Interview with female office worker at brickworks - Women's Voices and Life Writing

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Title

Interview with female office worker at brickworks

Interviewer

Semeraro, Carmela

Document Type

Date

19 Feb 2002

Interview Date

19 Feb 2002

Biography

The interviewee was born on 28 July 1934 in the Skerries, Ireland, from where her Mother came. Her Father came from Whittlesey in Peterborough. Her parents came to know each other through being "pen pals", he was in the army. She and a friend came over from England from Ireland to work in domestic service in London, as maids. Her father joined the brickworks near Peterborough when he left the army and got married. They moved to Marston Moretaine when she was three. When the Second World War started her father was eventually called up. Her mother worked at the ammunition factory at Elstow. There were seven children but one died, leaving 4 girls and 2 boys. Parents used the front room downstairs as their bedroom and the three bedrooms upstairs for the children. Her house was owned by the brickworks . After the war, her father worked on the "navy" (mechanical excavator). Her aunt from London came to live with her during the war because due to the bombing. Her mother died aged 59; her Father died aged 61. Her husband's father died aged 56 and his mother was 53. As children, she and her family went to Ireland for a holiday, until she was 13. She left school at 15 and got a job in the offices at Marston Valley Brick Company. An uncle in Ireland was a market gardener in County Dublin and they used to help him pick the fruit and walk by the sea. Her mother was one of 13 children so she had lots of Irish cousins. She was 14 when her father left the army (1948). She got married at 19 and had three children, the first when she was 21. When Marston Valley was taken over by London Brick, her husband moved to work at Plysu until her retired. As a child she attended primary school in Lidlington and secondary school in Stewartby. Her father used to come home frequently when he was in the army because he served mainly in Norfolk or Northamptonshire. Her mother was Catholic and went every Sunday to a 9am service at Marston Club. She loved writing English compositions, but nothing else at school. She worked on a brickworks switchboard at Ridgemont. After a miscarriage, she went to work in the wages office on the clerical side. She would often cycle to the cinema in Cranfield or in Ampthill. She and her husband loved dancing to live bands: waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, jive, and used to have dancing classes in Marston. Cinema on Sunday night at Marston Valley Club and a live band on a Saturday night. Concerts on weekdays, with local amateurs taking part, singing and dancing. As they got older, her husband was too tired to go out and she was happy to be at home with the family. She married a German and they go to Germany twice a year to visit her husband's brother. She worries about her grandchildren growing up in a more dangerous environment, with the prevalence of drugs and the fear of crime, and she wishes that life would slow down more and that people were not so greedy. She feels lucky that she has her children and grandchildren in Marston, close to her.

Length (minutes)

Copyright and Source Archive

Material sourced from Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service