40 Great Years

When I started in the mill in 1945 I started in the six flat in the number 4 Mill. There were three different departments – Cop winding, Re-winding and Cheese winding all in the 6 flat. Then there were nearly 100 workers.

All the young girls over 18 were called up for the forces so that just left young girls and older women so we got plenty of overtime. We always got a good snack from the canteen at 6 o' clock then we worked till 8 o'clock.

We used to have outside toilets until 1950 then they built new toilets and washrooms in every flat. In 1977 they built smoke rooms so they wouldn't smoke in the toilets. They built the mill hall and on the opening night so many from each flat got an invitation. I was lucky enough to get one.

The year after it opened there was a beauty competition and lots of dances. Before it was built the dances took place in the canteen in the number 4 Mill.

During the war all the windows were painted black or dark green so as when we worked late there was no light showing in case the Germans planes saw it and bombed us.

We used to save up 2'n'6 each week and go weekends to Blackpool. Sometimes there was as much as two buses. Sometimes on a Saturday night they would run a bus to Butlins in Ayr.

My husband worked beside me in the 6 flat. He was a tenter. We were married in 1952 and we got a mill house one year later.