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MEMORIES Of
VALUSTA ROYSTON
© ROYSTON HISTORY GROUP 2006
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Foreword I have heard, with great interest, of your research into the history of the shirt factory. My first appearance there in 1937, was on the old Empire stage, dancing solo in my dancing school charity concert. However, I have fond memories of the two short periods of time I spent at Valusta sharing the happy camaraderie of the girls. The first and longest time I spent there was in 1945 whilst waiting to start my first professional dancing engagement in the Glasgow Alhambra Pantomime King and Queen of Hearts. During that time we went on a factory day trip to Blackpool. It was a happy time and I had a photograph of six of us sitting in a vintage car. There was Eileen Cheetham, Cynthia Jones, Margaret Pollitt, one of the girls was called Fox (I think it was Enid) and I don’t remember who the others were. One of the girls lost a shoe riding on the big dipper. She did get it back! The second time, I think, was two years later I had a sprained ankle and spent a few weeks at home before joining the pantomime rehearsals at Francis Laidler's Theatre Royal, Leeds. I met my lovely Scot whilst working in Dundee. We were married during my third panto, Humpty Dumpty at Leeds. Our two sons were born in India where Ron worked for eleven years. For the last thirty-eight years we have lived in a little village above Holmfirth, a beautiful part of our lovely county and near enough for me to be able to keep in touch with my roots. Best wishes and regards to you all. Lorna Macdonald née Bailey
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Origins of Valusta Joyce Johnson and Jim Evison Ask about the Shirt Factory and anyone of a certain age will point out the present Burberry Factory Shop (closed 4th September 2004) on Midland Road. A generation or so ago an older Royston resident might add informatively, “The old Empire”. It brought back memories of Jonathan Ball’s first purpose built place of entertainment where, for three decades after 1910, music hall turns and silent films, whist drives and socials, concerts (sacred and profane), monster church bazaars, receptions for Railway Queens and the like added gaiety to the workaday round of a colliery township. As the Empire Academy, it taught the rudiments of ballroom dancing to the interwar generation - embarrassed, starched collared youths clasped to Dulcie Ball’s ample bosom. Generations pass and tastes and habits change. The Empire became an early example of the nationwide trend to convert redundant places of entertainment, worship and education to an industrial use. It is thought that the Empire became the shirt factory in about 1939. On 21 November 1938 the council was invited to meet the Railway Queen at a public reception at the Empire Academy. On December 5 the church held a Monster Whist Drive there: Tickets 1s 3d, Valuable prizes, Refreshments at reasonable prices. At the last minute a children’s fancy dress dance was transferred to the Church School from the Empire early in January 1939 owing to the heavy expenditure involved. After many years of staging its major functions at the Empire there is no further mention of the venue in the church’s calendar of events. Whether the change was influenced by the opening of the Ace cinema or the threat of war is not known. That it was open during the war is confirmed by one early memory of a Royston lass being taken from her work place to be told that her sweet heart had been killed in action. It was during the war (about 1944) that the New Street chapel building (built 1889) was acquired as an out station. 2
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So Royston lost an Empire but gained a major workplace for its women folk. For each year’s school leavers there was employment on their doorstep and they had no need to leave the village for domestic service or mill work. Successful manufacturing concerns rarely come into the world fully formed and up and running. Where and when did the Valentine Stubbs firm originate? The first clue came in a letter heading dated November 1952. ESTABLISHED 1899
A. VALENTINE STUBBS. LTD SHIRT MANUFACTURERS TELEGRAMS
EMPIRE FACTORY
ACTIVE ROYSTON BARNSLEY
TELEPHONE
ROYSTON
YORKSHIRE
ROYSTON
108
DIRECTORS:- A. VALENTINE STUBBS.
A. W. VALENTINE STUBBS
DENIS G. TAMPLIN
So the firm was established in 1899, long before it came to Royston but a look at their reputed Leeds origins paid dividends in a search through Kelly’s Post Office Directories: From 1901, listed under tailors was: Arthur Valentine Stubbs, 48 Whitehall Road, Leeds 1 and from 1912 under residences: Arthur Valentine Stubbs, Fairlea, Fernville Avenue, Roundhay, Leeds. The next step was the Census Enumerators’ Schedules for 1901. The family can be found on page 16 of the returns for the New Wortley ward of the Leeds City Borough (also the parish of St John the Baptist, Wortley in the West Leeds parliamentary division). Schedule 117 for 48 Whitehall Road lists Arthur Valentine Stubbs as the head, describing himself as Tailor Shopkeeper (which the
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enumerator defined as Clothier) and as an employer working at home. Arthur was 31 and his wife Kate 33 and they had two sons residing with them, Alexander Valentine aged 7 born on 30 October1893 and Ernest Valentine aged 3, born early in 1898. There was no resident servant. Interestingly, on this page with its six complete schedules there is only one servant and that is at the Sir Robert Peel pub next door to the Valentine Stubbs and even she is the niece of the landlord. 48 Whitehall Road is the last commercial premises in a line of small shops, mostly grocers and a confectioner. At number 50 lives a widow whose seventeen year old daughter is a milliner working at home on her own account. The Whitehall Road shop remained in the family until the death of the father. There is a record of his death in Roundhay Churchyard Memorial Inscriptions Website: Stone S7: Arthur V S died 6th December 1929 aged 60 years Kate, his beloved wife, 10th October 1934 aged 67 years The last mention of the 48 Whitehall Road property is in the 1931/2 Leeds Trades Directory. However, in the 1938/9 edition there is a mention of: A. Stubbs Ltd., Marshall Street, Leeds – s h i r t m a k e r a n d t h e 1 9 4 0 e d i t i o n o f K e l l y ’s D i r e c t o r i e s l i s t s A . Valentine Stubbs Ltd., Shirt manufacturer, Marshall’s Mills, Marshall Street, Holbeck. So the transformation from tailoring to shirt manufacture has been made! Arthur Valentine Wingate Stubbs was not a child of Arthur and Kate. His origins are not yet known. However conveyances and mortgages dated 1936/7 are in his name for the properties in Whitehall Road and Fernville Avenue
The Midland Road site The earliest record we can find of the Midland Road site and the building of the Empire is the following:
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Indenture dated 29th March 1911 between Harriette Ball of the first part and Samuel Ramsden Cocker of the other part. And later described as: Property formerly belonging to Harriette Ball and George Alfred Pickering 242 square yards or about. We know from women who worked at Valusta that the Midland Road site was the Valusta factory as early as 1939 but the following conveyance shows that the site conveyance was not signed by Valentine Stubbs until September 21 1943: Conveyance Parties: The Royston Theatres Ltd., G.A. Hinchliffe and J.W. Hawkins, directors and M. Howard, secretary; registered office: 10, Regent St., Barnsley Alexander V Stubbs, 162 Otley Rd., Headingley, Leeds Arthur Wingate V Stubbs, 27, Moorland Cres., Moortown, Leeds This conveyance makes clear that by 1940 the Balls had severed their connection with the Palace and Empire. This and other conveyances list the other businesses that were in the same block as the shirt factory: Direct Supply Co. (Leeds) Ltd., William Woolhouse, F Buckle and George Cheetham (draper & milliner). There are records of a number of alterations and improvements to the factory between 1951 and 1955 and a letter dated November 21 1952 explains the need : At long last we have obtained possession of our next door property … for extension to our existing floor space, with particular regard to the improvement of Canteen and Cloakroom accommodation for our employees … The only outside alteration … is to take out the shop window … a temporary expedient … until … we are able to re-build the whole frontage.
