamworthy just before his 16th birthday, which was when his apprenticeship was due to start. Then he spent a few weeks going round different departments gleaning basic knowledge.

When Barry started, Hamworthy Engineering was at Yard Quay just across the bridge. There were about 250 workers there and there was also an additional outfit called B.C.E. (British Combustion Equipment) which made burners for boilers. Hamworthy’s pumps and compressors were sent all over Europe. Initially Hamworthy made oil engines and compressors for the Lister Diesel Company but a mutual agreement was made that Lister’s would no longer make compressors and Hamworhy would no longer make diesel engines. Thus they became separate entities.

Hamworthy also had a foundry at Mannings Heath Road, Newtown, which made castings for the compressors. This foundry later became independent of Hamworthy Engineering.

Barry’s apprenticeship lasted for 5 years. He persevered at college and got his City and Guilds certificate at 21. At 18 he received his call-up papers but managed to get deferred until his apprenticeship finished. In 1959 he earned £5 per week. In the army he earned between 11 and 15 shillings per week. When he came out at 23 he returned to Hamworthy Engineering where he earned £11 per week a skilled man. Barry didn’t have to wear overalls to work – just a shirt, trousers and safety shoes. The only time he did have to wear a white overall was when he was in the Inspection pit.

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Alan was born in Lucus Fife, but lived there for only a year. His father was in the R.A.F. and this meant the family moved around a lot, including Malta and Gibraltar. They returned to the U.K. when war broke out and Alan was 10 years old.. After a brief stay in Worcester the family moved to Bath in 1940. Initially Alan attended West Binton Secondary School but at the age of 13 he passed an entrance exam for the Technical College. He left there at age 15 1/2 years having passed an exam for an R.A.F. apprenticeship. He joined up in 1943 and when he was 18 signed on for 12 years. The apprenticeship was in aero engines and allied trades.

This included all the skills needed for the manufacture and repair of aero engines plus a technical academic education up to Ordinary National Certificate standard. They were not given a certificate in the R.A.F. so Alan and his peers had noting to show on paper in the R.A.F. They fought this injustice and post 1947 certificates were issued. The pay for R.A.F. apprentices was 10 shillings per week for the first two years and 14 shillings per week for the third year. Thereafter service pay was 29 shillings per week. Unfortunately Alan was unable to complete his 12 years service due to a Rugby injury. He never fully recovered and, in his view, his working environment with high octane fuels also helped prevent his recovery. He was dismissed from the R.A.F. after 7 years service in 1950 without medical help or a pension, as proper contracts were never drawn up.

Unemployment benefit then lasted only for 3 months during which time you had to find a job. Alan managed to find a temporary job in an engineering works which only lasted for 3 weeks. He then went to Crosswire Engineering Company .Whilst there Alan was a floor manager which meant wearing a suit and he earned the average national wage for this position. He stayed there for 18 months and then in answer to an advertisement, joined the Doughty Group who were manufacturing aircraft fuel systems at Melksham.

After 2 years Alan went to work for Armstrong Sidley at Rockworth – Gloucester. They were setting up to manufacture Sapphire aero engines for Hunters, Victors etc. He started on troubleshooting and manufacturing processes and liaison with the design and stress departments in Coventry. When difficulties arose between the three companies Napier, DeHavilland and Armstrong Sidley Alan was asked to liaise between them. This meant traveling between Liverpool and Coventry. There was no time allowance or traveling expenses.

About that time several air crashes occurred so Alan was asked to go on defective engine investigation. Thus in 1956 he was given the investigation department where he found the Sapphire engine manufacture was in total chaos. Again he started from scratch to analyse the problems. Within half a day the problem of compressor blades falling out was solved but the vibration and design failures took much longer to sort out. Alan was then asked to transfer to diesel engines as there were multi–million insurance claims ongoing world-wide.

One more testing was started from the beginning. He worked on quality and control of aero-engines from 1953 to 1959 until engine manufacture moved back to Coventry. Reluctant to move the family Alan moved to A.W.R.E at Aldermaston. The family were provided with a rented house in Tilehurst – 10 miles from work – so he went there on his 125 Bantam motor cycle as he’d done with his previous job. Just before Alan started work at Aldermaston two fatal accidents had occurred in the explosives department, so he was asked to look for improvements. After a year one of the atomic weapons was found to be de-composing, so Alan was asked to create an Atomic Weapons Record Department, -there had previously been no record department. – This was done and he proceeded to doing trials.

Talk of cutbacks there resulted in Alan answering an advert for a Chief Inspector at Devillbis in Poole, so yet another move in 1962. The family bought a bungalow and settled in Broadstone but the job didn’t live up to expectations. Thus, in 1966 Alan joined Plessey’s as a quality control inspector. As such he was asked to solve problems with the compressor system. This done he took over the management of Plessey research. It was not a financial gain but an agreement was made that his job would be light and that he would have assistance in the running around due to his on-going disability. Alan stayed in this department until 1979 earning approximately £1,000 per annum, a moderate living, still going to work on his motor cycle. By 1979 Alan had moved to Ptarmigan Military Communications which was within Plessey administration. However in 1980 the department moved to Christchurch and he decided it was too far to travel daily, so he was made redundant. There followed no regular work until 1988, when Alan worked for 2 years in the drawing office of Surface Electronics.

He finished in 1990 and remained unemployed until retirement age. During his years in management Alan earned, on average £1,000 per annum. Alan’s most satisfying job was working on the defects of aero engines. – It was rewarding technically but not financially. He felt that people of his generation had to be flexible and be prepared to find new jobs time and time again. Whilst unemployment benefits have improved, Alan feels there is still a great injustice towards the armed forces regarding their terms of employment.

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Len was born in September 1926 at Bethnal Green, East London. He left school in 1940 at the age of 14. It was war-time, there had been no careers advice at school and he found his first job by asking around at local firms.

This was at a wood factory in Edmonton, which made wooden stretcher poles. The pay was to have been 4 pence per hour for a 40 hour week, and no sick pay. There was little supervision at the factory and, on his first day at work, Len was put onto a machine feeding poles in to be cut to length. He lost most of the fingers from his left hand and was out of work for a year, suffering two nervous breakdowns. Len went back to the same firm after a year where he was put into a noisy machine department where the continuous thudding gave him constant headaches. His doctor therefore advised him to give up the job.

Meanwhile, following the first accident, there had been an ongoing enquiry and a court case for compensation. After a long struggle and rejecting several miserly offers Len and his family settled for £750 plus £50 for his mother looking after him.

At 18 Len was called up and passed the medical at B1 level of fitness. He therefore went into the Ordinance Corps, where he was a Store Keeper. Len served in the U.K. for 18 months and was then sent to Egypt in 1946. He returned to the U.K. in 1948 and, after demob, signed on at the Labour Exchange. Because of this army experience Len was sent to as firm in Edmonton in April 1948. He stayed there for 33 years and left in 1980.

The firm was Thorne Electrics and Len started in the factory which made electric light bulbs which were sent all over Europe. He cycled to work and earned £58 per week. After about 3 years Len was transferred to Enfield where they made fluorescent tubes. His working hours were 7.45am to 4.30pm, and he stayed there for 27 half years.

Every Friday afternoon was spent collecting money for firm outings and organising raffle tickets. There was a very good social club, which arranged monthly trips to the West End theatres and an annual coach trip to the seaside.

Following his retirement, Len moved to Dorset in 1975. He reflected that, had the war not started, he would have liked to have had a career in using mathematics which he loved – possibly teaching or accountancy.