VSW031 Annest Wiliam, Hodges, Fforestfach;Mettoys, Fforestfach

C. 1954-5 Annest worked at the Mettoy factory and Hodges as a summer-holiday worker. She worked on the assembly line making metal toys and she had to wear leather gloves. It was inexorable, regimented work, especially when the time and motion man came around. Another summer she worked on the switchboard at Hodges. In Mettoys she felt pride at having done something with her own hands.

VN032 Rosie Jones, Langefni Milk Factory, Llangefni

Rosie worked at the Llangefni creamery straight from school, in 1957. She got the job after hearing at school that there were jobs going in the milk factory, she thinks, in the morning assembly. She had gone for a job in a bank but preferred the factory job because she wanted to be connected to agriculture, coming from a farming background. The Milk Marketing Board owned the factory. Se felt nervous at first, being with others after being on her own. She had a period of training and three months probabation, and she enjoyed working there as it was a very pleasant place to work. Some of the older girls had been there since the beginning and new girls often got the jobs they didn't want to do. But everyone was helpful and friendly. The girls who tested the milk had to have a colour blindness eye test, because they used litmus paper that changed to different shades of blue. So the girls had to have good eyesight. At one time, Cadbury's owned it and the factory made chocolate and biscuits as well as producing milk for domestic use and schools. She met her husbsand there. She left the factory in 1967 because she wanted to earn more money and got a good job with the County Council.

VSE032 Violet Ann Davies, JR Freeman's Cigar Factory, Cardiff;Currans, Cardiff

Ann left school at 15 (1955) and went straight into the cigar factory in Clive Street. The machines were dangerous – no guards. Singing and playing pranks. Smell of tobacco sticking to you. Names the girls she worked with. Got 200 cigarettes every month. Piecework. Describes processes. Making 3000-4000 cigars a day between two machines. Proud to be making King 60s and Indian Sticks. Company supportive when her mother was ill and when she had to take time off. Sick leave pay. Moved to new factory in 1960 – one big room. Radio and music. She left when pregnant in 1962 but returned on evening shift in 1963 but she became ill. Poverty and not having shoes to go out in. Tells story of Pat Perks – gymnast who competed in Commonwealth Games. Factory collected money to buy clothes etc for her. Ann worked part-time in Curran’s 1976-78- saucepan and baths factory. She worked on returns. Refused to work out in the yard. Her dad worked there during the war – terrible burns from boiling lead. Later she was a home carer for 23 years.

VSW032 Jenny Sabine, Prestcold Fridges, Jersey Marine;Penn Elastic, Fforestfach

Jenny describes Swansea after the bombing during the war. She decided to become a secretary and worked at the Prestcold Fridges factory for 4 months in 1961. She describes the journey to work, and clocking out. There wasn’t a lot to do there but she was asked, as a woman, to do sound trials on washing machines. She had little contact with the factory floor. She moved to Penn Elastic which made elastic net for corsetry, 1961. Men did the managerial jobs and there was some verbal and sexual harassment. She left to work at the university library.

VN033 Mair Griffiths, Langefni Milk Factory, Llangefni

Mair was a farmer's daughter, one of seven children, though the farm was sold after his death. Some of her sisters worked in a sewing factory. She left school at 16 to look for work, as coming from a large family it was necessary. She had wanted to be a nurse but she would have had to wait until she reached 19. She learned to type in the British School while looking for a job, and eventually got one in the milk factory, although she tried for work in the sewing factory too. This was in 1949 and she learned how to test the milk on the job. The relationship between the workers was good. £1 12 and 6 was her first wage and she gave most of it to her mother. She lived in Bodffordd and went to work on the bus. In the beginning she worked 9-5 but it didn't seem like a long day. Later on she did nightshifts too and bought a bike to travel to work then. There wasn't a canteen there just a little cwtsh where they used to hang their coats. There wasn't even a kettle and they used to boil water for tea in the lab. Mair worked there for 17 years until she lost her job in 1966 during a milk shortage, being a married woman with a husband to support her. It was supposed to be first in last out, she said, but not in her case. She was out of work for a while and it was awful, she said, signing on the dole, until she got another job.

