| Description | An interview with Gordon JAMES, a widower man with one daughter, who is a retired Car model maker, born in Bromsgrove and now living in Bromsgrove. Gordon JAMES’s father was a Carpenter/ joiner, born in England and his mother a Housewife born in England. In the interview, he talks about …
'MS2255/2/027 JAMES, Gordon Logged by Naomi Fowler
01
Gordon James, born 1916, October.
1.33 Memories of going everywhere on bicycles.
4.07 Started going to Birmingham on the bus with his mother. Found the big city ‘awe-inspiring.’
4.44 His father was a joiner. People were referred to by their trade.
02
2.07 His mother.
03
.02 School days, changed the system.
.25 In 1928… I had only two years to go until I was 14, so my last two years I was at a senior school.
.42 Head boy at senior school. Story about the schools having a week’s holiday for potato picking.
1.57 Went from school straight to work.
2.00
…It was a big change…I've never forgotten my first day…after school, going to work...
2.08 Sent to attend night school after work.
3.13 Did a seven year apprenticeship.
3.37 Well, that finished in 1937.
3.42 The firm was two men who originated from Bromsgrove Guild in 1924…
4.00 Began his apprenticeship in wood carving with an Austrian man.
4.21 Joined after two years by his son in the apprenticeship, who he eventually worked for.
4.55 Did some jobs on pubs in Birmingham.
04
Working outdoors in winter.
1.45 His work mate restored bomb damage in Gas Hall.
05 I finished the apprenticeship in ’37 and I stayed with the firm for about 6 months or so…
.19 Various jobs and short spates of unemployment.
.51 …and then it got to the point of the war.
.55 He was working on a monument for the 1st World War just before the Second World War started.
06
Getting into ‘the Austin’ when he was 21, model making. Moved on to engineering.
2.14 Went to Northfield to try to enlist in the army, but they were needed more to do their skilled work.
2.57 I said ‘Can’t we volunteer?’ ‘–No’… I said ‘You’ll fetch me.’ They did in 1945. The war finished then…so, into the forces I went.
3.24 Was placed in the Film Unit in the army, trained as a film projectionist entertaining the troops.
4.06 Sent abroad to Singapore, Malaya, but made redundant from that after 6 months.
4.09 Went into the Indian Army.
4.17 Memories of the long service of some of the men.
08
1.09 I was too old for National Service, I was 23 then. 23, 24 then… I had my 30th birthday in the army…
1.26 However, my World Tour, Grand Tour, as I used to tell everybody… The Government sent me on a Grand Tour around the world. I didn't do a darned thing…they didn't know what to do with us…it was really quite a fiasco.
2.12 I was married at the time, and I’d been married just 18 months.
2.24 Didn’t see his wife for 2 and a half years.
2.51 Finding a job after being de-mobbed. Returned to work in Longbridge.
09
.04 In 1947 when I was de-mobbed out of the army I …found work…
1.40 Working on ‘Joy Cars.’
10
Around 1951, ’52 they sent for me back again and I went to the experimental department…
.25 This was in the main motor factory at Longbridge.
11
Memories of using clay to design cars. Story about an Italian worker who couldn’t work for the company whilst Britain was at war with Italy and Germany.
2.24 Memories of fellow workers. Story about making a torso of a man to test fabric of the seating.
14
That was in the mid-50’s…
.12 Memory of a colleague and his drawing abilities.
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Memories of fellow workers. ‘They were real craftsmen.’
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.55 Memories of fellow workers.
2.59 The management at the time.
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Around about the ‘60’s people in the managerial side of things were coming in who weren’t really motor or automobile trained. They’d managed other businesses…
.31
To my mind of thinking, you need a man who's got a bit of insight into the problems of the motor industry, if that's what they're going to manage.
1.0 Industrial relations, had the impression that they weren’t properly recognised for their work. Story about a bonus system.
19
Models of cars they made; the Mini, and problems with it not being water-tight.
21
Never was a car enthusiast, ‘It was just a job.’
1.01 Story about involvement in designing the black taxis.
23
Trade Union involvement and striking.
1.04 The Robinson Strike.
3.45 Memories of the management style of Robinson.
24
Sometimes there was trouble at strikes. Story about complaining at a worker-management meeting to the company for sending warning letters to their wives.
2.26
…You can always get at us… but we can't get back at you . Now you have also got onto our wives now… To my astonishment, it brought out quite a round of applause…It didn't mean anything in the end, but I just had to get it off my chest.
3.15 Wasn’t politically involved.
3.32 Arguing with foreman.
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I retired in 1981, just 6 months before my 60th birthday.
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.55 The challenges of his work.
2.40
Now of course unfortunately, as a result of the… changes in procedure … it's all done by computer. Now computers to me are mysteries… I don't understand them… I'' never be with it when it comes to modern-day equipment…I'm amazed at the computers.
28
.08 …I’ve been living in this house for… I got married in 1943… I came up here 1944 and I’ve been here ever since… this is at Shepley.
1.15 Getting to work from Bromsgrove, usually got a lift from someone. After the war bought a motor bike.
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Memories of his motor bike and side car.
.39 This was when my daughter was only 2… that was 1950’s…
30
His first car.
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When one is a craftsman in the true sense of the word, you're always fighting between two things. One is your love of the job and the skill that you attain doing it, and the other is finance… One is reluctant to give that up to do a lesser job for more money. This is ingrained in most craftsman of some sort or another...
1.02 The delight of craftsmen in their skilled jobs.
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.11 From November ’45 to ’47 I kept a daily… record of events…
.45 This day the 18th November 1964 is twenty years since my first journal…I went on with journal up until the death of my wife, after that things became so painful… there was nothing to write about… that was 2 years ago… ’64 to ’98, twenty-odd years. |