大象传媒

Starting Work in Wartime.

Finished at School.

August 1944 Holidays were over with me working on Uncle Arthur鈥檚 farm or out with Dad in the truck. We had spent September revising for the exams and part of October taking them, I had done very well.
The 14 boys in the class were all prefects keeping order in the corridors at change of class and monitoring the school busses among other things. I had once got six strokes of the cane for not wearing my hat outside and another six for eating an apple in the street in uniform. Draconian? We did not think so at the time, it was just a pain on the bottom.
After the exams, job offers started to come in to the Head Master as our school had a reputation for good technical teaching. He would explain the job and the firm to us and allow us to take our pick if we wished, we were then allowed to go for a visit or interview to see if it was what we wanted.
John a friend of mine got an interview at Browns wire works and I got permission to go with him for a trip out. We arrived at this three story building just off the town centre and looked in through the huge double doors which were open to see Dante鈥檚 inferno. Nothing had prepared us for the site of sparks flying everywhere from welders burners and grinders. Machines of all kinds were turning banging and to me seemingly out of control as they formed metal into fantastic shapes. I could hear another noise above the racket and to my amazement it was the men singing. We had music while you work programme鈥檚 but those men were singing because they wanted to. I thought this cannot be as bad as it looks.
Going into the office we were met by Mr Arthur Brown and he took John in for interview, John got the job in the wire works. Mr Brown then started to ask me questions and discovered I had done well in the exams so asked me if I would like a job? Hang on I only came for a nose around I had not even thought of wanting to work there!
After a somewhat mixed interview me reluctant and He pushing I was offered a job as an apprentice Sheet Iron Worker, working in the wire works until I could begin at sixteen to serve my time that was around three months away. We both went back to school to finish on the Friday and start work on the Monday, then came the hard bit telling Mother.
Mother had her own idea鈥檚 on what her beloved son would do on finishing school and working in the works was not one of them. She had the papers for me to go to Durham Agricultural College and train as a Manager for some estate or becoming a gentleman farmer. I had seen from the Farm and our own smallholding that it was a twenty four hour a day seven days a week job and that was not for me, I loved my dancing and time off too much.
Her next idea was to get all the papers for the Sunderland Sea training College to train as a sea going wireless operator, she saw me as an officer. Problem! I could not walk along the sea front without getting sea sick. She had once put me on Kelley鈥檚 Ferry across the Tees at Thornaby thinking I would enjoy it, she walked over the bridge to me on the other side, wise woman. The Ferry was a rowing boat full of workmen with around three inches of freeboard and water splashing in as we crossed the fast flowing river, I was terrified. A man lifted me onto the dock at the other side and I brought up a weeks meals in one go. My Dad a very mild and gentle man said 鈥淚 think you went overboard with that one Gladys鈥� to true did she.
You now have the background to the row that ensued it was Titanic and some one had to sink. Dad said 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 you go down and see for yourself Glad he can go for a few weeks to see if he likes it and get something else if he does not鈥�. Mum was down there next day and came back some while later in Arthur鈥檚 car positively purring, It seemed she knew Arthur from the dances and he had given her the silver tongue treatment. It was agreed I would start on the Monday at the grand rate of 13/4 per week.
End of Chapter One.

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