大象传媒

Wartime memories of living in Maulden, Bedfordshire Part One

Part one of an oral history interview with Mrs. Mary Harris conducted by Jenny Ford on behalf of Bedford Museum

鈥淢y name is Mary Harris (n茅e Jones) and I was born on 6th August 1925, in The Knoll, Maulden.
I went to Maulden School at the age of five and I stayed there until I was 14 in 1939. It was divided into classes. I think there was from Standard 1 to Standard 7. Well then there was never much work about, you either had to go to Luton or Bedford. The only other place really was in Ampthill, there were shops in Ampthill. If you could get into the shop but it was very seldom you could because of the Ampthill people who were living there. The only real industry was going to Luton. A lot of the youngsters went into Luton, to the hat industry. My sister was in the hat industry so I thought I鈥檇 follow on, but by the time you鈥檇 got your pay at the end of the week it only paid for your bus fare so you had very little to spend. It was a long day for a very small wage. I used to catch the bus at 8 o鈥檆lock, ten to eight in the morning and you鈥檇 get home about 6 at night. So it was quite a long day and you used to have about 7 shillings a week.

Actually, my sister was a milliner, she was very good at it and she used to do that right up until she was, oh, 78, they used to bring it to houses then. Also at that time they used to bring it round to the houses in Maulden, that was a little industry that the older women used to do at home. They鈥檇 supply them with the industrial machine and they used to machine the hats, the staw hats and then my sister used to do the millinery, the decorating and all that sort of thing.

As regards myself I left the hat factory and then just used to look after a little boy until he started school and then I got a job at the 鈥楤ovril鈥� factory when I was 16 because you couldn鈥檛 go there until you were 16. The Bovril came to Ampthill from London, Bond Street in London. There was a building there as such but they built onto it, they had extensions built onto it to bring the industry down. They also brought some of the staff down from Bond Street and they were located in Ampthill, they got lodgings in Ampthill. I never thought I鈥檇 stick it there because the smell was terrible, it was dreadful when I first went there! The smell of Bovril, I just couldn鈥檛 stand it. But anyway I did until I got married. Of course they didn鈥檛 take on part-timers then, you had to be full time and I didn鈥檛 want to do full time so I just packed in when I got married. I was 21 when I got married, that was after the war in 1946. But at that time there wasn鈥檛 much around still, people were still having coupons to buy their clothes with. When you鈥檇 spend that amount you wouldn鈥檛 get anymore until you were allotted the next lot. It was like with the sweet coupons you couldn鈥檛 buy sweets unless you had the coupons and that went on for quite a long while.

We started off doing like Bovril but then we went onto war rations for the Forces. I started off on the Bovril machine. Just this sort of machine that used to fill up from a pipe across and the bottles used to go through on a tray and that used to fill the Bovril up and they came through the other side and you had to take them off. It used to put the lids on, seal them and you used to lift them off, they were already in a tray and you put them in the tray at the side, and stack them at the side. It got right up my nose but I did get used to it eventually. Then when they started war rations they had for the Middle East, it consisted of these blocks of Sugar, Tea and Milk, that鈥檚 when it first came out and you just one of those in hot water and you鈥檇 got a cup of tea. That鈥檚 how they used to do it. They were all wrapped. Then the other one was Penican they used to give that to the sailors, they were emergency rations you see in case they got dropped in the sea or something like that, they鈥檇 have these emergency rations with them which consisted of fats and various things. It was in a block, more like chocolate and it was a sort of fawny colour. We used to just put it in a tin, about a pound in a tin I should think because it weighed quite heavy. But they reckoned that that would keep them for quite some time.

Well my cousin worked there at the Bovril factory and she sort of talked me into going. And it was quite a big jump because I was only getting, what, 12 shillings a week and then my first week鈥檚 pay there was 31 shillings and 9 pence, so that was 拢1 11 9d, today it would be 拢1.65p. But it was a lot of money then you see. Oh, we started at eight o鈥檆lock and finished at half past five, so quite a long day. We had to go in on a Saturday morning from eight until twelve. And then when they got very busy with these emergency rations and that they did night work so you could do nights if you wanted to. You got more for going on night shift. I think it was seven o鈥檆lock then or was it from eight until seven, something like that. I only did it once, that鈥檚 all but I didn鈥檛 like it, I preferred day time.

