Ken Farrington's Memories of the 1950s

“When I started there was a fella dismantling the old low down machines. The old machines were stripped down and as many bits and pieces as possible were re-used. Everything else went to the scrap man. We even used to thread the nuts on a piece of string to be used again.

Cyril Haydon told myself and Roy Peach to sort out old dusty bags of tacks that had been mixed up in different sizes in the bluing process. We spent weeks sorting the tacks in a small tray. They were three eighths and half inch tacks which were very similar. It was a soul-destroying job and so we threw some of the bags into the canal to save sorting them.  


The warehouse showing the rollers where the tacks cool.

 After bluing, the pans full of tacks went round the rollers to cool. They ran into a scoop with manual scales and a rake was used to pull the tacks into the scoop. The scoop full weighed 28lbs and was tipped into a hessian bag. The bags were stitched up and labelled. We produced between 10 and 12 tons a week. In those days we worked a 48 hour week, 8 o’clock to 6 o’clock and if we were busy Saturday morning was compulsory. We employed about 60 people at the time.  
Frank Edwards was the fitting shop foreman and brilliant with a file. He was way over his retirement age and took a long time to do a job. He took three weeks to rebuild a machine so Cyril Haydon started building machines with two people together, but when complete, Frank’s machine would work better than anyone else’s. He never got dirty, always carried a cloth to wipe marks off him. When he retired he was nearly 80.


The Fitting Shop.


The warehouse in the 1960s.
Courtesy of Mary Ashleigh.

 There were 5 people in the warehouse. Lizzy Williams would load the tacks onto a truck. She would wheel about 20 sacks at a time on a sack truck which altogether weighed about 5cwt. She was responsible for how many went out and so she counted every one according to the order. She was a wonderful lady, a bit of a character, we were frightened of her as youths. Arthur Johnson used to unload the steel sheets as they came in by hand and trim them ready for shearing. 

Harold Gutteridge used to hand shear. He was way over retirement age and always wore a hessian apron made from old sacks. I started as an apprentice to do the setting and the fitting, the first one that had been taken on for a long time. It was an old workforce and Mr. Somerville started employing young apprentices to do the setting and the fitting. I was followed by four or five others. We had a thorough grounding in machining.”

Wages in the 1950s 

Women and Girls

Age

Location

Ordinary time
per hour

Insurance
(Stamp Duty)

Weekly wage

21 and over

Factory

     1s.10½d.

4s.6d.

£4.3s.0d.

 

Warehouse

   2s.3¾d.

4s.6d.

£5.0s.6d.

20

Factory

  1s.10d.

4s.6d.

£4.1s.0d.

 

Warehouse

2s.2d.

4s.6d.

  £4.16s.0d.

19

Factory

   1s.9½d.

4s.6d.

 £3.19s.0d

 

Warehouse

   2s.1½d.

4s.6d.

  £4.14s.0d.

18

Factory

1s.9d.

4s.6d.

  £3.17s.0d.

 

Warehouse

  1s.11d.

4s.6d.

£4.4s.0d.

17

Factory

   1s.2¾d.

2s.9d.

  £2.14s.3d.

16

Factory

   1s.0¼d.

2s.9d.

£2.3s.4d.

Feeders were paid an extra 15s.0d per week. They were aged 21 and over and if they ran 4 or 5 machines they got the production bonus instead, which was up to £1.15s.0d. per week. At first glance it looks as though the warehouse staff were the best paid, but feeders could earn up to 17s.6d. more each week.

Men:

Cyril Haydon, the Works Manager was paid £15.00 per week and factory workers wages varied from £6.5s.11d. per week to £12.8s.4d. per week. Apprentices earned £2.13s.5d. per week and labourers got £5.18s.4d. for a 44 hour week.

Men aged 18 and over paid 5s.9d. Stamp Duty per week but no Stamp Duty was required for anyone working less tan 4 hours a week.

Overtime was paid as follows:

Holidays – double time
Weekdays – time and a third
Saturdays – first two hours at time and a third, afterwards time and a half

Holiday pay:

Easter 2 days
Whitsuntide  2 days
Christmas  2 days
2 weeks annual leave

At that time people worked a 48 hour week, which was later reduced to37½ hours.

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