Page 28 - ASSESSMENT OF ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

N: You worked in a blanket factory? I never knew that.
R: Yes, I started off in Smith’s blanket factory, and later I moved to Early’s. Mr.
Early’s factory is the only one that’s left now. There used to be six blanket

factories in Witney at one time.

N: Did you want to work in a blanket factory?

R: Well, it wasn’t like it is today. Young people do all sorts of things these days.
But in my day most of us left school, and went straight into the blanket factory. I
was fifteen and a half when I started working.

N: How long was your day?

R: Work started at 8: 00 in the morning and finished at 6:00 in the evening. I lived
in Cote at the time, and so I had to catch a bus in to Witney. The bus came at 7:15,

and if I missed it, that was too bad. I didn’t get any pay for that day. I used to get
up at 6:30 each morning so as to be ready on time!

N: You had a lunch-break I take it.

R: Yes, we had an hour off at lunch-time. I remember some of us used to go and
play on the slide on Wood Green in our lunch hour. We used to laugh and have fun
there, like young children.

N: What sort of holidays did you have?

R: We had three weeks holiday in the year. The factory would close for two weeks
every summer, and so we all had our holidays at the same time. They usually

organised a day trip to London or to the sea-side at Brighton, and we’d go off for
the day on the train. We would get our photograph taken there.

N: What exactly did you do in the blanket factory?

R: I was in charge of two looms – upright looms and I had to check everything went
alright. If threads snapped, I had to tie the ends together again. I had to climb up
and clean the loom, when a blanket piece was woven.

N: Was it dangerous?

R: A shuttle could suddenly fly out of the loom. I remember that happened one day

and it knocked this girl out. But that didn’t happen too often.

(Changing World, Unchanging God) 26