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I moved from Loscoe to langley Mill in 1938, having married the previous year. We came here because my late husband , Wilf, worked at Aristoc.
I remember vividly the day we got the keys for our ten shillings a week rented bungalow in Argyle Street.
The first thing i did was to make myself a member of Langley Mill and Aldercar Cooperative Society, membership number 5554. Then i went to the Furnishing and Hardware Dept. at the bottom of Dean Street, now part of the Bridge Centre, and made my first purchases as a new member. A sweeping brush, dustpan, bucket,floor cloths, scrubbing brush and soap. No vacuum cleaners then, if there had been it would have been no use as mains electricity was not laid up our street until the war was over. Luxuries like that had to be put on hold until after the war was over.
The bungalows were newly built, so we had builders rubble to contend with. I carried my cleaning requisites up to the top of Dean Street and over Queen Street recreation ground to Argyle Street. At that time there was a footpath to link up Bridge Street and Dean Street to the recreation ground.
I was half way across the rec , as we called it, when all the factory hooters went. It was 11.00am on November 11th 1938-Armistice Day. Everyone respected it and always observed the 2 minutes silence wherever they may be. So there i stood, looking like Mrs Mop until the blowers sounded the end of the 2 minutes.
Little was i to know that that would be the last Armstice Day to be commemerated until after the 2nd World War was over! The sirens and factory blowers would only sound as an air raid warning for the duration of the war.
1938 was the year of preparation, gas masks being issued, A.R.P. wardens being appointed. Mr Hull was our Warden for Argyle Street. My baby son , Alan, was given a babies gas mask, a large contraption which the baby lay in, with a perspex window so that i could see him, a bit like an incubator. Mr Hull showed me how to use the hand pump to get oxygen in. Thankfully we never had to use them.
Sunday September 3rd.1939 came, a bright sunny morning. My dad was with us , he had waked over the fields from Loscoe Miners Welfare, where he was the steward.We switched on the wireless, just a loud speaker we had, having no mains electricity.We had Re-diffusion, relayed radio which we paid sixpence a week for, it was relayed from a shop on Station Road, near the bank on the corner of Elnor Street. This must have been in use until the fifties as my niece was a collector for them in the Marlpool area then. I guess it would be more than sixpence then though!
We gathered round to hear Neville Chamberlain's speech to say;"As from that day Britain was at war with Germany". Dad looked at me and said "This is going to change your lives dramatically, what a poor start in your new home".I replied "Millions like us dad, we will cope".
Everyone's lives changed, black out curtains were compulsory and ration books were issued. Families registered with shops of their choice and the first rationing started in January 1940. Each person was restricted to 4ozs of bacon or ham and 4ozs of butter a week.
As the war went on the list of rationed food got longer. By August 1942 the food ration for one person for one week was; 2ozs of butter, 2ozs of cheese, 2ozs margerine, 2ozs cooking fat, 2ozs tea or coffee, 4ozs jam or other preserve, 4ozs bacon, 12ozs meat, 1 egg and two pints of milk. Not much for one week! Dried egg powder was introduced, not on ration. Mixed with water it was alright for cooking.
Clothes rationing came in in June 1941. Originally there were 66 coupons for each adult per year, which amounted to one new outfit. It was reduced to 48 coupons in 1942. we were told to "make do and mend" I was thankful that i had a sewing machine and was a trained Cutter and Tailor. Although it was only a hand sewing machine it certainly saved me alot of coupons. I bought silk parchute panels from the Army and Navy stores and made real luxury undies, nighties etc and hand embroidered them, to give a touch of class! Coats were cut down to make trousers and jackets for Alan when he was a toddler.
Young men and women were called for the forces, women were given the choice of working in munitions factories instead. Langly Mill, always known for it's industry, having canal,road and rail links, became even more so.
Collaros, bombed out in London in 1939, moved up to premises built for Vic Hallam. They manufactured shell cases and bullets amongst other things. Girls with boiler suits wearing turbans to protect their hair from the massive machinery, were doing men's work!
Aristoc started making barrage balloons in 1940, followed by rubber dingies, life jackets (nicknamed Mae Wests ,for obvious reasons) and emergency packs for baled out pilots. Decoy Army lorries made of rubber inflatables and spray painted to camoflage them were also made there.These were used on D.Day to fool the enemy.
Raincoats issued to de-mobbed soldiers as part of their de-mob outfit, would be the last items Aristoc made before they changed back to hosiery.
I worked at Collaros in 1942 in "The Pen" so called because it was fenced off from the main shop floor. Mr Christopher was our boss, he was in charge of the C.I.A Dept, Chief Inspector of Armaments. We worked for the government and drew our wages from the Post Office. One of my jobs was to stamp the govrnment acceptence mark, an arrow on the bullets after they had passed the final inspection.
I left after a year and went to Aristoc as they started to take part time workers which suited me. Alan had started school, so i was able to work school hours. While i worked at Collaros full time he had to stay with his grandparents all week.
My husband had been discharged from the army on medical grounds and was back at Aristoc when i went there. He was a shift foreman in the barrage balloon Dept in charge of the floor gangs. Here girls had to wear knee pads and crawl on the floor to stick the panels together with latex adhesive.
My work was not as hard on the rubber dingies, we worked at tables. Whatever job you did,there was always a strong smell of rubber which seemed to inpregnate your clothes and you took the smell hpme with you. Our navy blue overalls were covered with french chalk, which was used to dab along the seams to dry off the stickiness. When the workers left for home, either by bus or train, you knew instantly where they worked. If they smelled of rubber they were from Aristoc, Collaros' workforce smelled of oil!
For such a small village, thousands were employed in langley Mill. Not just the surronding towns of Heanor, Eastwood, Kimberley, Ripley, Ilkeston etc but as far as Chesterfield, Alfreton and other stations on route to Langley Mill by rail.
There was a good community spirit in wartime, everyone pulled together to help. We wanted to get on with the job and get our normal, peaceful lives back, and our fighting forces back home!
I started my war work stamping arrows on bullets at Collaros and finished it sewing buttons on raincoats for de-mobbed servicemen at Aristoc - from bullets to buttons!
I am still living in the same bungalow i came to in 1938, so have seen many changes in Langley Mill.

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