VSE033 Beryl Anna Roberts, AB Metals, Abercynon;Standard Telephone and Cables, Treforest;MasteRadio, Treforest;Steinberg's Alexon, Pontypridd

Beryl began working as a housemaid in Malvern College after leaving school at 14+ c. 1950. She returned home and worked in a Home in Porthcawl but then moved to work at Steinberg’s, making camel-hair coats, but she didn’t like the machines or the rigid routine. She moved to Masteradio – working on the line, soldering and also on repairs. It was very cold there and you could have burns. She worked after marrying until made redundant c.1956. When the children were small she decided to try the twilight shift at Standard Telephones working on coloured wires. She left to try A.B. Metals – ‘easiest job and most money’. She was classed unfit for work in 1976.

VSW033 Margaret Hayes, Mettoys, Swansea

Margaret left school ay 14 (1937) and worked in shops and as an usherette until called up during the war. She began in Mettoys making marvellous toys out of cast iron in the 1950s. She worked in the warehouse on the evening shift but was also keeping house for a family of eight. The workers could buy a big bag of toys for £5. She claims that Welsh speakers would be punished if they spoke Welsh. Rats in the warehouse. Mettoys ‘appreciated’ its workers. She left in c.1973. ‘Raucous’ jokes. No accidents though there was red hot plastic coming out of hoppers. Remembers hearing the news of Aberfan disaster. Did work on factory floor too. Families worked together. Downs Syndrome girl worked there on lighter work. Never shy after working in a factory.

VN034 Merfyn Tomos, Elephant Chemicals, Barmouth

Merfyn left school at 18 yn 1969 with the intention of doing a degree and following a career in libarianship. He was in his element reading and had an uncle who was a librarian and was a big influence on him. After leaving school, he needed a summer job to earn a bit of pocket money, and a friend had got a job in Elephant Chemicals, Barmouth, and Merfyn contacted them and got a casual job there. He doesn't remember a formal interview but does remember his first impression of the place - machines and shiny brick walls, like a warehouse, with women in aprons and coats, some with scarves on their heads. There were mostly women but some men too who did things like repairing the machines and loading the lorries. There was a lot of leg pulling, since a lot of the workers were young, although it was a small place, about 25 people. It was an old building that had been adapted for use, he thinks, and the factory made things like toilet blocks and disinfectants. Mefyn remembers a lot of cameraderie among the young temporary workers and is still in touch with a couple. He went on to university to study librianship.

VSE034 Shirley Smith, Burlington, Caerphilly;Burry Son & Company Ltd, Treforest

Shirley studied in a commercial college before leaving at 17. She worked in a shop before joining Burry’s in 1957 (until 1982) – a textile factory – she was a shorthand typist in the office. They had an ancient machine to calculate the men’s wages. She discusses her wages, and the one woman supervisor’s wages – equal to the men’s. It was very noisy on the factory floor and the workers were on their feet all day. Poor conditions in the office; very hot in the factory all year. She names the factories open on the Treforest Esate at this time. Her boss died suddenly and the factory was taken over by Burlington Gloves. She was made redundant in 1989.

VSW034 Averil Berrell, ICI, Waunarlwydd;Lightening Zips (Fasteners), Waunarlwydd

When she was 14 Averill went to a commercial school but because her mother wasn’t supportive she decided to leave and work in Lightning Zip Fasteners as an office clerk, 1954 -. She could attend a technical college every week. It was an excellent, clean factory and no-one wanted to leave. She describes how the young lads were teased, and that some of the women were fit and used strong language. She notes the social club and the games’ facilities. She gave her mother her pay packet and she had nothing. The company gave shares to its workers. She left in 1967 to have a baby. She mentions some sexual harassment and pilfering of zips.