Your Jobs Of Work In Manchester

[fluffymoat4]

Marjorie, it was lovely to see you back on MM - you've been hugely missed!! Thanks for your comments about my storytelling. I am better at writing true stories than fiction though - sorry! I have tried in the past and in fact I had to write a short fictional story when I did my English GCSE - I may dig the story out and put it on here one day (when I get round to unpacking - most of our belongings are still in boxes as there wasn't much storage space in our new bungalow). The only other true story I could post on MM is still too painful to write. I get a few paragraphs written and then depression sets in and the tears begin to fall even though it had such a happy ending! Each time I tackle it I manage to write a few more paragraphs so, who knows, maybe one day... ?

[marjorie]

Hiya Little MO! I WILL COME AND HELP YOU UNPACK IF WE CAN HAVE ANOTHER GOOD READ LIKE THAT LOL! THE OTHER ONE IS IT ABOUT YOUR LIFE? THAT'S TOO PAINFULL TO TALK ABOUT AND THEN WHEN YOU MET YOUR HUSBAND IT GOT HAPPIER AND HAPPIER THEN WHEN YOU HAD YOUR CHILD YOU GOT HAPPIER AND HAPPIER STILL. WE DON'T WANT YOU TO WRITE ANYTHING THAT WILL MAKE YOU SAD LITTLE MO ONLY THINGS THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY, TELL ME NOT TO BE TOO NOSY IF YOU WANT TO DON'T MEAN TO PRY. MARJORIE

[fluffymoat4]

Marjorie, just to put your mind at rest. The painful story is of how it took us eleven years of trying for a child that we were told we'd never have (without medical intervention anyway). I am happy to tell everyone that it resulted in us having a lovely son (now coming up to age 17) without intervention, but it's the story leading up to the happy event that I'd love to be able to share. I hadn't realised quite how traumatic the years had been until I tried writing it down (from the many diaries I kept). Odd how we block out pain when we're going through it?

Jean and Eileen are still around and occasionally add to the many new threads that are springing up. We all missed you and Marie so much - they will be so glad to see your name back on this site - trust me!

[marjorie]

OR, LITTLE MO , YOU HAVE MADE ME FEEL AWFUL NOW , I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T MEAN TO PRY , BUT WHAT A LOVELY WAY OF SAY ING I WAS A LITTLE BIT NOSY.LOL MARJORIE.

[fluffymoat4]

Marjorie - You nosy... NEVER! ha ha

[fluffymoat4]

I've sent you a personal message with a little more detail than perhaps you deserve LOL oxo

[marjorie]

THANK'S LITTLE MO, I AM GLAD YOU STILL LIKE ME, EVEN THOUGH I AM A BIT, --------BIT NOSY LOL . OH MY GOD I SOUND A BIT LIKE thingy EMERY, NOW I KNOW THERE IS NO HOPE FOR ME LOL. I THINK I HAD BETTER GO TO BED BEFORE I START SHOWINH MYSELF UP GOOD AND PROPER. THANKS FOR THE PM. MARJORIE. NIGHTIE NIGHT GOD BLESS.

[marjorie]

LITTLE MO, YOU --NOSY---NEVER! HA HA. SO SORRY I COULD JUST NOT RESIST IT, LOL. MARJORIE. PS GOT YOUR PM WILL ANSWER SOON AS.

[marjorie]

HAD A GOOD BROWSE ROUND SEEM TO BE ON MY OWN ONCE AGAIN, SEEN THE TIME THIS LATE HOUR WAS LIKE PICCADILLY STATION ON MM, MO AND WYN DON'T SEEM TO HAVE BEEN ON FOR A WHILE. MIGHT AS WELL GO TO BED AND DREAM A DREAM OR TWO SO NIGHTIE NIGHT GOD BLESS WATCH THE BUGS DON'T BITE. MARJORIE

[frances]