Oh, yes we did have 鈥榃orkers鈥� Playtime鈥� at the Bovril. And we used to pay a shilling a week and they鈥檇 have so many names, the people that wanted to go into it, they鈥檇 have probably 20 popular songs. One person used to collect the money and every time we had the music on if your song was played they used to tick it off and at the end of the week the one song that was played the most used to have the money. So it was like a little sweep stake. It was a lot of money. It depends on how many, whether it was ten or fifteen, but we used to pay that shilling and of course it was nice if you won but you know a shilling a week, you used to think, oh, that shilling.

Yes, they used to broadcast it all over the factory. I mean the machines were all going and all that but somebody鈥檇 be taking it down. Oh, that鈥檚 my song, you could hear, and oh, my song was played today, put it down in your book. 鈥榃orkers鈥� Playtime鈥� used to come on, sometimes twelve to half past or from twelve to one. Then they鈥檇 used to have another session in the afternoon they used to have the popular songs. I know it used to be on twice a day, at least. Oh, I used to look forward to that because you could sing and get on with your work, oh, yes, good fun that was. It passed the time away quicker with some music. Everybody used to look forward to that you know. I think it was on in the mornings, half an hour in the mornings and I think there was a half an hour sometime during the afternoon when we had it on. It was only half an hour. Then there was 鈥榃orkers鈥� Playtime鈥� at lunchtime. I think lasted from twelve 鈥榯il one or one 鈥榯il two, or it may have been half past twelve to one o鈥檆lock, it was something like that but there was always 鈥榃orkers鈥� Playtime鈥�.

Well they had a canteen there and they used to serve Bovril in a morning and I could not tackle it, it鈥檚 terrible! We drank tea or coffee but not very often, tea was more popular I think. We鈥檇 got a canteen as such, they built that. That was sometimes afterwards not when we first started down there. We used to take our own sandwiches and either sit outside or round the machines, they used to stop the machines, before they built the canteen. Some girls used to sit and label, they used to have labelling machines, but they had a lot of people who used to sit and put them on by hand, which used to take quite a bit of time. So there used to be long tables where you could put your boards away and sit and have your lunch. We didn't take any notice of it then

I was living with my grandparents, they lived in Maulden. My grandma lived to be 98, but she was bed ridden for quite a few years and my granddad lived to be about 78. Like everybody else I suppose, you just sort of got on with it, the rationing and did the best you could. You couldn鈥檛 do a lot really, living in the country you鈥檇 got plenty of vegetables so we used to make up with plenty of vegetables. I mean you only had two ounces of cheese, didn鈥檛 you every week per person which didn鈥檛 go that far. People that worked on the land had extra rations of cheese, the men that worked on the land used to get extra cheese ration and sometimes they might be generous and give you some of it. But you see the boys were being called-up and that so it was the older men that were working on the land rather than the younger ones. My granddad used to keep pigs at one time but then he got too old to cope with it, and they kept chickens as well at one time. But at this stage in time they hadn鈥檛 got anything like that.

My grandma and grandfather had kept me on 拢1 a week. They only had ten shillings a week when I went there, I can always remember that. I鈥檒l tell you something that鈥檒l make you laugh, you probably don鈥檛 remember the tiny little pies they used to sell, Lyons fruit pies, a little square like that, they were quite a luxury. They were Lyons fruit pies and they were tuppence each and at the end of the week if my grandma had got tuppence left over she used to say, 鈥榃e鈥檒l celebrate today. (On a Saturday) Go and get one of those little Lyons fruit pies!鈥� We鈥檇 share it, me and her. Yes.

Three of my brothers went into the Forces, there were nine of us actually. There were three brothers went into the Forces, my elder sister was married and then there were four more at home and I went and lived with my grandma. Oh, I loved my grandma, I loved her. I mean my granddad died when I about 15 or 16, then my younger sister next to me, she came and lived with me, so there were two of us living with my grandma. My mother used to come down during the day and sort her out during the day and we were there during the nights.鈥�

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