VSW041 Patricia Ridd, Addis, Swansea;Windsmoor, Swansea;Smith's Crisps, Swansea;Mettoys, Fforestfach;Corona, Swansea;Walkers, Swansea

Patricia left Swansea Technical School at 15 (1961) to work in the Addis factory, making hand brushes. She was on inspection. She stayed there 2 years. Then on to Windsmoor sewing factory, making army clothes (again 2 years). Then she had a son and went back to Addis – now producing mascara brushes. Next she went to Smith’s Crisps. The crisps would come down a funnel and she would put the salt in, in little blue bags. Stayed 6 months and moved to Corona –for 26 years (1966-92) . She started on the line watching bottles of pop going back and fore. She also worked in the cellar room making pop and cider, then on the fork-lift, moving pallets. When the factory closed (1992) she went to Walkers crisps, again working on the fork-lift and night shift too. The factory floor was a bit manic. Buying seconds in the factories. Walkers - if there was no work – night off and no pay. Accidents – Acid burns in Corona and in hospital. Certificates for driving the forklift. Walkers’ and Corona cold – the pop froze. Hardly saw husband because of shifts. Corona was like a family – best factory. She worked in factories 1961-98. Later she worked in the university.

VSW052 Cynthia Rix, Mettoys, Fforestfach;Windsmoor, Swansea;Llamas, Swansea

Cynthia describes the war in Swansea. She left school at 14 (1952) – Jewish people were desperate for youngsters (cheap) to work in their factories. She began in Llamas factory making knickers, football jerseys etc. but was sacked after two weeks. She couldn’t sew and hid a garment she had spoiled. Notice outside Windsmoor’s (women’s clothing) seeking workers. She was sent to fetch striped cotton and a bucket of steam! At Windsmoor the Union rep. called them out on strike for wages – 17 of them sacked. Then she moved to Mettoys and ‘that’s when my life began.’ Hilarious and working on a team. She worked on the assembly line – different jobs – to packing. One friend was dismissed for trying to steal a toy rocket. Cynthia left and worked in cafes and shops. One woman lost her hand in Mettoys- given a light job and compensation. Very little bad language there. In Llamas they were dogsbodies – Mettoys the best. She had her ears pierced in the toilets there. Her brother was lifted and put on a peg when he worked in Windsmoor’s. Novices asked to get a screwdriver without a blade. Togetherness.

VN036 Anita Roberts, Capacitor factory and other factories, Wrexham

Anita went into a factory at 15 but she didn't like it and only stayed a week. Her mother Nesta worked at the same factory but Anita said it was just too fast and she couldn't keep up. After a job in an exotic pet shop, which she really liked, she returned to a different factory which she found much better, one that made capacitors, and she got really good at her job. She left after a few years and worked in other factories, making curtains and ceramics, before eventually going into care work, which she said was much harder than any factory job. Anita thinks her health suffered after working in the ceramics factory, where she used to clean, because of the thick dust that they breathed in and there was no proper protective masks.

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.

VN011 Marian Roberts, Cookes Explosives, Penrhyndeudraeth

Marian worked first as a children's nurse after leaving school, then returned to Penrhyndeudraeth. Her father, who was already working in the powder factory, asked the manager for a job for his daughter. She worked in the canteen, serving and cleaning for four years, and she remembers vividly the big explosion of 1957: “I was at the tub and there was a bang, and the tub and the chair, went sliding down the canteen, but not a drop of water spilled out from it. And we ran to the window and Mrs Williams shouted, 'Don't go to the windows, it's dangerous.' Four were killed that day, in that cwt. It was a dangerous place, but you never thought about it when you were there.” She also remembers the time they were filming 'Inn of the Sixth Happiness' in Penrhyn and she and a friend sneaked out of work to get Ingrid Bergman's autograph! She married a man who also worked there, leaving to have her first child in 1959 and didn't return to the factory afterwards but says that her time in Cookes was the happiest in her working life.

