Interview with female Italian, second-generation immigrant. Father was brickworker

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Interviewer

Semeraro, Carmela

Document Type

Date

2 Jul 2003

Interview Date

2 Jul 2003

Biography

The interviewee was born 16 March 1939, in Battipaglia, Italy. She lived in Montecorvino, where her mother came from. She recalls the American troops arriving during the Second World War. Her maternal grandparents lived in same apartment. Her family lived off the land. The women did most of the work on their land and the menfolk had other jobs as well, painting and decorating. Her father's family were from Battipaglia. Her father worked in a sugar factory and lived away from home. She recalls that he wrote to her mother regularly. After the war, her father arranged for his family to join him in England. He worked on a farm, as a prisoner of war, and the farmer helped arrange the permit after the war for his family to join him. She remembers being very sea-sick when crossing the English Channel. She attended Ridgemont School, herself and her siblings being the only Italian children at school. She transferred to school in Ampthill when she was seven. During this time, her father worked at brickworks and also, part-time, on a local farm. Her family were allocated a council house in Millbrook. The interviewee left school at fifteen, and briefly joined her sister, working in underwear factory in Bedford, and then moved to an Organic factory in Bedford. After a few weeks at Organic, she moved to a chemist's shop in Ampthill. She recalls liking it there and did occasional translation work for the bank next door. She was encouraged to apply for an interpreter's job at Meltis, which employed mainly Italian women. She met husband when she was 18. She was married in 1959 and had a daughter in 1961. She recalls daily activities at work.

Length (minutes)

Copyright and Source Archive

Material sourced from Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service