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The New Street site The plot on which the New Street factory stood had originally belonged to Hiram Wooffindin, James Mudd and Joseph Midgley. It was sold to the Primitive Methodists in 1885 for their first chapel. The indenture lists some of the chapel stalwarts of that time: Henry Lodge, Mark Oldham, John Glover, Herbert Fisher, Samuel Charles Chappell, Charles Lees, John Rowney, James Upperdine, David Fellows, Joseph Woodcock, Walter Cutts, William Watson, Roland Westwood, William Rhodes, Alfred Caswell and the Reverend Lowther Ellerby Ellis. The chapel was built in 1889 and moved to Midland Road in 1931/2 Valusta was rapidly expanding and in 1944 the company bought the New Street site: Conveyance dated 31st December 1944 (New Street) Parties: William Henry Ward, 51, Church Hill, Royston, coal miner, vendor Alexander Valentine Stubbs and Arthur Wingate Valentine Stubbs, shirt manufacturers, purchasers Research at the Registry of Deeds and in the Royston Urban District Council list of plans approved, at Barnsley Archives/Local Studies Dept. show that several improvements/alterations were made up to 1951. There were alterations to the existing building, additional lavatory accommodation, a brick garage, a laundry and a porch. ************ During the years Valentine Stubbs were at Royston the family bought and sold other properties which throw some light on the family’s circumstances. For instance a conveyance dated 20
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October 1943 shows that Sungalow, a bungalow on Shaw Lane, Staincross was bought, possibly as a residence for their manager and in 1961 the brothers sold property at Durkar and Crigglestone in Wakefield probably because by this time they were planning to sell the factory at Royston. This theory is supported by the fact that in a conveyance dated September 27 1962, Arthur Wingate Valentine Stubbs is described as a retired shirt manufacturer. On 12th January 1962 the company A. Valentine Stubbs Ltd. changed its name to Valusta Ltd., which had been the registered name of the shirt. In 1964 the firm had property dealings with I L Back Properties Ltd. Finally in 1966 Valusta Ltd., whose registered office was by now at Spindle Street, Congleton, was bought by Jay’s and Campbell’s Holdings Ltd., Nottingham preparing the way for its incorporation into the GUS empire. When GUS bought Burberry it used the skills of Royston area lasses to produce the name’s quality goods, which some are still doing at Castleford.
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The making of a shirt Valusta was certainly no cottage industry operating from a run down ex-dance hall. From the records we have been able to find we may not have the whole story but we feel that there was more to this firm than meets the eye. As far as we can tell the quality of the product sold itself, none of us can ever remember seeing it advertised except locally when the firm purchased a full page space in council and church publications. When the bales of shirt material arrived at the Empire Factory from the various mills they were opened and the lengths of fabric were sent to the cutting room. Then, by shears or band saw, the component parts of the garment were cut out from patterns previously prepared in the pattern room. There were patterns for collars (three or five piece), collar bands, sleeves, cuffs, cuff linings, plackets, yokes, backs and two fronts. The pieces were sorted and bundled into piles of so many dozen. Care had to be taken as shirts ranged in half sizes from fourteen to eighteen inch collars. The sorted bundles of cut out parts were sent to their appropriate department where they were made up. Now the finished components were sent to the assembly department where the complete shirt was sewn together (cuffs to sleeves, fronts to back, etc.). Detached collars had gone to be starched in the trubanising room. Personal orders (made to measure, extra large sizes, exotic materials) were made up on the special bench. The finished shirt went to the pressing department, the first stage in giving the garment customer appeal. Its appearance was further enhanced in the presentation department where the pressed shirt was folded and pinned on to a sheet of thin card, wrapped in tissue paper and placed in a box. Piles of boxes were removed to dispatch ready to be sent out to fulfil the orders placed for them. From the order books of reps on the road they went by the dozen to quality retailers. However, Valusta shirts went out by the gross labelled as a Marks and Spencer, Moss Bros. or Pierre Cardin
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product. Some shirts for later dispatch were stored in a nissen hut by the Rotherham Road – Carlton Hill junction at Smithies where the huge new housing estate has just been built. The following are reminiscences from workers employed on the process in the golden age during the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s. They are arranged in order of the date the individual started, not by the department worked in, but the description above will help the outsider to understand the method and stages of manufacture. Margaret Hall née Rowe left school in July 1939 when she was fourteen years and started work at the Midland Road factory when Mr Minshall was the manager. The supervisors were: Miss Grainger in the collar department, Nellie Marsh over shirts and Grace Williams in the cutting room. She remembers that Albert Widderington also worked on cutting. She also remembers working with Brenda Chamberlain (née King) and Winnie Selby (née Grayson). There was no mechanic in those days so the machinists had to do their own repairs. “If a belt broke on a machine we had to mend it by putting a belt hook in and then we would drag the belt round on the pulley with either a pair of scissors or a screw driver. Doing this repair was very dangerous. Later on Harry Cross was the mechanic and he worked at the factory for many years.” Brenda Chamberlain started work at Valusta in 1939. “The manageresses at that time were Miss Granger and Nellie Marsh. The bosses were Mr Alec, Mr Arthur and Mr Tamplin. I worked with Alma Chapman née King, Margaret Hall née Rowe, Mary Nordon née Barrett, Doreen Pearce, Betty Jones, Mae Goodinson, Lorna Bonson, Winnie Grayson, Bernard Shaw, Jeff Priestley, Ray Price, Margaret Bolton. “I worked on the button machine, the tab machine, the twin machine, pairing, sorting, hanging up material and packing and I
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remember we all had to repair the belts on our machines when they broke and this was with the power still on! After a few months working at Valusta I worked overtime one week for which I received a ten shilling note in my wage packet. My parents saved the note and I still have it.” May (née Oldfield) Johnson left school in 1940 “ I left school in 1940 and started at the Shirt Factory the next year. My first wage was 10s 9d a week rising to 12s 6d and then 15s 0d for a 48 hour week. I was on cutting so this was not piecework. I remember shirts being made for the RAF. “There were three Valentine Stubbs “brothers” but one was a semi invalid who did not appear much. When decisions had to be made the factory hierarchy stood in a line. The message was passed from brother to brother down through management to floor supervisor like a game of Chinese whispers. The reply from the supervisor was then transmitted back up the line. “When I lived up at Havercroft Norman Turton used to be standing impatiently waiting for my 42 bus when I got off he handed me the factory key to open up before he hurried off somewhere.” Dorcas Lawton née Waugh began working in the Empire shirt factory in May 1942 when she was sixteen. Her clock number was fifty eight. “I went to ask if there was a job doing hand sewing but I was put on the buttonhole machine. I had to put three buttonholes in each collar, which were separate from the shirt in those days. I earned the sum of 1s 9d (about 9p) for twelve dozen collars - that was thirty-six dozen buttonholes! The machine was an Automatic Stop so when it had made the buttonhole it stopped. I couldn’t make the machine go any faster and could only get nine dozen collars in an hour, so by the end of the week my pay was £2. 2s. 2 shillings of this went to pay my union money so I was left with £2 take home pay. “We didn’t have any tea breaks in those days, starting work at 8am with one hour for dinner (from 12.30pm to 1.30pm) and
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worked until 5.30pm on Mondays and Fridays and 6pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The shirts were mostly made of poplin with stripes. “The cutter was a Miss Williams and two girls helped her. The forewomen were Miss Grainger and Nellie Marsh and later another person came to be forewoman in the collar department which was where I worked. She was Mrs Buckingham. We were able to listen twice a day to the radio MUSIC WHILE YOU WORK. After that we could sing all the popular wartime songs. I spent many hours listening to the radio at home and writing the words for the other girls on my bench. “Another factory was opened in the same village, it had been a chapel in New Street. I well remember having to work in there by myself on a buttonhole machine. I had the key to the door and had to open up at 8am and close at 6pm. I can’t remember why I had to work in there but it wasn’t for very long. “The factory was owned by two brothers, namely Mr Alec Valentine Stubbs and his brother Mr Arthur Valentine Stubbs. They travelled from Leeds every day. “Sometimes if there was an order that had to be finished by a deadline we had to work until 8pm. There were no facilities for making a cup of tea so we had to take a sandwich and a drink of milk in a medicine bottle, sitting at the machine to eat. “I can remember some of the girls names who worked with me. Betty Jones, Brenda King, Doreen Pearce, Joan Woods, Alice Wood, Joan Neale, Margaret Rowe, Betty Simpson. Some girls travelled from Ryhill, Shafton and Carlton they were Annie Potter, Hetty Belcher, Eileen Sagar, to name just a few. “Eventually we started making shirts for the armed forces, khaki for the army and air force blue for the RAF. “I left the shirt factory in 1946 when I married and left the district at which time my wage was exactly the same as when I started.”
