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Tate girls at the 1966 FA Cup Final
© Scottie Press
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Tate and Lyle: Sugar love |
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“Razzing” over lunch
During the war, the women used to go up onto the factory roof to watch Liverpool ablaze in the blitz. After the end of their shift, they would walk home together with linked arms through the rubble strewn neighbourhood, dropping each girl off at the end of their street.
Tate girls
© Scottie Press |
Dancing was a passion, especially in the 40s and 50s; lunchtimes would be divided into 15 minutes to eat, the rest to dance – or “razzing”, as it was called. There was other entertainment, too. ‘Bea’ is fondly remembered as a performer, dressing up in the canteen in a variety of roles, including the famous Carmen Miranda, complete with sarong and a selection of fruit on her head! In the l950s, at the end of the Friday night shift and after the girls had cleaned their machines, Margaret, one of the supervisors, used to tell stories of the Boer War – straight from her granddad’s mouth.
On the 6am – 2pm shift, the women often went to the pictures as a gang whilst on the 2pm-10pm, they headed off to the Grafton – a famous local dance hall. Tate and Lyle provided showers, footbaths and driers – so the girls would put curlers in under their turbans, 
Tate girls on shift
© Scottie Press |
and if their hair had not dried by the time the shift ended, they would sit under the hand drier in the toilets…
The fabulous Tower Ballroom in New Brighton was a favourite, with a big gang travelling across the Mersey on the ferry. On summer Sunday afternoons, groups of women – sometimes with their boyfriends, would go to Moreton Common, pitch a tent, play rounders, and then go cockling on the shore. The cockles would be carried home to be washed and boiled, for supper.
Words: Ev Draper
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