VN053 Dilys Pritchard, Austin Taylor, Bethesda;Ferranti, Bangor

Dilys worked in Woolworths after leaving school for four years. She moved to Ferranti's, around 1961-1962, where she stayed for six months, before leaving to work at Austin Taylor. Almost straight away, she became one of their 'keyworkers' learning how to treat people and train them on the product. She remembers that one girl got her hair caught in one of the machines once and she had the wit to turn it off.They had to get scissors and cut some of her hair to get it free. After eight years, she became ill with appenicitis and had to leave. The factory told her that if she wanted her job back she'd have to go to a tribunal and, with no union to back her up, she lost her job in 1970.

VSE053 Betty Probert, Hoover, Merthyr;OP Chocolate Factory, Merthyr

Betty left school at 16 (1946) and started in O P Chocolates (until 1954) with her twin sister. She was in the packing dept. Also helped in basement with the line, making chocolates or in the boiled sweets section. Heavy work. They also made wafer biscuits. You could eat as much as you wanted. They had broken biscuits in bags. Union supported her when she refused to do the heavy work. Records, talking and singing. Sending notes with chocolates ‘If married, pass us by, if single, please reply.’ Her sister met a man from Holland in this way! Dusting chocolates with feather duster. Factory moved to Dowlais. Lots of the girls moved to Hoover’s. Describes the different jobs she did there on washing machine. Training in London. All girls on assembly. She had an accident and compensation - £60 – before tribunal. Union – her friend was a shop steward. Monthly and Xmas bonuses. She had a washing machine, tumble drier and a cleaner (cheaper) when there. She can still have these today. Equal pay strike – women on big machines. Not aware of the Dagenham strike. Dancing in canteen and table tennis facilities. Sports Day – factories competing . Concerts – mentions singers. Smoking on factory floor. Holidays. Still meet up – cricket club. She left Hoover’s in 1989. Gold watch for 25th + £30; £100 for 35 years. Monthly pension and redundancy pay. ‘Home from ‘home’.

VSW053 Meiryl James, Milk Marketing Board Creamery, Felinfach

Meiryl was 19 when she left school and she started working in the laboratory in the factory in 1957 – until 1968 (when she became pregnant). She mentions the overalls and the acid burns on them and on skin. She describes testing the milk and the smell of the milk from the different farms. The factory had to be open all year round. They had a lot of fun and she would compose verses for the Christmas party. She bought a car after 5 years and went to eisteddfodau. She won the Sydney Foster prize. She describes the problems in hot weather. They attended one another’s weddings to form a ‘guard of honour’.

VN054 Sandra Owen, AustinTaylor, Bethesda;High Speed Plastics, Llandygái

Sandra went into the plastics factory straight from school, in 1970, making watering cans and sun visors. They were doing time and motion, everyone had their targets, and wages depended on how many sunvisors a worker had made, so people were going full pelt in order to earn a high wage at the end of the week. After two years, she moved to Austin Taylor in Bethesda, where she was able to walk to work. The factory made electronic parts and she was on the machines, in the machine shop, and she said the machines were so big, you wanted to run straight back out again. But the men trained her and in a day or two she became 'a real boy' on the machine and very happy. The workers had targets to reach in this factory too and sometimes did a 56 hour week to reach them. Later Sandra became a supervisor. She stayed in this factory until it was about to close in 1998, when she left and started her own business, supplying chickens to butchers shops around Wales.

VSE054 Doreen Lillian Maggie Bridges (nee Moses), Valeo, Ystrad Mynach;Golmets, Pontllan-ffraith;Switchgear, Pontllan-ffraith;Cora Crafts, Pengam

Doreen left school at 15+ (1957) and started in the stores in the Cora Crafts Factory, which made jewellery. Men came in to collect the stones. She helped with weighing the gold powder for the gold-plating too. With the orders she was using her brains. Her father was very strict re. going out – no lipstick. Her friends went monkey-parading. She only stayed 6 months. Doreen moved to Switchgear – quite a big factory, drilling, countersinking (making a ridge for screws) and de-burring (taking flashing off what was being drilled). The factory made switches. Mother and pay packet. Union supported her re. lifting heavy loads. Taken off job. Radio and singing to themselves. Noise affected her hearing. Men had been trained and got higher wages – unfair. By the time of the Equal Pay Act (1970) she was working in Valeo's. But they did not have equal pay. She stayed 1 year in Switchgear, and went to Golmets. Left to have first child 1965. Golmets made ironing boards and kitchen stools. She spent a time cutting white asbestos – no masks. She ‘could see it in the air’. She went to Valeo’s in 1977. She became a union rep. with the GMB – a fight against using a special dip which caused cancer. Valeo’s made armatures for windscreen washes. She also had to negotiate pay rises. Advised women to pay the full stamp. Women were ‘being done down’. Xmas carnival with Switchgear lorry – choir on float. Doreen retired in 1995.

