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Do you know where the diamonds came from?

Yes well er, they were a firm in London but mostly they came from Amsterdam, er the firms were all connected with Amsterdam. Er and the firms were usually Dutch er- er they dealt with. I don’t know how they got them, don’t ask me but one of things- the thing that I was really wanted to tell you is er I stayed at the factory er- and we- well I met Walter and we got engaged during- er, just after- as the war finished and then we got married later on, but er I stayed at there- there ‘til my eldest daughter was born in 1952 so I was there while it winded- wound down after the war because what- they closed this part up and they went in with bigger firm, back again, after the war but one of the things that happened just after the war finished, I suppose end of 1945, we got a load of diam- dyes, the little brown discs- the little brass discs and they’d come from Germany and they were German ones doing exactly the same work as we’d been doing in our factory and where er I can remember- we used to put on ours WDD for Wire Drawing Dyes, er printed on these metal ones were German firms which we’d heard of being bombed and it seemed to bring the war to a close and complete really, that- that’s what sticks in my mind. Er one firm was called (R. G. Farthing) and there was another one, that’s well known one that I can’t think of but they were doing exactly the same work as our factory had been doing but we won and we got their dyes.

And do you know whereabouts they were in Germany?

Well I think it would be the (Rure) but I’m not sure, ‘cos I think this other firm, I can’t remember, you heard of it begin bombed in the Rure when you heard the reports on the radio where had been bombed the night before.

But at that time you didn’t know that they were doing the same kind [of-]

[No, no]

[-work that] you were doing?

But stand to reason, I suppose they would, yeah.

Well- I just- a thought now, you lived in Patricroft and you had to get to get to er Salford

Oh yeah

How did you travel that?

Oh, well it was on the bus er from Patricroft when they could do but er sometimes coming home — especially when it was foggy — it was awful, you used to have to walk home and I can remember coming out of work one night when it was foggy and I walked up to er Salford Royal, across the road and when I got to the far side, the fog was so thick I couldn’t tell which way I was pointing so I had to ask somebody and it was easier then to walk down Oldfield road and al- back along Eccles New Road because it was a straight road. Eccles
Old Road wound too much and then I would have got towards Monton instead of Patricroft, er it was very difficult and when we used to go out at night-time sometimes, if we used to go to Salford Hippodrome to shows there, er, we saw erm Sweeny Todd there <laughs> and er the buses finished at half past nine so you used to have to walk home then shining your torch on the pavement.

And were there many other people doing the same thing?

Oh yes, yeah, they- well the young ones, you couldn’t keep them in and I can remember erm I must have gone to Manchester for some reason and I can’t remember how it was but I remember seeing er a lot of young women er round Piccadilly Station and places like that, with Americans <laughs>. I can remember the Americans coming, yeah.

And how did you go on for er clothing?

Oh that was very difficult because er my cl- my ration- erm coupons for clothes had to ho on school uniform in the first place and so I always remember my sister who didn’t go to grammar school whose- her clothes were more varied than me. You couldn’t- couldn’t get a lot of er different clothes, but you could get some and if- but you had to save your coupons up for you see, so I had one er set of best clothes really and then school uniform so I was behind my sister, which I envied her, but now and again you could get things without coupons and er I don’t- there was a black market but I don’t know er ex- where things came from but eventually you know, sometimes you’d here: Oh such-a-body’s got a Mac- a Mackintosh and it cost so much or things like that but er we used to like to go swimming as well but one of the swimming pools was shut, there was just one kept open

Which [one]?

[because] of the fuel

Which swimming pool was [that]

[Patricroft]. Er, there were two there. But they shut the er what used to be the er ladies part and sh- and kept the men’s part but everybody could go but as regards swimming costumes, that was an e- so it- somebody found out that if you er could get er somebody, I don’t- who could- be a machinist could get a yard of material and then they got er shearing elastic, which I don’t know how you got that but now and again it must have appeared and then they made er a rushed bathe- swim suit which fitted everybody and so er we were able to go swimming.

So one size fits all?

Yes, that’s right <laughs>

And how did you go on for erm hairdressing?

Oh, that was another thing er they had er we- you could go to the hairdresser er but it was dear and being young, we used to do our own my sister and I, but the one thing she used to make ha- was er ho- homemade setting lotion which was from er green soap car- melted up or something in scent — it was horrible really but er we used to stick that on our heads and as well as that we used to make our own erm…er…tan for our legs, from gravy browning because er er there was no stockings, you know. If you found a pair of st- stockings, you were lucky <laughs>

And cosmetics?

Er…there was lipstick a- about, but that’s about all we used and I don’t know, it must have been very cheap stuff I think and…

Did you buy that?

Yes, oh yeah.

And can you recall any of the kinds of styles of hairstyle?