VN013 Gwlithyn Rowlands, Laura Ashley, Carno;Laura Ashley, Newtown

When Laura Ashley opened in Carno, Gwlithyn went there to work in the office, doing the wages. This was 1964. She left to have a baby in 1966 and then did outwork for the company until her son went to school, at which time she went back into the factory as a machinist, working 9am-3pm. Laura Ashley was adamant that the mothers were able to take their children to school and collect them again. Gwlithyn learned how to do clothes like dresses, skirts and blouses in the factory and had taught herself to do ovengloves and tea towels doing outwork. She describes her years at Laura Ashley as the happiest ones. Many members of her immediate family worked there and her brother Meirion went from the factory floor to company director. Gwlithyn worked as a machinist at Laura Ashley until she was made redundant in 1990, when the factory changed to making curtains. By this time, she was a supervisor. She got a call from the factory asking her to come back, which she did, firstly at Carno then later at Newtown and retired in 2011.

VSE004 Mattie Ruddock, Clothing Factory, Hirwain;Polikoff's, Treorchy

Mattie left school at 14 (1938), her mother stopped her becoming a private maid (skivvy), and went to Polikoff’s until she became pregnant. (1946). She returned to do hand sewing but hated it. They made overcoats for soldiers. She was exempt for ammunitions work or land army if she married within six weeks – so she did so! Her sister worke din the ‘snobby’ part – dress division. Dancing and going to pictures. Father very strict chapel – good singer and went to Eisteddfods. Cycling to work. Wireless at dinner time. Welsh-speaking. When her husband was out of work she worked in Hirwaun clothing Factory. ‘I hated it’. Wearing trousers (like bolier suits) in Polikoff’s. Needle through finger. Those in charge Londoners. Holidaying in Barry – lamplighter. Mattie and her husband looked after several clubs after this. Then in the dairy – canteen.

VSE070 Michele Ryan, Glass factory, Cardiff

Michele worked in the factory during her first year at university (c.1969-70). It was winter and it was a brick shed with lots of broken glass windows. She wore gloves to move the huge plates of glass around the factory. A desire to be part of working class life. The women (30-40% of workforce) had ways of managing the place and the men there. She notes that Cardiff in the 1960s was an industrial and manufacturing town. The women were Bolshie – she describes one young man being initiated into work (pinching and grabbing etc.). Ensured that they wouldn’t be messed about. Different jobs for men and women. She felt the women weren’t allowed on the machines – more money for this. While in University, as a left wing feminist, she sold Women’s Voice and the Socialist Worker outside the Baird’s TV Factory in Bradford. After the war the women invested a lot in keeping men’s pride going – women accepted their lot. Crude facilities. She stayed there a few weeks. Some sense of belonging there. She notes the women’s bitchiness but also their generosity and collective support. Not very politicised in the Cardiff factory.

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.

VSE079 Madeline Sedgwick, Slumberland, Cardiff;Spillers and Bakers, Cardiff;Lionites Spectacles Cases, Cardiff;Currans, Cardiff

Madeline left school at 14 (1943). She talks of sheltering under Cardiff castle during air raids and the dangers. She worked as a hairdresser and then she started in Curran’s in 1948. They had a reputation for being racist. She talks of her experience with Littlewood’s. She worked in enamelling, making chamber pots (their handles) and mugs. She talks of different areas of Cardiff. She bought clothes and fish scrumps and went to dances with her own money. She only stayed there three months and she went to Spillers, on the flour and dog biscuits. They got a big machines and changed to working shifts. Rats. Small factory. Unloading grain from the ships downstairs. They wore turbans. She liked the sewing machine. Singing and talking. She left because of the shift work and moved to Slumberland – it was dusty there. She describes a visit to London. She describes her work and says that the company’s Paisley (Birmingham) workers were paid more than their Welsh ones. In winter her fingers would bleed from the fibres and the cold. She hit her leg and left. Then on to Fletcher’s but in the office – dressed smartly, answered the telephone and invoiced. She tells the story of challenging the boss of Slumberland about working until 6 on Fridays.