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Mrs Gladys Wilby née Thomas started work at the Midland Road factory in 1943. She lived on Park View at the time. “I remember starting at the shirt factory, I was putting buttons down the middle of the shirts, then they showed me how to make cuffs. “Eventually they transferred a few of us down to New Street where I made cuffs and sewed them on to the shirt sleeves. I remember sometimes when it was nearing home time I would make five to six dozen cuffs, parcel them up and take them home. I would stop in that evening and turn them out to the right side, I had a knitting needle to get the points out. Next day I took them back to the factory to put on sleeves – this was how I made my bonus up. “I also remember getting a canteen of cutlery as a wedding present from the girls when I got married. “I got married on Christmas Eve 1948 and went to live at Kendray. I travelled back to Royston every day through January to March then left to have a baby.” Sheila Ford née Jones remembers starting work in 1945 at the Midland Road factory. Her first job was passing shirts, pressing and working in the trubanising room. She was later upgraded to machinist and did most jobs on shirts at one time or another. Miss Grainger was the manageress and Miss Briggs the supervisor. Sheila remembers working with Madge Brear (née Freer), Flo Richardson (née Duggan) and the sisters Elsie and Jean Priestley. Lily Hammond (née Willetts) started at the Midland Road factory in 1946. “When I started at the Midland Road factory in 1946 my wage was 16 shillings a week (80p). We worked from 8 am to 6 pm each day but finished at 5.30 on Fridays. “Not long after I had started, the New Street factory was opened and a small group of us, all teenage girls, were sent to work there with full responsibility for the factory without any adult supervision. We carried on as if we were in the main factory except
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that we allowed ourselves to play the radio all day to help us along. Among the members of that first team at New Street were Frances Norden, Elsie Hindmarsh, Pearl White, Hilda Bridgewater and Audrey Nussey who later died from TB. My jobs included passing, twinning machine, buttonhole machine. Pressing was done at New Street by 1948. Winnie Grayson became supervisor and Mr. Wilson, manager and I also remember Mr Minshall. “During the heavy 1947 snowfall we were waiting for 2 hours out in the cold for someone to get through to open up the building before we decided to go home. Mrs. Hindmarsh, who lived in the house next door, had kept us supplied with hot cups of tea. We went again in the afternoon and found the factory was open so we were able to get half a day’s work done.” Margaret Lightfoot née Wilkinson started work when she was fourteen in 1947. “I worked at Midland Road until 1963 as an Ace turner, I turned the collars to make the points. I remember a trip to Leeds Astoria Ballroom for a dinner before going on to the Grand Theatre to see a pantomime. One of the girls (Lorna Bailey) who worked at Valusta in the summer was a dancer in the panto. Mrs Joan Brookes née Moore lives in Nottingham, she started work at A V Stubbs in 1949. “I was fifteen years old when my interview with Mr Wilkinson was successful. I got the job along with two of my friends, Elaine Evans and Elaine Coates. On the first day I was very nervous because it was my first job, but all the girls at work were very nice. “I worked under Miss Briggs and it was a lady called Pearl White who taught me how to do buttonholing, which became my job. All the girls always had a good laugh and a joke. I had a lot of good times.
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“The thing that stands out in my mind the most is the time I was chosen to present a bouquet of flowers to one of my bosses’ wives and, of course, I forgot my words. I never felt so embarrassed in all my life. That night everyone had a great time and the evening was a success, “In 1960 it was time to move on I had eleven years of good times and laughs and gained a lot of valuable experience before I went on to my next job.” Elaine Swift née Evans from Park View now lives in Blackpool. “I worked at Valusta shirt factory from leaving school in 1949 until I was twenty one. My job was on a flat machine doing collars. Then I was changed to a buttonhole machine. My two cousins, Madge Freer and her brother Don, worked at the factory too. “I thought Mr Alec and Mr Arthur Stubbs were very nice to work for. I can remember lots of happy times - once I was picked to give Mrs Stubbs some flowers at our dance. One of the other bosses was Mr Tamplin - all the girls liked him. Harry Cross was our mechanic. “After a few years I went to work at the New Street factory. Our overlooker was Winnie Grayson - she kept everyone on their toes!” Madge Hackett née Bailey started work at Valusta in 1949. She started at the New Street factory then went to Midland Road and worked on pressing the whole time. She remembers being crowned Miss Valusta at the Ace Ballroom at Royston in 1964 by Dorothy Hyman, the Olympic medal winner from Cudworth.