Hello all
Well I am going through the topics one by one. When I left school I went to work at Blackley Co-op down near Blackley Village. I was a junior clerk and worked the switchboard. I was a general "dogsbody" but I enjoyed it. I left there and worked at Small and Parkes the brake lining factory in the office. I hated going down that hill to work in a morning and coming up at night. Especially if it was icy. After I left there I worked at Berry and Warmington (top of Thompson Street, Rochdal Road) I didn't like it there as I had to make the tea and I had to scold the cups beforehand as they had mice as it was an old building. The supervisor wasn't very nice either. After that I went to work in the Corn Exchange near Victoria Station. It was aa company called Schalberg & Co. They were Danish and lovely to work for. They provided you with towel and soap also. We had Windsor soap. The coffee we got was Lyons (in a tin) and Lyons Continental. Coffee was only just coming into its own then so it was a luxury.
At Christmas we got a parcel of the the tinned meats they dealt with. They were agents or whatever for "Tulip" meats. We also got an extra weeks wages for Christmas. (£5.00 per week then). The boss was a lovely man who was always smoking cigars. If you were not well he used to run you home in his car. Where are these bosses now?? My first wages at Blackley Co-op was £2 pound nine and 11pence. (Don't know where the 11pence came in)
After Schalbergs (I was 18 then) I joined the WRAF. I served 3 years and loved every minute of it. Never really lived back in Manchester after that except for about 20 years ago. I stayed for 5 years and came back to Yorkshire.
Frances

[Lisa]

Hi Frances, Loved your work story. Tell us more.....

[lin]

HI FRANCIS, YES AS LISA SAID, YOUR STORY WAS GREAT, VERY INTERESTING, WOULD LOVE TO HEAR MORE.

[tony38337]

Hi All,

Reading through all the stories about former work places, brings back memories, I started work at 15 at a place called Walkdens just off Moston Lane, they used to make tin cans, one of these cans was a split can for two grades of valve grinding paste called Chemico. My wage was £2.9s.11d and I lasted two whole weeks. From there I went to the Co-op at Middleton to work in the greengrocery, I lasted a few months here. in fact I had so many jobs as a teenager I lost count. I was often lambasted for not sticking at anything. Which brings me to the point that in those days "Jobs for life" were the expectation and if you had had too many jobs there was something wrong, now a "Job for life" is almost unheard of and it's quite common for people to be taken on six months contract, if you haven't had several jobs an employer tends to think there's something wrong. In 1976 I decided to take a job at Ford Motor Co. and set my target to try and last a year, last November I attended the company's 30 presentation dinner at Brighton, I guess I forgot to leave huh? Or did I find my niche in life?

Keep the stories comming.

Tony T.

[lin]

Hi Tony, I love reading about everyone's jobs of work, unfortunately I can't contribute to them as I have never worked in Manchester being that I was only 7 when we left there, talking about work down in the West Country would not be the same....but I do love reading about everyone's job of work in Manchester past and present

Yes Lin, our lights dim also. Alan

[Lisa]

Hi Tony, Interesting to hear about your work life. Is the CHEMICO the same pink paste that I use to clean my sink and bath with? If so, they still make it and it really makes the porcelain shine.

[tony38337]

Hi All,

Chemico products were all abrasives of one kind or another and yes Lisa I also remember the scouring cream but I don't remember the tins at Walkdens, the tins I made were about three inces tall and about an inch and a half diameter with a devider in the middle and it held two grades of grinding paste medium & fine.

Tony T

[Lisa]

Hi Tony, Its a brilliant cleaner and very difficult to get hold of but my little hardware store stocks it but I havent seen it anywhere else. Its in a pink round tin. I dont know of anything else that cleans the porcelain as well as Chemico does. How are you doing Tony? Are the knees getting better?

tony38337 said:

Hi All,

Chemico products were all abrasives of one kind or another and yes Lisa I also remember the scouring cream but I don't remember the tins at Walkdens, the tins I made were about three inces tall and about an inch and a half diameter with a devider in the middle and it held two grades of grinding paste medium & fine.

Tony T

[roofingman]

Hi Folks..I still remember the song and ditty for (some of it anyway) for the Chemico ad on Tv..I emigrated in 1965 so it must have been around that time......."Just a wipe of Chemico..duh duh duh for hands and pots and pans--Chemico!!......My memory clicked in the other day and I started singing it in my van on my way to work---other Canadians must have thought I was Bonkers and then excused me for being an eccentric Englishman....I have a great memory --its too bad its too short....................Ian..vancouver...

[Lisa]

Hi Ian, Loved the ditty about Chemico. I can just imagine you driving in the van singing that song. Its not an eccentric Englishman, its an eccentric MANCUNIAN. Do you think it was something that was in the water all those years ago that made us like this?

roofingman said:

Hi Folks..I still remember the song and ditty for (some of it anyway) for the Chemico ad on Tv..I emigrated in 1965 so it must have been around that time......."Just a wipe of Chemico..duh duh duh for hands and pots and pans--Chemico!!......My memory clicked in the other day and I started singing it in my van on my way to work---other Canadians must have thought I was Bonkers and then excused me for being an eccentric Englishman....I have a great memory --its too bad its too short....................Ian..vancouver...

