Interview with female Marston Vale resident and ex-canteen worker at London Brick Co.

  • Women's Voices and Life Writing
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Title
Interview with female Marston Vale resident and ex-canteen worker at London Brick Co.
Notes on Audio Quality
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Interviewer
Semeraro, Carmela
Document Type
  • Oral history Recording
Date
25 Jun 2003
Interview Date
25 Jun 2003
Biography
The interviewee was born 4 November 1934 at Greenfield, near Flitwick. Her mother came from Ampthill. And her father from Blackburn, who came down to work at London Brick Co. The family moved to Stewartby when she was an infant. Her parent's marriage broke up during the war and her father moved to Chelmsford, then to Australia. She's hasn’t seen him since. Her mother remarried and her stepfather was a burner at London Brick. Her mother cleaned the London Brick offices early in the morning. During the wartime, they would be given lifts in the tanks that were kept in sheds in the brick works and were tested locally. She recalls that they were very noisy, but it was exciting, and they used to drop them off at the picture palace at Ampthill. She remembers wartime restrictions such as blackout regulations, buzz bombs coming over, air raid sirens and sheltering under the stairs. She also recalls that there were air raid shelters outside the school at Stewartby and they used to have to run out of school and down into them. Each had a tin down there with their name on, with chocolate and biscuits in. At school, she was called out of lessons sometimes to assist staff to run the netball or hockey lessons. She used to like sport. When leaving school, a friend told her about an underwear factory, Horwins, in Bedford and she went to work there as a machinist. She met her husband at the swimming pool. He was a carpenter and joiner and had served in Malaysia with the RAF during his National Service. After three years in Bedford she left, because her eyesight was affected. She moved to work at Stewartby in the brickwork's canteen. She married aged twenty-two years and left work. She discusses current health, now suffering from asthma. Her mother had bronchitis. She doesn't feel that the brickyard emissions had anything to do with it. She speaks about the changes in the countryside locally.
Length (minutes)
60
Copyright and Source Archive
Material sourced from Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service