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Mary Grayson née Holliday worked at Midland Road from 1949 to 1957, she packed the finished shirts for despatch. “I returned to my old job at Midland Road in 1979 and moved on to pressing samples then to line pressing. I moved to New Street when Burberrys took over the business and worked with Phyllis Bluck . New Street opened as Burberrys first – before Midland Road. I moved to Midland Road when New Street closed. Not long after I was made redundant. “I enjoyed working there – I liked the happy atmosphere.” Maurice Gardner was the sales manager at Valusta during in the 1950’s. “At Valentine Stubbs (Valusta) many of the staff, machinists or residents of Royston, did not appreciate the marketing image or position of AVS, I certainly didn’t until, after eight years on stock and production control, I went out on the road selling in 1961. “AVS could have been described as the Bentley of the shirt industry, but without the strength of a national brand image. Offering a complete range of fabrics from three grades of Sea Island cotton, two grades of Egyptian long staple cotton and many other superb fabrics in poplin, twill and jacquard weaves. The whole basis of AVS’s image was this structured range of fabrics to meet the needs of the top end of the retail trade. In the West End of London for example AVS were perhaps the premier shirt supplier: to Harrods, Selfridges, John Lewis, Dunn, Meaker, Alder, Burberry, Liberty, Gieves & Hawkes – all famous groups. Many first class retailers, such as Savoy Tailors and Guild (in the Strand), had their shirts made to order with their own labels. Sulka, top of the heap, bought wild silk pyjamas at fifteen guineas in 1959/60. Just imagine the prices today. “AVS were subsequently bought by I L Back of South Africa, it was initially thought to be a good move, but proved to be a disaster, as the two Back brothers didn’t appreciate the British
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marketplace. They tried to impose the South African way of doing business but failed. “GUS (Great Universal Stores) bought the company in 1963 and tried very hard to revive their fortunes, making up for their mail order catalogues to fill production. I joined GUS in Congleton at the end of 1963 to take control of the supply administration of the group of companies, Valusta being integrated into this framework. “After leaving GUS in 1967, I ceased my contact with Valusta. GUS to my knowledge never used the name A Valentine Stubbs, always Valusta. Maurice’s wife Marie also told us: “In the old days Maurice was trained to sit outside of the shops, before entering, and ask himself, ‘Is this shop good enough, and of good enough quality to sell our shirts?’ Times have drastically changed haven’t they? “A lot of water has passed under the bridge since we all lived, I must say, a happy childhood in the Mulberrys, and Yvonne, Josie and I went to the youth club at Royston together. Margaret Smith née Crawshaw worked at Midland Road from 1950 to 1953. She returned to Valusta in 1966 and stayed till 1972. She worked as a twinner – twinning sleeves into shirts and then closing the sides. Noel (née Armstrong) Coe started in 1951. Noel remembers the factory being visited by a top ranking Labour politician but cannot remember which. (We think this must have been Hugh Gaitskell, Labour leader 1955 to 1963 and a Leeds MP. His personal papers suggest that the visit was in 1958. He bought Valusta shirts and the firm was in correspondence with him at this time.) The union rep. was given about twenty minutes to address the work force on Friday afternoons. While he talked the girls kept themselves busy at their work places finishing as much as they could before the shift
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ended. Noel was cutting out labels (two at a time). The bosses were all ranged on the balcony listening to his every word. Pauline Grant née Gill left school in the summer of 1952 and went to work at the Midland Road factory working in the cutting room where she sorted all the different parts of the shirts – collars, cuffs, fronts, sleeves etc., putting them together in bundles. Pauline worked with Betty Bailey, Betty Green, Derek Grayson, Jeff Grayson, Mick Oakley, and Ernest West was the supervisor. She left Valusta in 1961 to look after her son. Betty Bullock née Bailey worked at Valusta from 1952 to 1958. “I worked in the cutting department first, laying material up for the band-knife men to cut up. It was quite a heavy job for a fifteen-year old girl. On the band- knives at the time were Ray Price, Don Poole, Derek Grayson and a man called Ron whose surname I forget “I then went on to sorting, which entailed sorting the different parts of the shirts and putting in labels and linings ready for the sewing department. At that time I worked with Betty Green, Margaret Kelly, Mary Kemp and Pauline Gill, we became good friends. “Messrs. Arthur and Alec were very strict at the work place, but they encouraged us to meet socially which was quite easy for us, as most of us came from Royston or Ryhill. The male workers formed a cricket team, we had a social evening in the old Church School hall and there was a monthly trip to the Capital Ballroom at Meanwood near Leeds. Our Christmas treat was a visit to the Leeds Grand Theatre to see the pantomime where my aunty Lorna (Bailey) performed. After the show we went to a posh restaurant for a meal of lemon sole and all the trimmings, all paid for by the company.
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“I left Valusta in 1958 after I married, I had enjoyed my time there very much even though the conditions were poor in comparison with today’s standards. The hours were long and the pay poor, but I will always remember those years.” Pat Brocklehurst (née Brookes) started at New Street in 1952. “My first wage was £1 11s 11d a week (£1.60) when I started at New Street in 1952 but I had 2s 11d stoppages (including 1d for the factory and 1d for Christmas) so I took home £1 9s 0d (£1.45). After a year I went to work at Midland Road where Miss Briggs was supervisor. She always brought her dog to work with her and it sat on a cushion. I worked with Pearl White, Margaret Pollitt and Joan Moore. The Valentine Stubbs were good employers and each New Years Day we were treated to a pantomime in Leeds. We could only have the radio on at set hours and often had to remind the staff that it was time for one of the music programmes. In the intervals between we sang the pop songs of the day. On Fridays girls could have their hair in curlers covered with a head scarf in a turban.” Norman Turton started in 1952 at Midland Road. “I started on packing when Fred Wilson was the manager then on trubanised collars before I was offered management training. Finally I managed the New Street factory. Miss Briggs and Winnie Grayson were forewomen. Working hours were 8 am to 6 pm and 5.30 pm on Fridays. I remember we made six different qualities of white shirts. “The first dance was organised at Monkton Men’s and Boys’ Institute (the Gym), it was sold out a fortnight before the event and P.c. Bobby Chambers had to be called to remove gate crashers. Ken Baker and his band provided the music.”
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Christine Kay née Bray started in 1952. “ I started at Midland Road where I worked for eighteen and a half years. At first I worked in the collar department as a patent turner, making the band for loose collars. I later worked turning collars inside out before they were top stitched. I remember we once went on strike but I don’t recall what the dispute was about but do remember the union woman - Mary Webster. I also remember having a photograph taken, I was dressed in pyjamas and a bowler hat. (see Fig ?) “I finally became supervisor in the cutting room which I did for five years.” Margaret Holder née Pollitt started in 1953 as a collar attacher. “I started at Midland Road then went to New Street, Mrs Briggs was the supervisor. My sisters Joan Guy and Millie Pollitt also worked at Valusta, Joan made the sashes for Miss Valusta. “I left after eight or nine years and went to Double Two in Wakefield.” Jean Backhouse née Moore and Joan Butterfield née Moore were twins who started together in 1953. Jean remembers trapping a finger in a cog at the back of her machine, she fainted and was carried out by Don Freer. There was a strike at New Street and the staff marched up to Midland Road. Mr Arthur and Mr Alec, who were the bosses, saw three or four of the strikers including Jean about their grievances (a pay rise). They then went back to work where Mrs Briggs, the New Street supervisor was not amused! Phylis Basford née Bluck worked as a folder and presser at Midland Road from 1953 to 1962. “I left to work at Pinderfields but returned to Valusta when I was in my forties and Miss Stanford was supervisor.
