大象传媒

Amongst the traditions brought to the Bristol by the female former cotton workers was the mock wedding ceremony, which took place in the machine shop to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of one of their colleagues.

One of the male workers would dress up as the blushing bride, accompanied by a female worker who would dress up as the handsome bridegroom. The happy couple, together with several "bridesmaids", would then go on a tour of the machine shop headed by the "vicar" (another female wearing a black suit, bowler hat and a dog collar). A collection taken along the way paid for the shop-floor wedding reception, which took place in the machine shop a few days later.

At one particular wedding reception, the high-spirited guests decided to strip the attractive young bride-to-be down to her smalls before frog-marching her through the adjoining all male toolroom. Here all hell broke loose as the toolroom fitters greeted the embarrassed lass with a deafening noise, as they thumped their bench tops with hammers and mallets. Accompanying this almighty din was a mixture of slow hand clapping, piercing wolf-whistles and constant shouts of "ged 'em off!".

In return for their ogling of the bride-to-be, the men contributed most generously to a collection which bought her a well-deserved wedding present.

When I recall the happy three and a half years I worked at the Bristol during World War 2, I often wonder if the present-day workers still celebrate these mischievous and humourous traditions which I enjoyed so much as a teenager in the 1940s.

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