VN022 Megan Owen, James Kaylor Compacts, Caernarfon
Megan worked for twenty years in the compact factory, starting at age 15. She hadn't left school properly when she started, but a friend who'd passed a scholarship to go to grammar school didn't want to go and this friend told Megan they were looking for people in the compact factory. So the two went down, got a job, and Megan had a row off her mother afterwards. She said on the first day they went in like schoolgirls, with little white socks and pony tails, giggling and not knowing what to do. The younger girls were put together in a room and taught how to put the little round piece that held the powder into the compacts and then the satin around it. Later she was moved onto to do other jobs, like printing, putting the designs onto the compacts with paint. Megan left for 12 years to raise her daughter, and then returned to the factory and stayed until it closed , c 1984.
John Patterson tablecloth factory (aka John Pattinson and Fairweather works), Ponthenri
VSW003 Glenda & Annie Lewis, Morris Motors (Leyland), Llanelli;John Patterson tablecloth factory (aka John Pattinson and Fairweather works), Ponthenri
Glenda and Annie left school when they were 14/15. Glenda worked on printing tablecloths in John Patterson’s (c.1953-) and Annie on cutting the material. In Morris Motors Glenda made car radiators for 35 years. The John Patterson factory closed and Annie worked in the battery factory in Pont-henri for some months. She worked in Morris Motors for 32 years. They describe playing tricks there. Glenda was given a special table to work on because she was left-handed. Annie tried for a job with the men on the presses but other workers complained. Xmas parties in the factory. Both had watches for long service. They talk about the gloves, smoking and the smell of cigarettes. In Morris Motors they sold babies’ clothes that they made. Problems with targets – the material was poor. The award ceremony for long service. Glenda left at 58 – a bad back and Annie at 56.
John Patterson Tablecloth Factory (aka John Pattinson and Fairweather works), Ponthenri
VSW004 Nanette Lloyd, John Patterson Tablecloth Factory (aka John Pattinson and Fairweather works), Ponthenri
After leaving school at 15 she became a waitress and worked in a shoe shop before starting in the factory c.1953, printing tablecloths. If you spoiled the work it came out of your pay. She mentions the unhealthy smell of the paint (dye); earning £20 a week; carrying heavy rolls affecting her periods. She had a nasty accident because she wasn’t wearing rubber wellingtons. No union. The Pont-henri factory was built for coalminers with silicosis but the paint fumes were too strong. She believes that the company’s workers in Birmingham earned more than them. The cloths were sent all over the world and the girls put messages in with the orders to get pen-friends. The workers smelled of thinners. They stole bleach to clean their nails She learned to dance in the cloakroom. She left when her mother died to keep house for her father and brothers. Some verbal harassment of young boys in the factory. Singing on a Friday. Taking a float to Pont-henri carnival. Drinks at Xmas.
VSW051 Jean Evans, Mettoys, Fforestfach;John Stanton, Abertawe
Jean left school at 15 (1960) and worked in the Home and Colonial shop Swansea. After c.8 months she moved to Mettoys. Hard work, everything was weighed and she was paid according to what was in the pallets. Moved around – onto assembly making toys. She left when she had her boy but returned on evening shift after eight months. She was in the Fettling Dept., cleaning car parts. Then went on to inspecting, ready for packing. Reported sub-standard work. Then given more responsibility – in charge of others. Left because tired of evening work and landed up in John Stanton sewing factory. But returned in three weeks to Mettoys. Left then to work as a domestic. In Mettoys the manager did spot checks. The white coats were mostly men. She came out of her shell in the factory. They had fun.
Sylvia left grammar school with O Levels when she was 17. She intended becoming a nurse, but married instead. She worked in shops and at the Opticals, Cydweli but after her son was born she started in John Stanton’s as a top sewing machinist in 1967 (until c. 1969) – quite a posh factory. They made clothes for M&S, Targets, time and motion and bonuses. Injuries with the sewing needles. There wasn’t a union and when they tried to unskill her job she moved to the Salter’s Factory (1969-78) -as a calibrator, making scales. She worked for the money but the company was good too. She moved to inspection in the warehouse. They bought seconds in both factories and there was some pilfering. Salter’s closed in 1978.
Patricia left school at 15 (1959) and started in a bandage making factory in Penclawdd. She wove the bandages. The experience was horrendous. The factory moved to Garnant. It was cold and the workers walked out (1962). They were employed instantly in Corgi’s. She worked as a linker, progressing to production. Patricia became a trainer and supervisor. Highly skilled work. She notes the gauges etc.; dancing to rock and roll songs on the radio, cleanliness; building up speed; completed garments sent back to Surrey to be finished. Paine’s (1966) did the whole process. In Corgi’s there was a crèche – but closed because of regulations. She worked as an outworker when children were small (c.1968-73). Some jobs were better payers than others. As staff, not in a Union. Increased Health and Safety regulations. Xmas celebrations - decorating the floor and machines; dinner. Social clubs – and trips. Patricia has tinnitus – from factory work. Visit by Princess Anne. Factory closed in 1998 – she worked there 33 years.