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“When Burberrys took over I went to New Street where I was the union shop steward and worked as a presser but it was much heavier work pressing raincoats than it was shirts. I moved back to Midland Road, when the New Street building closed, until I was made redundant shortly afterwards. “Mary Grayson and I were friends who worked together, I enjoyed working there – I liked the happy atmosphere.” Joyce Johnson left school at Easter in 1955. “I left school at Easter in 1955 and started work at the Valusta shirt factory in the pressing department, known as Round the Corner. There was a very large table on which all the finished shirts were placed ready for us to press. “Shirts were also made at the New Street factory but there were no pressing facilities there. The first job was to press the cuffs, then the collars were pressed and then on to the yoke press. From there the shirts were buttoned up ready for their fronts to be pressed and then they were folded, presented and put into boxes. My wage was £2 4s a week. “Alec and Arthur Valentine Stubbs owned the factory together with Mr Tamplin. Victor Ziel was manager and Mary Webster was my first supervisor. After twelve months I was put on to folding the shirts - the presentation part, from then on I was on piecework – earning my own money. When I first started work I remember working with Freda Downing, now Smart, Phyllis Bluck, now Basford, Sylvia Towers, Mary Neale, now Booth, Elsie Cheetham, Margaret Coggins, now Tinker, Betty Darby now O’Donnel, Madge Bailey now Hackett and Ada Madeley now Reece. “I remember the first Valusta dance that I went to. It was Christmas 1955 and was held at the old Barnsley swimming baths at the Town End. A false floor was put over the swimming pool for the dance floor and you sat round the sides of the pool in the
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changing cubicles. “Every year from the age fifteen to eighteen we had to be examined by the factory doctor whose name was Dr Pick, he was from Barnsley. You had to strip to the waist and wait your turn to be examined – it was really embarrassing. “My sister Olive left school at Christmas 1957 and started work at the New Street factory in January She was a machinist, attaching collars to the shirts and her supervisor was Winnie Selby. After a while she came to work at the Midland Road factory on the Special Bench, that’s where all the shirts were made to special measurements for different people. It was good when Olive started work at the Midland Road factory because we could then walk to work together. We worked from eight o’clock in the morning to six o’clock at night, we had a ten minute break in the morning and one hour for dinner. “Most of the local girls went home for dinner but the girls from surrounding villages stayed in the works canteen for their meals. The canteen was in a cellar which was very drab and small but the canteen ladies made very good meals and when you were eating and enjoying your bread and dripping with a cup of tea at break time you didn’t notice the state of the canteen. The ladies’ toilets were just off from the canteen and that’s where most of the girls went for a smoke. “I remember my sister Olive coming out in a rash on her hands. The collars she attached to the shirts were put into some kind of chemicals which stiffened them, we called them trubanised collars. They must have used some different chemicals in the trubanising causing Olive to have the rash which caused her a lot of pain. She had to wear white gloves to work at the factory and also when she went out at night. She was very embarrassed about it all. She had to attend hospital for various tests and had to wear different swatches of cloth on her arms which had been dipped in various chemicals to see which she was allergic to. It took months for her to be rid of the rash. She was never compensated for the
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suffering she had but in those days there was no accident book to record accidents or anything at all. “Mr Ziel left and was followed by Mr Dunford, followed by Mr Craven and Mr Wilshaw, all three were good managers. Then came Mr Williamson, by which time the factory was owned by GUS (Great Universal Stores), he instigated a lot of changes such as lowering our money. Girls in the folding department earned their own money, we were paid a certain price per dozen for different styles of shirt. Mr Williamson lowered the prices so much that we had to produce a lot more to earn our money. That’s when quality and presentation was lost throughout the factory! He also set some employees against each other and I left the factory for a while because of this, to work for Mr Makin at a factory in Wakefield. When the next manager, Mr Sumner, came to the factory I was asked to go back to New Street to supervise the pressing department. “The factory was owned, over the years, by Alec and Arthur Valentine Stubbs, Ruben and Alfie Back, Great Universal Stores and in November 1984 it took the name of Burberrys. I worked there until the factory closed in 1993. I had some happy times and made some good friends and we all keep in touch to this day. “The factory closed in April 1993 and was, until September 2004, a Burberry factory shop.” *(Joyce can be heard on the enclosed CD) Ann Dodson née Smith started in 1955 at New Street “I was transferred from New Street to Midland Road on the Special Bench with Joan Guy and Winnie Grayson. We made shirts for the Swinging Blue Jeans pop group. At first I was a twinner and then the first overlocker as a trial. I remember Mr John Bamkin from Sales gave me and my workmates a box of chocolates at Christmas”.
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Margaret Tinker née Coggins was fifteen in 1956 and was leaving Felkirk school “It was my last few weeks at school. What would I be doing? It was my fifteenth birthday in March and I was leaving school, I’d have to find a job. I had no qualifications, having spent most of my childhood in and out of hospital. It didn’t seem like four years since my first day at Felkirk when I came home and said: ‘That’s my first day over – another four years to go.’ “In March 1956, when I eventually left school, my mum told me my name was down to start work at the Valusta shirt factory in Royston. “April 7th 1956 was my first day at work. ‘What will I be doing?’ I asked Pat who lived on our street at Ryhill. Pat told me all about the work, bus times and what to expect on my first day. “When I went through the factory doors, with the other new starters, the place looked so big. The manager Mr Ziel met us and we were told to stand in order of height – small on one side – tall on the other. “I was put on the pressing line learning how to press collars, cuffs, yokes, shirt fronts and to put the finished garments on to hangers. Then they were folded neatly on to cardboard with one cuff showing on the front, put into bags and packed into boxes for despatching. “My first day was very tiring, it was a big change from what I was used to - 9 am to 3.30 pm in a small classroom. From out of my first wage Mum bought me an alarm clock - so I could get myself up and off to work early! “We had lots of happy times working in the factory. Everybody was friendly and we all knew one another. Somebody would start singing Who’s taking you home tonight after the ball and in next to no time the whole factory would join in. I stayed at the Midland Road factory for ten years before I was asked to move to the sister factory in New Street. This was a pyjama factory and I was put in charge of the pressing department but I didn’t stick that
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job for long after being asked to finish with the union I had been in since I was sixteen! Everything was changing; I got married and left in 1971 to have my first two children. “After eight years off, I got a job with Burberrys, back at New Street. After the factory closed I was moved to Midland Road but not on the factory floor, this time I was a canteen assistant. “I stayed until Burberry closed and I still keep in touch with work-mates. I enjoyed my time in the factories.” *(Margaret can be heard on the enclosed CD) Phyllis Garner (nee Green) started work in 1956 “I started work in 1956 at the New Street factory when I was fifteen. Norman Turton was the manager and I earned between forty five and fifty shillings a week (£2.25/£2.50). After a year I went to the Midland Road factory. Mr Ziel was manager and Mary Webster was supervisor. Mr Ziel used to bring his laundry into the factory, Mrs Wilden washed it for him and the girls ironed it. One day I was doing the ironing and scorched his white tennis shorts. I panicked and tried to get the scorch mark out. I rubbed the shorts with cleaning fluid and bleach until I rubbed a hole in them. I went to his office to explain what I had done. He said that because I had been honest about it, the incident was forgotten.” Eric Hawkes worked at Valusta from 1956 to 1962 “I started work in 1956 aged fifteen years. My first job was laying up and cutting out linings for collars, cuffs and front bands. Derek Grayson was supervisor and after six months he put me to work with Pete Reynolds on the laying up machine for the actual shirt. It produced about sixty dozen shirts in one lay. We then put the patterns on the laid up material, cut out the shirt patterns roughly. The rough patterns were transferred to the band knife staff who cut them correctly. The cutters were Don Pool, Ken Frisby and Raymond Price. “I was upgraded to Number One table with Ken Basford. The material was hooked on to the table which was vertical. When
