Beryl went to Mona Products, which made clothes for Marks and Spencers, straight from school in 1958. She was sewing collars and sleeves onto T shirts and putting elastic in knickers and sewing gussets. There wasn't a basic wage and she said you had to work your socks off to make your wage up, the wages were very bad. There were no health and safety regulations and a small canteen. There was only a few men there - two packing, two mechanics and the manager. There was music on the factory floor, and the boys would choose what station they'd listen to - like Workers' Playtime and the news. After two years, she moved to Ferranti, which made electronic meters. This was much bigger than Mona Products and she was working on the laminations and making tops for sports cars and leather covers. She was much happier in Ferranti's, lot more fun, and a better wage plus bonuses. Beryl was there until 1968, when she went to Hotpoint for a few months. She didn't like Hotpoint and returned to Ferranti, getting married around this time and stopping work when she had children.
Keith was a roofer before he went to Hotpoint. He decided to go into a factory because he wasn't happy with the inequality in bonuses in the roofing trade. He wasn't sure if he would settle being in a factory after working outdoors but he did, and said he had to because he had four children to support. He worked on various different lines and said the training differed from one to another, with some lines just showing him what to do once and then letting him get on with it. He enjoyed Hotpoint, earning good money, especially for nights. He retired just short of 65.
Margaret began work in Hotpoint at the age of 39, although she'd already been working and had a family. Her husband Keith had started there the previous year. She had a week's training where she was one of only two females, the rest being male trainees, and she was the only one doing the tasks properly, whereas the men were cutting corners. She really liked the factory and the cameraderie and the wages were very high, especially for night shifts which she, and her husband, did for a long period of time, as her mother was able to look after the children. There was a real family atmosphere at Hotpoint even though it was a huge place and they had a lot of fun. She was a team leader on the wiring board section and a union rep for many years. She didn't want to move to Hotpoint Kinmel when the factory closed in 1992 but had no choice. She said the new factory was very different from the one in Llandudno and that they never really fitted in. Margaret retired in 1998.
Kathy worked in the personnel dept. at Hotpoint from its beginnings in 1947 and, apart from a 15 year break when she looked after her family or worked on ships, including the Queen Elizabeth, she stayed until her voluntary redundancy in 1991, at the age of 62. She enjoyed working in the factory, knew everyone, and describes it as almost a family. She says it was a 'tremendous' place to work, although she admits she didn't have the monotony of the assembly line. In her job, there was something different every day and it was exciting. She never knew what she would be faced with next as people used to come to her with all sorts of problems. She did a variety of tasks under the role of personnel officer, including some time on the assembly line to try and understand how the workers could do such a repetive job day in day out.
Yvonne worked in Llanrwst toy factory on leaving school at 15, where she painted the wooden toys. She was one of the youngest and worked with two older women she called Aunty Lena and Aunty Martha. She liked the toys, which were well made out of wood, dolls houses and garages and farms, but could never afford to buy them. She enjoyed working there but wanted to earn more money, so she got a job at Dolgarrog Aluminium as an inspector. They made aluminium for lots of things from saucepans to corrugated roofs, and her job was checking for marks on the aluminium before it went to the packing dept. It was a very big factory, over a thousand workers, and she used to get the bus there from Llanrwst. She met her husband there and left the factory when her son was born two years after they married. She did cleaning jobs afterwards but never factory work again.
Sandra went into the plastics factory straight from school, in 1970, making watering cans and sun visors. They were doing time and motion, everyone had their targets, and wages depended on how many sunvisors a worker had made, so people were going full pelt in order to earn a high wage at the end of the week. After two years, she moved to Austin Taylor in Bethesda, where she was able to walk to work. The factory made electronic parts and she was on the machines, in the machine shop, and she said the machines were so big, you wanted to run straight back out again. But the men trained her and in a day or two she became 'a real boy' on the machine and very happy. The workers had targets to reach in this factory too and sometimes did a 56 hour week to reach them. Later Sandra became a supervisor. She stayed in this factory until it was about to close in 1998, when she left and started her own business, supplying chickens to butchers shops around Wales.
Enid left grammar school at 17 (1954) and trained as a nurse. She went to work as one of the nurses in Fisher and Ludlow in 1980. The main injuries were minor ones – cuts and things in the eyes. A doctor called once a week to check whether workers were fit to return to work. She had a large room with smaller rooms emanating from it. She wore a sister’s uniform. She worked from 6-10 p.m. every evening. A male nurse worked the night shift. Other injuries: burns, twisting ankles, injuring wrists through lifting heavy objects. If they needed stitches – to hospital. She stayed there c.12 years. There was a file for every worker. She knew the shirkers but some foremen expected too much, especially from the women.
Melva left school at 14 (1938). During the war, she and her sister went to Birmingham, found digs and worked in the Spitfire factory. Long hours. The bombs and the fear. She made cogs, screws etc.for the wings. Poor conditions in the digs – bread and dripping and nowhere to wash. They asked them (because they were Welsh) to sing. The machines were stopped during air raids. They sent their pay home. They mixed with the Scots. She spent a year there (c.1940) and then had TB. Her sister lost an eye because of shrapnel. Night shifts. She was sent to Craig y Nos TB Hospital. Then she worked in the Hargreaves Pop factory (c. 1943) washing bottles and packing crates. Kinds of pop and crisps. A small factory. Melva sang with a band. She left because of her health.
Sylvia left grammar school with O Levels when she was 17. She intended becoming a nurse, but married instead. She worked in shops and at the Opticals, Cydweli but after her son was born she started in John Stanton’s as a top sewing machinist in 1967 (until c. 1969) – quite a posh factory. They made clothes for M&S, Targets, time and motion and bonuses. Injuries with the sewing needles. There wasn’t a union and when they tried to unskill her job she moved to the Salter’s Factory (1969-78) -as a calibrator, making scales. She worked for the money but the company was good too. She moved to inspection in the warehouse. They bought seconds in both factories and there was some pilfering. Salter’s closed in 1978.
Yvonne left school at 14 (1963). She went to Morris Motors in 1967, welding silencers (ha’penny for each one). Met her husband there. Reported bullies to the office. Refused to be union rep or forewoman because not confident of writing skills. But other skills – suggesting ways of improving plugs and machine doors. Managers etc took advantage because she couldn’t put her ideas on paper. Unfair practice – women losing jobs because on maternity leave. She had her son in 1971 but went back part-time (for 5 years) – then full-time then redundant, then on a temporary contract. Attitude to factory girls – she learned to swear. Women better workers than men. Men more militant. Heavy work on the ‘seats’ – arthritis today. Damage to ears, tinnitus. Gas visor and spats etc for welding. Gas explosions – burning hair. Caught arm in a conveyor belt. Paying union fees in toilets, before the union was established - it was a closed shop. Altogether she worked there 40 years. Initiation ceremony for new boys – ‘tickling’ them. If anyone got married - covered in mess. Strikes. The workers had the power. Got 25% off a new car – but couldn’t afford it! Practical jokes. She was very militant. Decorating machines at Xmas and lots of booze. She was in the shooting team. Darts nights and Miss Morris Motors competition. Finished there in 2006.