[tony38337]

Hi Lisa,

The knees are not too bad at the moment, my good one is the most painful at the moment, with the brace on the bad one is behaving, all in all I am quite mobile as I can drive, I've been on the bike a few times but can't walk very far, because of the risk of fracture I am still using crutches and life is for living. As me Mam used to say "There's plenty in't graveyard 'd swap places."

Tony T.

[lin]

HI TONY, GOOD FOR YOU, THAT'S THE SPIRIT...KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND YOU'LL GET THERE EVENTUALLY...DO YOU ALSO REMEMBER THEM SAYING, 'YOU'RE A LONG TIME DEAD'? OF COURSE THAT'S IN ANOTHER CONTEXT BUT JUST WONDERED IF YOU REMEMBERED IT?

[prof]

Hi Lin,
In response to your suggestion re first job in Manchester. Two weeks after leaving school I stated an engineering apprenticeship at Long & Crawford on Gorton Road, West Gorton. I had no idea what they did before starting. They made 11000 volt switchgear. It was an awful shock after school. We started at 7.45 and worked until 12.15. After lunch we worked from 13.00 until 17.15. On the first day I was standing all day on a concrete floor operating a fly press making fish plates for connecting bus bars. It didn't mean anything to me then either. All apprentices started work in the machine shop. The foreman was called Bert Mayberry. It took me years to learn to appreciate him. The Company was run by the two Long brothers, Peter and Keith. The managing director was John Bromley ( on retirement replaced by Richard Flint) After doing very well in examinations at Openshaw Technical College I was transferred to the drawing office (chief draughtsman thingy Shannon) I joined the company on 13 August 1956 and left 20 January 1978. When I left I was Manager of the Personnel,Safety and Training Department.
It would be good to hear from anybody from those days at L & C.

[lin]

HI PROF..SOUNDS LIKE YOU DONE VERY WELL AT THE END OF IT, A LONG DAY OF GRAFT FOR KIDS LEAVING SCHOOL BACK THEN...AFRAID I LEFT MANCHESTER WITH MY PARENTS AT THE AGE OF SEVEN, AND NEVER ACTUALLY WORKED THERE..I WORKED IN PLYMOUTH DEVON, AND SOME IN CORNWALL. NICE TO HEAR YOUR STORY THOUGH.

[Lisa]

Hi Prof, I bet Tony, one of our members, remembers some of the things you mentioned. Keep a look out for Tony as I'm sure he'll send a reply when he's next on.

[Lisa]

Hi Tony, Glad to hear you are doing ok with the knees. Have you actually ridden the bike or just sat on it? The way my knees are after gardening I doubt I could throw my legs over a bike now. I remember my first ride on a bike - my boyfriend had a Triumph Spitfire and he scared the pants off me going around corners. He told me to "go with the bike...." but I was always afraid we'd come off. We never did. We once got caught in a storm up near the Snake Pass and, rather than find shelter, headed home. I couldnt get off the bike I was so wet and stiff. I think I lost interest after that.......

tony38337 said:

Hi Lisa,

The knees are not too bad at the moment, my good one is the most painful at the moment, with the brace on the bad one is behaving, all in all I am quite mobile as I can drive, I've been on the bike a few times but can't walk very far, because of the risk of fracture I am still using crutches and life is for living. As me Mam used to say "There's plenty in't graveyard 'd swap places."

Tony T.

[christine]

IS ROBORTSON JAM WORKS STILL IN DROYLSDENXXCHRIS

[tony38337]

Hi All,

I am not familiar with Long & Crawford and the company of draughtsmen was a heady height for me, I would be found in the company of the average teenage tearaway in the 60's.

Tony T.

[tony38337]

Hi Lisa,

Yes I have been out on the bike a few times, the furthest I've been is about 40 miles, I could ride much further but I'd be stuffed when I got there without my crutches, even with braces I can only (Very carefully) potter about the house.

Tony T

[Lisa]

Hi Tony, With your indomitable spirit, I bet you're off those braces and have thrown away the crutches before the year is out.

tony38337 said:

Hi Lisa,

Yes I have been out on the bike a few times, the furthest I've been is about 40 miles, I could ride much further but I'd be stuffed when I got there without my crutches, even with braces I can only (Very carefully) potter about the house.

Tony T

[eileenman]

Chris, Yes Robertsons jam Works is still there.