Open Writing

During this period, I developed a keen interest in politics, and much to my mother's disgust my leanings were more to Churchill and the Tories as opposed to Atlee and the Labour party. Her reaction was that I was not old enough to understand politics and I would get more sense as I got older.

I remember listening to conversations at work about the Korean War, the activities of the government and particularly the 1951 General Election. This was very significant because it was the second election in two years, the 1950 General Election having produced only a very small overall working majority for the Labour Party. The 1951 General Election did produce a larger overall working majority for the Tory Party, but it will be remembered because more people actually voted Labour, but they got fewer seats in parliament due to our electoral system.

It took some understanding and stimulated many an argument during our lunch time canteen discussions. Perhaps this was the first indication of my interest in the social rather that the engineering sciences.

Another memory of 1951 was the lively discussions among the apprentices, led by part-time boxer Vince Carraher, about the 'big fight' for the World Middle-weight Championship. The contenders were challenger Randolph Turpin from England and the alleged unbeatable world champion, Sugar Ray Robinson from America. The Englishman surprised everybody by winning, only to lose the title again three months later.

After six months in the mining switchgear department, instructions came for me to report to G1 Department in Hebburn works the following Monday.

This was the department that made Reyrolles' standard range of C switchgear. The production line was planned so that the raw material - castings, conductors, fabricated and machined parts - went in at one end and were progressively assembled over days or weeks until the completed unit came out at the other end.

There was some interesting and intricate work on the production line, but there were also some boring, dirty and repetitive jobs. It was just my luck to get one of those. Working alongside three fitters, our job was to strip a two-part casting, prepare and insert three conductors, and cement and bolt the castings together. It was an unpleasant and repetitive job - but well paid.

Hebburn Works always seemed much busier than the New Town Works. Perhaps this was because there were usually forklift and pallet trucks motoring about the roadways and lorries backing in and out of the large delivery bay. Hebburn also had a large number of office workers wandering around with paperwork in their hands.

Individuals from the offices could be guaranteed to appear as time for the 12 o'clock lunch buzzer approached. This was not always devotion to their work but usually to be first in the queue for the nearby canteen!

Early in 1952, my luck regarding transfer to another department changed when I was moved to the Relay Shop, I was delighted as I knew the Relay Shop from my drawing office days. It was a department concerned with small intricate assembly work and where most workers sat down all day.

My good luck did not stop there, because I was put to work with Andy Kinelato, the father of my former classmate of the same name. Andy senior was a former war-time naval officer and many people in the department referred to him as the 'Commander'.

He was also a law unto himself and very keen on the academic development of apprentices. Consequently, he gave me an hour off every afternoon to revise for my exams in May 1952. I used to sit studying at my workbench with the foreman passing alongside but saying nothing. When he retired early, Andrew senior took over an off licence in Alice Street, not far from where we lived.

Many workers in other departments thought that working in the Relay Department was like working in a Rest Home! The following did nothing to dispel this idea.

In April 1952 I recall most of the department listening on a number of transistor radios to the commentary of the F.A. Cup semi-final replay between Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers. When Bobbie Mitchell scored that important penalty, the cheering must have been heard throughout most of the Hebburn works, yet nothing was said by the foreman!

At the other extreme, I remember how quiet and reserved the department was on the afternoon of 6th February, 1952. During the morning, it had been announced that King George VI had died in his sleep. By lunchtime all the factory knew. Major public events were cancelled and the BBC played continuous religious music as the country mourned the shy man, who was forced to be king just before a major World War.

Having always been taught thrift in my younger days and after earning more money on piecework, I joined Reyrolles Savings Scheme on my seventeenth birthday. This was a scheme whereby the Company deducted an agreed amount from an employee's wages and paid it into the local Trustee Savings Bank. My fellow apprentices were amazed. They 'didn't have enough to spend, never mind save!' was the general comment. Fifty years later I'm still with the same bank.

All good things come to an end, and in the early summer of 1952 I was transferred to a small unknown department at New Town. The section was concerned with assembling fuse and switch boxes. It was remarkable because it consisted of one young fitter and six apprentices.

I knew little about training but from a learning point of view this was obviouslyunsatisfactory. The fitter had a job keeping us usefully employed, never mind training.

One of the jobs was to fish-glue felt seals into fuse-box covers - a job that could have been done by anyone with five minutes’ instruction. I was told to do a few at a time. However, I found there was space on the bench for many more, so I did the covers in batches of twenty. My initiative brought me a sharp reprimand. I was told, "That's not a good idea. If the rate-fixer found out, the rate for the job would be cut!"