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we’d hooked up between fifteen and twenty dozen the table was then laid flat. We put large clamps onto the material to hold it in place and then dragged the material off the hooks. We stapled the pattern onto the material, roughly cut round the pattern and again sent material over to the band knife people. “A.V. Stubbs was a good firm to work for. Some of the material’s names I can remember are Marlborough, Clarence, Sea Island Cotton, Rayon. The cutters had a shirt made for them for the annual dance but we had to pay for them.” Elaine Martin née Wilkinson worked at Valusta in the mid 50’s,. she remembers that workers were only allowed to wear hair rollers on Friday afternoon ready to go out Friday evening. Bill Roper started as a shirt cutter in 1956. “I worked under Derek Grayson at Midland Road on a band knife cutter, Geoff Grayson was the supervisor. I finally worked as a special cutter. “I remember Maurice Minett, Eric Hawkes, Roy Jukes, Arthur Jukes, Ray Price, Dan Poole, Winston Bryce and Peter Billingham.” Gladys Proctor started in 1957 at Midland Road. “I started on sweeping up with Mrs Towers. Later I became a machinist and worked in the trubanising room in the collar department. I worked with June Bryce, Frances Nordon and Winnie Powers. Helen Hirst was the supervisor.” Betty O’Donnell née Darby started at Valusta at Easter 1957. “I started work at the New Street factory putting linings in cuffs but wasn’t a good machinist so I transferred to the Midland
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Road factory working in the pressing department, also known as ‘round the corner’. My first job was pressing the yokes on the shirts; I then went on to pressing the fronts on the body machine. Later on I was upgraded to folding the shirts – the presentation side – before they were put in boxes. “The manager was Mr Victor Ziel, the supervisor was Mary Webster and Mr Alec and Mr Arthur Valentine Stubbs with Mr Dennis Tamplin were the owners. I remember my wage was about £2.12.6 per week. I worked with Margaret Tinker née Coggins, Joyce Johnson, Muriel Taylor, Christine Hemmings, Freda Smart née Downing, Ada Reece née Madeley, Mary Booth née Neale and Muriel Higgs. Once Mr Ziel caught me smoking in the toilets and sent me home for the rest of the day. “I also remember Ivy Barker who was the cook in the canteen and made good dinners.” Deanna (née Worbey) Walker’s career with Valusta lasted from 1959 to 1966. Prior to this she worked at the Co-op in Ryhill and South Hiendley. “I left in 1966 when my husband Albert, who worked at Monkton 1, 2 and 3 pit decided on a change of career. This took us down to Middlesex and was the start of our thirty-two year break from Royston, although we have always visited regularly. On moving back in 1998 we were put in touch with the local history group, it was then that I dug out three Valusta photos which I had managed to hang onto. Needless to say I never thought the spin off from this would be so popular and I have enjoyed what followed, with more photos being found, not to mention Joyce Johnson’s personal collection, which is quite amazing and has enabled us to put archives and albums together for ex-employees to enjoy. “It was in the collar department that I started work as a machinist. Elaine Palmer was our supervisor. Sewing wasn’t new to me, which made it easy to learn the work. We worked six machinists to a bench, the bench being like a large table with three
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machines down each side. At the side of our stools was a large metal bin on legs which held our work. We made the top part of the collar, two pieces of material and one piece of lining per collar. All this came in bundles of anything from twelve to forty eight collars which were a lot of pieces when you multiply this by three - and each bundle was balanced on your knee whilst you were sewing. Rather than keep stopping, when we reached the end of each bundle the ticket for that bundle would be sewn after the last collar and another bundle started. After a while we would stop and then clip the cotton joining all the collars so as to separate them, then we put them back into bundles. The girl waiting for the collars would sometimes do this for us, as we worked as a team. This saved waiting time and meant she could be getting on with the next part which was turning the collar inside out. The machine used for this was called an Ace Turner and Margaret Wilkinson was one of the girls operating it. The collars were then top stitched and made ready for us to insert into the neckband. Time was precious as there was a target to reach which enabled us to get our bonus for the day. “There were times when, I remember, in winter it was so cold we would put plastic bags on our feet to warm us up. Then in summer we would put strips of material on the main bar working the power under the bench and this would act like a fan (I dread to think what health & safety of today would think to this). “When loose collars were made there was a special trubanising room, I seem to remember this as a small room with a large boilertype tub in which the collars were treated to stiffen them. A kind of solvent was used which had quite a strong smell, we found this handy for removing nail polish! I can’t imagine what it did to our nails. “The collar may be the smallest part of a shirt but probably the most important and there is certainly a lot of work in one. Styles have changed and here are some of the ones I remember; long points, rounded, round with tabs, button down and cutaway.
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“Then came the leisure shirt for which, instead of the regular top button and buttonhole, we would make a hand-sewn button loop from cotton and there would be a button discreetly placed under the opposite collar point, this enabled the collar to be worn open or buttoned. Also, going away from collars, sleeves had two kinds of cuffs, single and double to be worn with cuff links, although the single would also have a button as an alternative. “Now! Remember the three pointed hankies for the top pocket? These were three pieces of material folded to a point and sewn on to a piece of card which nicely fitted into a jacket’s top pocket, (this was supposed to substitute a handkerchief which men draped in their top pocket). “My last job with Valusta was running a training department for machinists; prior to this I did some supervision. I have good memories of the shirt factory and enjoyed very much meeting up with everyone at the open day, which we held in September 2003 for all Valusta employees.” Peter Billingham started worked at Valusta in the late 50’s. “When I was asked if I could supply some information with regards to my employment at Valusta shirt factory, my immediate reaction was, ‘What do I know, it’s years since I worked there’; fortyfour years to be precise. It’s right what people say, the memories of the distant past do grow dim, however, once someone had sown the seed, I have to admit, I found myself thinking back. The most obvious and closest memory is that I worked there when I met my wife Norma, to whom I have been married for close on forty-one years. “My employment at Valusta was my second job after leaving school. I left Royston Secondary Modern School at the Easter holidays in 1957, in those days you could leave at the end of the term in which you reached the age of fifteen. I cannot remember when I actually started at Valusta, but think it was early 1958 (I can remember going to the Christmas party at my first job at Woolley