VSE050 Audrey Gray, Johnson & Johnson, Pengam;British Nylon Spinners, Pontypool
Audrey left the grammar school (she describes her experiences in detail) at 17 (1953/4) and though destined for university her brothers’ weddings left her mother with no income and she went to work in the laboratory in BNS, testing yarns for viscosity etc. Keeping records and cleaning everything in the evening. Notes working with asbestos baths and fume cupboards when describing processes. Tested raw materials too e.g. water and coal. Girls didn’t work on the night shift. She understood the production process. She notes that girls’ schools didn’t have chemistry labs. Number of toxic and dangerous chemicals. Wore terylene lab coats, two strength gloves – gauntlets of rubber, eye-shields compulsory for some jobs, She had one accident - a flask bubbled up and shot solution into her face – first aiders, nurses and hospital. One walk out because hot and air conditioning not working. Social life with lab people mainly. Different clubs – tennis, table tennis, canoeing. Beautiful factory grounds. Laundry basket for their lab coats, dusters etc. Paid monthly. They were given shares and pensions. Seven day shift system. She belonged to the ASTMS union- Assoc. of Technical and Management ? With automation came redundancies. She describes the excellent social club and events. Xmas dances – responsibility of one shift, like a film set. She stayed there for 12-3 years and then to Johnson’s in the quality control lab for a few years. It produced j cloths.
VSE044 Maureen Jones, Merlin's Sponge factory, Port Talbot;Wern Aluminium, Port Talbot;Johnson's Bottle Top Factory, Port Talbot
Maureen left school at 15 (1961) and started in Johnson’s, feeding the machine with the tops and other jobs. Other women cutting out circle tops. Recycling tops - she worked there – filthy job. Packing them in boxes. Dangerous – her pinny strap caught in machine. One woman lost her finger. Details of first day. Left to work in the Wern – as an oiler where the sheets came out. She thinks they were for aeroplanes. Accident and having four stitches. She worked there for a year. Prank – putting machine on fast. Picking up scrap metal. Rubber gloves for turning the heavy sheets. She moved to Devon and later returned to work in Merlin’s making car kits and sponges.
After leaving school, Nesta worked in a bakery, icing cakes and cleaning tables but the money wasn't very good and she had to catch the bus into Wrexham. After that, she worked in a launderette in Llangollen, washing sheets for hotels, and they had to carry heavy sheets and put them in the rollers. She found it very hard work and couldn't cope and after about six weeks she heard about a job in a factory at Llangollen, which wove wool blankets. She started work in 1946; she was three years in the blanket factory, and went to the sanitary towel factory at seventeen. She said the sanitary towel factory and Johnson Fabrics were in Marchwiel, which is now Wrexham industrial estate. She met her husband in Johnsons Fabrics. He used to clean the fluff off all the looms. Julie, Nesta's daughter, said her father used to make excuses to go and clean Nesta's loom and she used to say “I had the cleanest loom in the place.” Nesta worked in several factories in and around Wrexham, including Hunts, which made units for electrical applicances, and Unilateral Ceramics. She moved factories often for various reasons, eg. family commitments or more money. She gained a lot of experience of work and, in one factory, she rose to be a charge hand. She thinks her health suffered from factory work and gave up eventually in 1978, when she was 47, though she did other jobs afterwards, like cleaning.
VSE071 Veronica (Vera) Diane Lena Battle, JR Freeman's Cigar Factory, Cardiff;Ralph Mathers garment factory, Cardiff;Garment factory, Cardiff
Vera’s father was a renowned jazz musician – she outlines her background and his career. Vera left school at 14 (1948) and started in the sewing factory, sewing buttons and canvas in the lapels of men’s jackets. She moved to the cigar factory in Clive Street, annual trip to London. She took the cigars down the cellar and stacked them to dry out. Because the factory moved to Penarth Road she went to work in a tailoring factory making women’s clothes. She was on the overlocker and the buttonholes. They sang. There were a lot of Greek girls there. They were the best tailors She names some of the workers. She had clothes made for her daughters there. She moved to Toulouse with her prospective husband but returned and he went back to America. She was also a dancer who performed in the chorus of an American Negro show and on tour (London and Scotland etc.). She has worked in a primary school too.