Oh yes. We used to roll it up into kind of er…tubes really and stick a clip in- a hair clip in it, that’s mostly- it was pinned up or er pageboy bob, that was another one. I used to try er and get mine into a pageboy bob but that was a kind of straight style that curled under and it was er it was quite nice style really. I suppose you could do it with setting lotion but I never achieved a very nice one myself <laughs>

And when you say tubes, were they at the side of the head?

Yes, curls

Curls

Curls, [curls]

[Above] your ears?

Well, around the back as well or you could get it in- we used to have erm- er- if you got a piece of er er a circle out of a stocking and er stuck it round your head and then tucked your hair in it you got a roll. I think a lot of er service people did that to- to fit their hats on.

And you mentioned, er, being in fogs when you were coming home

Mmm

Ca- was it a fog of something burning somewhere?

No, it was just that fogs were worse then and er it wa- er we seemed to- the weather was never clear- er the- we noticed the difference later on after the war when I went to- had a job in town er and you could see the hills all round and erm you never could see the Pennines in those days because of the smog and er pollution really.

Right.

Now have you got any memories of er D Day?

Erm… I remember er hearing of it on the radio and things like that but erm er- I was engaged to Walter and erm we used to go out with my sister a lot and er we went out and about but really there wasn’t a great lot happening here. There were parties going on in some of the streets but er I didn’t really take part in them. It was nice to take the blackout down. That was the best thing of all and er you know, you felt as thought things were going to improve, but er I haven’t got very strong- I think if you got somebody in the forces you probably would feel that more.

And VE Day?

Yes

Victory in Europe Day?

Yeah

Ok, do you recall when D Day, the Normandy Landings, were happening? Do you recall any news? Remember any news from that?

Well, we just used to see it at the pictures really, mainly and then of course, hear it on the radio. Er, but I think- I suppose teenagers, I don’t think you were that er minded - unless you’d got somebody in it, you know, which we hadn’t you see.

And do you recall anything about VJ day?

No it’s just about the same sort of things really and things- you were hoping things were gradually coming back to normal but in a way they didn’t, because as I say, we got married in 1949 and austerity was still on and we still had to save our coupons- er people saved them for us to have a wedding dress and er our mothers did the wedding feast, as you might call it.

And how did you go on for the wedding cake?

Er, well with my mother being a confectioner the- she had access to some things but it wasn’t a big one it was just- we managed one and then erm er the er we had our wedding meal it was in- in a school, the Albert Street Day School belonging to the parish church wasn’t it? And er we used their room and er I can always remember tinned plums and I though ugh. You wouldn’t choose it for your wedding but we had fruit and we had enough to eat but it was all very austere really.

Now, just going back to your working days erm, can you remember what your wages were when you went to work for- at Farmer Norton?

Er…I think it wasn’t really much above a pound a week and I- I went- I went to work on the train from Patricroft and got off at (Hopefield) road station, which isn’t there now, and erm I can remember the first night I came home, standing on the train as I was- it was getting into the station and my mum, she was st- standing at the- cos we facing the railway- she was standing at the gate with her apron on to get my money but er when I first went to down to- off the train at (Hopefield) Road and walked down to go- to go up over the road to go to Salford (Rise) to work, I passed erm a blacksmiths forge that was there, because there was still a lot of horses about then, of course they may not have lasted quite as long as they did but they did- they did- they were still horses er because of the war-time but not only that, when we first came to live here the milkman had a horse and the rag-and-bone man had a horse and the coalman had a horse, so there was still the blacksmith then near where er Sainsbury’s is now.

And out of that pound a week, did you get any spending money?

Yes.

How much did you get?

I can’t really remember. I ca- I can’t- I honestly can’t remember. 50.

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Sorry.

Er we got married in er 1949 and er lived with relatives for a year and then we moved [here]

[Where] did you live with the relatives?

Er at Sale. I had an aunt at Sale who’d got rooms and we went to live there. Thought we’d like to live over there and then decided we wouldn’t and we came here and we’ve been here ever since but I know that we hadn’t been in the house long and had har- hardly any carpets and one day they said there was an all- they used to call it an allocation when anything came to a shop, of hoovers so er we went and bought a hoover er because er but even though we hadn’t got the carpets just it was there and we got it and it lasted quite a long time so- and there had to be er still rationed at a certain shop, you had to register at the shop and go- it was a shop lower down the lane from here and we had to go there for our rations. So that was 1950 so it lasted quite a- a while.

Can- can you remember how much the hoover cost?

No, I can’t remember, [no]

No worries, thank you. Thank you for sharing your memories with us erm and it’s, you know, we hope we can get a copy of this for you so you can put it onto the talking newspaper. Erm, and thank you very much. Thank you.

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