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Hall) so I would be close on sixteen at the time. I was employed in the cutting department as a cutter. “People employed were mainly local from Royston and Ryhill. In the late 50’s most people did not have their own transport and relied on public transport to get to and from work. If my memory serves me correctly, the exception to this was a group of girls from the Upton, South Elmsall and South Kirkby area who were brought to work by a private coach. I knew a lot of the younger end, both male and female, from school and the twice weekly visits to youth clubs in both Royston and Ryhill. I also knew a lot of the more mature employees due to the fact that my parents were steward and stewardess at the Monckton Working Men’s Club which was just across the road from the factory. “Derek Grayson was the cutting room supervisor at that time, he placed me with William (Bud) Roper to learn the job. I soon learned to call scissors shears and can still remember the blisters that these created on my thumbs and fingers. Small orders were cut by this method and larger orders cut by machine. I also learned how to operate a laying up table. This was a flat table some eight or nine feet in length which could be tilted into a upright position to enable you to hook the cloth up when coping with larger orders. The tables had a metal rail with movable hooks, these had to be set to the correct length of the ‘lay’, yes, there is a different interpretation for the word these days! It was crucial that these were set to the minimum length, as you could waste material if it was set too long. It was also important to make sure there was no sagging of the material between the hooks. “Work in general was an extension of your social life. As I have said, a lot of my mates worked there and, together with the girls, we all knocked about together. I can clearly remember the morning breaks in the canteen, I think it was well salted dripping teacakes, served up by Mrs Haycock who lived down Park View. Her daughter Margaret worked in the offices, she married Jeff Grayson, Derek’s brother, who worked on special cutting. They had a sister working there, I cannot think of her first name, but she was
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married to Les Selby (Dizzie) who drove for Wallace Arnold, and they lived opposite the Cross pub, in Summer Lane. The Christmas fuddles were extremely enjoyable, I was involved with these due to the fact my dad was club steward, he allowed us to have a few crates of beer without the bottle money (deposit) on. In those days you paid 3d per bottle which you got back on return of the empties. A saving of about eighteen shillings on three crates nearly bought another one, we were on less than £3.00 a week don't forget. “The annual dance was a major event and was held in the Three Cranes Hotel in Barnsley. If your memory is like mine you will remember that it was situated above Burtons tailors where Macdonalds is today. This was the highlight of the year, all the girls done up in their finery and the lads doing the same. We were in the days of drainpipes, velvet collars and pointed shoes, the girls in flared skirts with yards of net underneath and beehive hairdos. Those were the days! A great night out and transport home, we thought we’d got it made. This brings another memory back. Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard were the in people. I seem to remember a group of the girls clubbing up to buy one or the other a set of shirts in some new material we’d got in. They possibly bought four shirts, with cutaway collars, style four, as they were known in the trade, and sent them as a present. I cannot remember what the result of the gesture was. “Who can I remember working with? As I said first off, I worked in the cutting room, so I'll start there. Bottom of the stairs, stockroom, John Milner together with an elderly lady whose name slips me. Band knives, top corner, a stiffish gent called Don Poole who lived in Barnsley. Barry Gasson, who lived in the Kirk Cross area, used to have a Norton Dominator when he was at the factory. John Tune lived on Midland Road the last time I saw him and there was a gentleman called Ray Price who lived in Royston. Sorting collars, yokes and cuffs from band knives was a small plumpish lady called Stella who came from Ryhill. “On the tables, Bill (Bud) Roper, Eric Hawkes, Harry Dyson, Ron Paling, Maurice Minett, Eddie Wright, Barry Davis, Brian
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Raybould, now with the Salvation Army in London and working with the homeless, Winston Brice and last but not least Roy Jukes. Sadly I know that these last two passed away some years ago. Roy was a big mate of mine as I had known him from being eight years old. Roy moved from the village to Netherton, he worked in the local mine and was killed underground in an accident in the early 70's. “One I nearly forgot, Doreen Pollitt, Doreen marked up the lays we used.” Nancy Jackson née Wagstaff. left school at Easter, in 1959 “The week before I left school at Easter, in 1959, my Aunty Mary said I was to go and see the manager of the Valusta Shirt Factory. The Manager, Mr Ziel, was a customer of a local hardware shop where my Aunty worked. Aunty Mary had explained to Mr Ziel that I was leaving school and needed a job and asked if he had a vacancy for me. “I began working at the factory the following week, at the New Street site, along with other school leavers. Miss Briggs, the supervisor, told us that there was to be no swearing. “Thelma Hudson and Christine Freer, two other local girls, also started work at the same time as myself. The three of us were put in different sections within the factory where we were trained to make collars, cuffs and sleeves. “The first part of work I did on the shirts was sewing on the labels. The labels were placed in the centre of the yoke, just below the collar. Some time later, I was moved downstairs to learn how to make the openings for shirtsleeves. The shirt openings were made before the cuffs could be attached. I was now working alongside Amy Shenton and Joyce Machin who were also local girls. “The shirts were stitched together on black Singer sewing machines which were placed on the top of long wooden benches and were driven by circulating moving belts underneath the benches. The power switch, to shut off the machines, was on the
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wall. If it was pushed, so that a machine could be switched off in case of a breakdown or if something became fast in the motor, all the other machines stopped until the problem was fixed. Time was lost and this caused frustration between the sewing machinists because breakdowns affected the bonuses the workers could make. “In those days, there were no safety guards to protect the machinists and we had to be very careful that the belts did not touch our legs. On the floor, there were also oil spills and bits of material to look out for. Dust seemed to be everywhere but nobody complained to the manager - times were different and you accepted things for what they were. “Later, I was moved from Valusta’s New Street factory to the Midland Road site. Here, I went onto the Special Bench. The Special Bench was the section of the factory where shirts were made-to-measure for famous people. Harry Secombe and Paul Robeson were just two of the many people we made the shirts for. It was usual for shirts to be sold in high class shops in London. “The Midland Road site had previously been the Empire Ballroom and was a mismatch of different rooms. The roof was made of glass and the factory was very hot, for the work force, in the summer and very cold in the winter. “To help pass away the time during the long hours and hard work, the workers were allowed to listen to the radio in the afternoons. The programme they listened to was called Workers’ Playtime. Popular tunes and songs, of that period, were played and workers could join in and sing as they worked. “When there was no radio to help break up their day, the workers would tell the usual jokes and poke fun at one another. Although the work was hard, there were also lots of laughs and good fun. “At the end of every July, the factory closed for two weeks annual holiday which usually coincided with the local Monckton Pit holidays and schools’ six weeks summer holidays. Some of the summer holiday destinations were Blackpool, Scarborough and
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Great Yarmouth. Foreign holidays were unheard of in the fifties and sixties. “Once a year, a dance was held for the Valusta workers in the Three Cranes ballroom, in Barnsley, or in the Mecca ballroom in Wakefield. At the dance, the highlight of the evening was the Miss Valusta Contest. The beauty contestant winner would receive a satin sash, a silver cup and their photograph would go into the local newspaper. The sash was made by Joan Guy, a machinist from the Special Bench. “At Christmas time, a fuddle or party was held in the factory or local working men’s club. If the party had been held in the working men’s club, the workers would try to make it in their way not to go back to work although they were expected to. When all the food and drink had been consumed, all that the workers wanted was to go home and enjoy the two day Christmas break. “I was employed at Valusta for thirteen years and made friends with some very hard working people. Although I did not go there by choice I enjoyed myself most of the time I was there. I left in 1972 just before my son John Martin was born.” Venita Battye née McEwan started work at Valusta in 1959 working in the collar department topstitching collars. “I worked with Deanna Walker née Worbey, Pat Storey, Margaret Wilkinson, Valerie Schofield and the supervisor was Elaine Palmer. We used to sing a song that went like this: Working in the shirt ole, Working all day. Slaving our guts out, For ten bob a day. When the day is over The boss used to say Cheer up yer buggers You’ve done nowt today.”