VSW054 Evana Lloyd, Milk Marketing Board Creamery, Felinfach

Evana began working at the Creamery in 1971 (until 1979 when her son was born). She wanted to be a teacher but her mother found her a job in the factory’s laboratory. Yet she enjoyed testing the milk and the cleanliness of the factory. She also did administrative work. She describes shortening the overalls, getting permission to wear trousers, the dangerous acid, course to improve their skills, the games room, spot checks, forming a guard of honour at weddings and the fatherly attitude of the older workers. She missed the companionship greatly when she left.

VN055 Beryl Buchanan, Ferranti, Bangor;Hotpoint, Llandudno;Mona Products, Menai Bridge

Beryl went to Mona Products, which made clothes for Marks and Spencers, straight from school in 1958. She was sewing collars and sleeves onto T shirts and putting elastic in knickers and sewing gussets. There wasn't a basic wage and she said you had to work your socks off to make your wage up, the wages were very bad. There were no health and safety regulations and a small canteen. There was only a few men there - two packing, two mechanics and the manager. There was music on the factory floor, and the boys would choose what station they'd listen to - like Workers' Playtime and the news. After two years, she moved to Ferranti, which made electronic meters. This was much bigger than Mona Products and she was working on the laminations and making tops for sports cars and leather covers. She was much happier in Ferranti's, lot more fun, and a better wage plus bonuses. Beryl was there until 1968, when she went to Hotpoint for a few months. She didn't like Hotpoint and returned to Ferranti, getting married around this time and stopping work when she had children.

VSE055 Caroline Isina Aylward, Louis Edwards, Maesteg;Christie and Tyler's, Glyncorrwg

Caroline left school at 15 (1952) and started in Louis Edwards. She worked there until she had her son - 1959. Before she started they made army uniforms but she was making evening gowns and lots for M&S. She sewed the collars mostly. Description of factory layout. Men/women balance. No talking, Dancing. Perks from factory – buy dresses with flaws. Garment Workers’ Union and paying on a Friday. Very hard work – Chinese labour. Time and motion on new styles – pricing jobs. Needles in fingers. She caught her skirt in a machine – so they had overalls after. Played netball after work a few times. She returned for a couple of years later (c. 1967-9) and a happier place. First time the workforce was disgruntled. She also worked in furniture factories - Colonial / Christie Tyler. She worked part-time when her son was small. Thicker material but earning good money. Easier sewing – not fussy. Describes processes. Moved to Trefforest (1980s?) when shortage of work in Glyncorrwg. Same company but different names to factories. Then she was aked to work with a designer as a machinist developing furniture She did private sewing for one of the male workers. Later factory in Glyncorrwg closed and they went to Pendragon in Bridgend. But made redundant and she went into Social Services.

VSW055 Eirwen Jones, Milk Marketing Board, Pont Llanio Milk Factory

Eirwen left school at 17 (1969) and because she had to wait a year before going nursing she worked at the Pont Llanio Creamery. She went away to Aberystwyth to nurse – very shy and didn’t speak English. There wasn’t any running water or a bath in her home. She became manageress of the canteen at the Creamery with no experience. There was a staff of c. 80 – only 4 women in the Laboratory. Lots of fun with the men – they tried to get her to sit in their lap. Huge emphasis on cleanliness. Some of her family e.g. her father drove a lorry, worked there too. The factory closed in 1974. She earned £6 a week – good money. She got used to the men teasing her. The company gave her father a hamper of cheese, butter etc every Xmas and paid for a Xmas dinner. No rules – if you fell, ‘tough’. When she was nursing she felt at a disadvantage that her English wasn’t better. In the factory she was aware that her father would help her if the men became too forward.

VN056 Sali (Sarah) Williams, E. Morgan & Co Tobacco factory, Amlwch

Straight after leaving school, Sali worked in E Morgan & Co tobacco factory from 1938 until 1942, when she was called up into the Land Army. Her job was doing the round 'ounces', weighing the tobacco at a table with three other girls. The tobacco had to be weighed carefully for others to pack in into round tins. It was interesting work, and after it was packed the tobacco went all over Wales. HMS Customs would visit the factory sometimes, unannounced, to test the tobacco and see if it was too wet. If it was, the public paid too much for it. The tobacco went into different wrappers but it was the same tobacco! There was a good relationship between the girls. The place wasn't hygenic at all, with a bit of water to wash their hands in a bucket, no taps, and no toilets. She really enjoyed her time in the Land Army and, after the war, she returned to the same factory until she married and she left to have her first child. She never returned to work but stayed at home thereafter.