In the late 20'S when
I became 14 years of age it was time to leave school for full-time
employment, the system having been altered some time previously where for a
start one worked half a day and went to school half a day -- hence the term
"half-timer" •
Work wasn't easy to obtain so the idea was to take half a day off school a
short time prior to school leaving time, which was Easter, June 30th,
September 30th and December 31st, and go round the factories asking if they
wanted anybody.
The industries at that time were cotton and slipper factories with a new
trade, silk spinning, just starting. There were also the various
apprenticeships in joinery, electrician, painting and decorating,
engineering, motor engineering, etc.
But as a £50 premium had to be paid to be articled and a very low wage
(5/per week) to be received, this put apprenticeship out of my family's
reach.
My father, who had spent most of his working life down the pit as a miner
and was now a ganger on Bacup Corporation, decided against my being a
miner, and mother---most of whose working life
had been spent in the cotton mills--decided against my being a mill worker.
This left the slipper works, so off
with my mother I went to Maden and Irelands at Kilnholme Mill. and asked if
we could see the Clicking room foreman, Mr Harold Holt.
PRICKING AND MARKING
He duly appeared and
after hearing what I wanted,
asked some questions, looked me over, and told me I could start on a certain
date on pricking and marking -- wage to be the union rate of ls/9d per
week.
This work consisted of pricking holes and making larks via cardboard
patterns ,0 guide machinists when sewing together and putting fancy
stitching on vamps fronts) and quarters \backs7 o shoes and slippers. It s
part of the clicking department.
·here were about 20 young's like myself on this work from Sam to 12-30 and
1-30 to 5-30pm; Sam to 12 noon Saturday. I used to catch a tram from the
Market Hotel to the Cemetery Hotel and I got what was called a four penny
double which entitled me to 4 rides (2 each way) for 4d instead of ltd each
way.
BIKE SAVES MONEY
At that time about 90 people worked in the clicking room, foreman H Holt,
and four in the pattern cutting department, foreman Dave Pilling (Boots).
Once I bought a bicycle I started using it for transport to work, thus
saving l/l0d which was a lot in those days. We had to work hard as all the
jobs we completed were entered on a production card which was checked by the
foreman and the remarks he passed if you hadn't done your quota put the wind
up you.
Sometimes when we had nothing to do we dipped one end of a piece of string
in rubber solution (which we used for sticking linings on vamps) and threw
it up to the ceiling over another person's bench, where it stuck for a short
time before dropping on someone's head or body. On occasions a string would
have been thrown onto the ceiling when in walked the foreman. One prayed
then it would not drop, or if it did so, it would miss the foreman. I have
seen fights develop as a result of this prank when lads would throw brushes
dipped in rubber solution at one another. I have seen faces and hair caked
in solution which required a lot of removing.
In the clicking room benches over a yard wide were fixed to the walls and in
rows down the room on which were clicking boards 1 yard long, l8" wide and
5" thick, made of some wood which was soft enough to allow a special knife
blade to penetrate t" and yet hold together for years, getting a weekly
dressing of boiled linseed oil after having been buffed to keep the surface
level and hard .
PROMOTION AT LAST
On these boards
clickers (cutters) cut round brass bound special shaped patterns to produce
uppers or linings of shoes or slippers, and were paid so much per pair
according to shape and number of cuts required. The uppers were usually
patent leather, suede, glace kid, and other colours and kinds of leather,
whilst the lining were of stiffened calico or cream coloured leather.
After pricking and marking promotion was of the order, lining cutting or on
a small round press, cutting back straps, underlays, etc, then upper
cutting, after which sample cutting. Machines called presses cut out both
uppers and linings.
Knives shaped like the cardboard patterns were used These were half a inch
high, being sharp at the bottom and broadening up to three eighth at the
top, the idea being to use a board of harder material as in a clicking
board, place the knife on the material to be cut, swing a heavy platform
over it, press a handle and down would come the platform, bang the knife and
return to its original position, all in a split second.
MARRIED
MAN'S WAGE
The presses were
driven by a dynamo, shafting and individual belts to each press. The shape
would be cut out and was a faster process than hand clicking but it was
only a paying proposition when plenty of orders for
that particular pattern were received, as the cost of a full set of knives
was high.
I graduated to upper Clicking, a job I was happy to do, until the outbreak
of war in 1939. I was on day rate and for my reward I received £3.16.10d per
week. This amount I was getting when I married to Vera Greenhalgh on 25th
April 1939.
As the time for knocking off for dinner approached (12.30pm) one made ready
for a mad dash down flights of stairs from the top storey, along the mill
yard, up Kilnholme Brow to two waiting tramcars. You arrived breathless for
the journey to Bacup but if you missed these special trams, you had to wait
for an hour for an ordinary service tram which meant losing at least 10
minutes off your dinner hour.