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Eric Dickinson started work at Valusta in 1960. He worked there until 1962, when he went into the forces. He went back to Valusta in 1966 and stayed until 1968. “I worked in the cutting room at Midland Road where there were ten men, I remember Barry Gasson, Paul Toone and Eric Hawkes. I also remember the 1961 party at the Ace Ballroom – we had a great time. “I left Royston and lived down South for thirty years and travelled all over the world in that time. I returned to Barnsley fifteen years ago and am now a bus driver.” Linda Hudson née Barmby worked as a collar turner for eighteen months starting in 1961. She remembers getting electric shocks off the turning machine. Her first wage when she was fifteen years old was £2.17.6 Ken Jones worked as a mechanic at both factories between 1961 and 1971. “I worked as a mechanic at both factories between 1961 and 1971 under Harry Cross. My starting wage was £3 a week. I also worked for Burberrys for a short time 1987/88.” (Ken’s interview can be found on the enclosed CD) Mrs Florence Parkinson née Schofield left school in 1962 and two weeks later went to work at the Valusta factory on Midland Road. Florence lived at the Lilacs on Cross Lane at the time. “My first job was as a packer - making boxes up, stamping them and packing the shirts, the shirts were often well known brands, one I remember was Pierre Cardin. I did this until 1973 when I left to have children. I can’t remember my first wage – but it wasn’t much.
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“I will always remember the day I was sacked for taking one of the boxes home to put my wedding cake in. One of the women bosses saw me taking it and had me in the office to tell me I was sacked. I had had permission to take the box from my forewoman, Jean and when Jean saw me putting my coat on she asked what I was doing then told me to get back to work. As far as I know she sorted it out from there. “I was in the union which I thought was a good thing, I remember one incident in particular. One very cold winter we asked for a break so that we could get warm and were told we couldn’t have one – so we came out. Two hours later we were granted our break – five minutes! The place was always cold in winter and very hot in summer. On hot days in summer the machinists wrapped rags round the drive shaft under their benches so that their legs were cooled by the flapping of the rags. There were big windows above us which were partly responsible for the heat, eventually these were painted over to keep the sun out. If it was hot in summer it made up for it in winter when we often had to work in our coats and gloves and the machinists had to wrap their legs up! “The canteen was down stairs and known as the black hole of Calcutta – when the doors were shut you couldn’t see a thing. There were rats all over the building, I remember the rat catcher coming to put poison under the heating grills which ran across the floor, he came back several days later to take the dead rats away. On the subject of health and safety, I remember the emergency doors were always padlocked so that the girls couldn’t nip out to the shops – until the fire officer came and wanted to know why. “As well as the factories in Royston, there was also a storehouse on Rotherham Road (near the crossroads at Smithies). Nobody worked there regularly but sometimes I had to go there with a girl called Connie. “Some of the people I remember were Gwen Bridges the girl I worked with, Mr Beagle the boss, Florrie Biddle an overlooker,
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Connie Dyer and her sister Jean, Aileen and Janet Wilkinson and their mother, Pat Woods, Margaret Tinker, Janice Blackburn, Ruth Lloyd and the mechanic Harry Cross with his son Harry Jnr. I got on well with most of them but remember one nasty incident, I was sweeping up and a girl was aggravating me – till I pinned her up between two lockers with the brush handle! But most of the time it was a happy place I can remember when somebody would start singing and soon everybody in the factory sang along. We used to listen to Workers’ Playtime on the radio and one day there was a request for me – for my birthday! Englebert Humperdink singing ‘Ten Guitars’. As soon as they announced my name I tried to disappear but the girls wouldn’t let me. “Every Christmas we went to a big ballroom in Wakefield. We caught the local bus at the Wells but a special bus brought us home. All this was provided by Valusta but husbands and boyfriends had to pay. On the day we broke up for Christmas we all went to the club across the road and most of the girls had one too many. When we went back to work we were always told, “Go home! We’ll get no work out of you.” Off we went to enjoy the twoday Christmas holiday. “Later on I also did the production books as part of my duties. I worked at Valusta for eleven years. Monday to Thursday we started at eight am and finished at five pm with an hour for lunch. Fridays we worked from eight till four thirty with an hour for lunch (fourty three hours!) They were long hours but on the whole the job was well paid, I certainly felt rich every Friday and I have happy memories of it. Sometimes the job got a bit monotonous but now and again I went to Congleton on a delivery to a warehouse there with the van driver Harry Fowler – it got me out a bit. By the time I left Valusta I was married and about to have children, I had left Royston and was living at Hoyle Mill.”
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Anne (née Hobson) Hawkes worked at Valusta from 1960 to 1967. “I was 15 when I started in the pattern room in October 1960. The manager was Mr. Dumford and the supervisor Derek Grayson. “They were happy days hearing the boys shout out, ‘Anne! You’ve left the sleeve piece out again.’ I was always in trouble but I soon put them right. It was here that I met Eric who wooed me until finally in 1964 we were engaged and married in 1965. The next managers were Mr. Makin and Mr. Wilshaw then came Mr. Williamson who taught me a lot such as working out how much material was needed per order. The layers of paper were held down by a building brick wrapped in brown paper – they economized in those days. I used HB pencils, I went through four a day. I remember Jeff Grayson getting the patterns and cutting out two gold lamé shirts for the singer Emile Ford. “Christmas, Fuddles, Dances at the Three Cranes and then at the Ace Ballroom. They were good days. Betty (“It’s me bairns”) Cowlishaw was a collar maker at New Street. If one of her children was ill she would be late. Noel and the girls would be standing by Shaw’s butchers on the corner of New Street waiting to see if she was on the twenty to ten “Chippy” Rowe bus bringing her from Monk Bretton – and praying that she was so that production could get started. Her invariable excuse when she came rushing up past the co-op was “It’s me bairns.” There was no part time work. Glenys Ledger née Shaw worked at C&A in Leeds until 1967. “I worked in Leeds but then Royston lost its rail service so I had to find work locally at Valusta, Mr Ziel was the manager then. I worked on the button machine which was a big noisy machine and one day all the buttons were stuck in the holder. I told my
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supervisor who brought the boss and he said, ‘Wait a minute’. He came back from the canteen with half a potato which he dropped into the machine and within a few minutes the buttons were free, leaving a lovely smell of baked potatoes. “I remember we had to ask permission to put rollers in our hair for a night out at least three days in advance. Friday dinner times we went in the best room at the Bush for our lunch we were soon told not to come again as the cotton from our smocks was spoiling the carpet. “After five years I left to get married but never forgot the tricks of the trade.”
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Epilogue This book is principally a description of the A. Valentine Stubbs factory in Royston which made a quality product (12 stitches to the inch). Employers and employees were known to each other and a social life amongst workers was encouraged, this was in contrast to working for an anonymous conglomerate (GUS) where mass production rather than quality was the ethic. The quality returned when GUS acquired the Burberry label but the family atmosphere was lost forever.
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“ I left school in 1940 and started at the Shirt Factory the next year. My first wage was 10s 9d a week rising to 12s 6d and then 15s 0d for a 48 hour week” “she remembers that workers were only allowed to wear hair rollers on Friday afternoon ready to go out Friday evening”
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“I worked in the cutting department first, laying material up for the band-knife men to cut up. It was quite a heavy job for a fifteenyear old girl”
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