| Description | An interview with Val COMBE, a single woman with no children, who is a retired telecomm. factory worker, born in Birmingham and now living in Birmingham. Val COMBE’s father was a G.P.O. clerical officer, born in England and her mother a Factory worker/housewife born in England. In the interview, she talks about …
Logged by Sonia Southern
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Born in 1946, in Loveday Street Maternity Hospital.
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Her parents were 40 when they decide to have a child, her mother was advised not to have children because she had a weak heart, but they finally decided to have a child.
20” Family home was built in 1904, in Bordesley Green. Her parents moved in, in 1935 and she was born in 1946.
42” Her earliest memory, starting Bordesley Green Junior and Infant school.
2.20” Recalls that she was quite a tom boy, she used to play at a park in Grange Road.
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1957 she went to Bordesley Green Senior Girls School.
30” Memory of doing needlework.
1.15” Never had any CSE’s or GCE’s, they just had exams, however there was opportunities for the brighter children to go on and do an extra year and take more professional examinations if they wanted to.
2.26” Left school in 1961, she was 14 at the time. She couldn’t wait to leave.
3.00” Two weeks training for her first job.
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Describes how women were seen as second class citizens in those days.
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Being able to stay at the place which she had trained at, in Fordrough Lane factory.
2.00” Describes her time training at Bournville and walking through the factory on her break with a KitKat from the opposition, Cadbury.
3.50” Talks of a girl she befriended at the factory.
4.18” Her position at Bournville was working in repairs, she used examine the items that had been ordered in.
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…Continues.
4.49” Talks about the tricks that were played on the woman by the men.
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Re-start
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Continues telling about the tricks that were played.
1.25” They went from being called GPO, to the Post Office and then from the Post Office to being called BT, and then finally the company became Fulcrum, so she has worked for four different firms but hasn’t had to move. She has always worked in the examination department. In her final years before she retired she began doing the paper work, and then she retired in March 1987.
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…Concludes.
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The difference in the positions held by men and woman…the men were responsible for the machines and woman did more menial work. Woman used to make the tea for the foreman and this changed when canteens came into action. They never had a clocking in card they had a gold disc which was put into a box before they began work and taken out on the way home.
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Talks of the plastic money, which used to enable her to move between different parts of the factory.
50” Talks about electroplating and how they had to be dipped in acid, and the men who had to do this particular job had to wear protected clothing. She recalls how the acid used to smell and tells how the Post Office was very safety conscious.
2.50” How her role changed over the years.
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Positions held in her job…there was a trade union called P.O.E.U, the men were known as F.T’s, factory technicians and the woman as A.F.T’s, assistant factory technicians. However in 1970/80s, the woman were able to take examinations to hold the same position as the men. The woman wasn’t as involved in the Union as the man, mainly because they never used to do piece work.
2.30” Describes the lunch breaks that were available.
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Re-start
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Re-start
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The community that she lived in around the 1950s describes how everyone used to leave their doors open, even at night.
1.20” 1959-60, people were awarded grants to have bathrooms fitted inside their homes.
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Describes the difference the bathroom made to their lives, the outside toilet wasn’t like the toilets we have now. It was wooden and stretched along the width of the wall.
1.08” Describes the tile grate, and the old coal fire place and surround.
2.28” Mid 1950s…Talks of how a woman never went to work when she was a child, there were no luxuries in those days. Her Mother finished work at forty when she had Val; she worked for Handsey’s in Hockley. It was the only firm in England that made magnifying glasses.
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Story of a man called Dr. Gregory and if anyone was ill they just used to run over to his house and he would help them out.
41” 1953, A party over at the Custard House…fancy dress.
1.31” A man who owned a coach and he used to arrange mystery coach tours to different pubs. Neighbours used to go out with each other.
3.06” Teenage years…describes going to the picture house.
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Hayley Mills was the star of her day and Flash Gordon.
30” Describes how they used to play Marlies (marbles).
1.18” 1980’s…things began to change when the older neighbours began to die. The neighbours she has now aren’t interested in being friendly; they keep themselves to themselves. Years ago everyone used to help each other, they would help you if you weren’t very well.
3.19” She belongs to the Neighbourhood Forum, which is a project to encourage people to keep the area tidy.
4.00” Asians are renting most of the property in her area now. But this doesn’t encourage people to take care of their property.
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She doesn’t believe people are as considerate of one another lately, however she still helps people when she can. She hopes to get people together to build the district back up.
1.32” Religion…she belongs to the Small Heath Methodist Church.
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1986…Chrysanths show that they hold at the church.
1.51” She became lady secretary at the church, where she runs the men’s supper club. She also helps clean the church and organises the Spring Fair that they hold there.
4.08” Her position as vice chairman of the Small Heath Local History Society…
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30” She cares for her father for which she gets an allowance for.
1.00” 1989…Booking her driving lessons and loving being able to drive.
2.00” For relaxation she does cross stitch embroidery, she embroiders wedding details for people and gives the money to the ‘Seed Time’ at the church. People make pledges and they help people from Easter to autumn.
4.00” Loves listening to the Archers and radio plays.
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People who attend the church.
3.35” Her religious beliefs are important to her, she described the youngsters of today being so cruel. Being Christian gives people guidance between right and wrong.
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She used to judge people on first impressions, but doesn’t tend to do this anymore because she found that people had their own reasons for their attitudes.
1.00” Church has a multiracial congregation.
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Shops have changed in Small Heath…discusses how she recalls how surprised she was when a sweet shop was opened.
3.00” 1959…shopping with her mother at the Co-op, which was the first self-service grocer’s shop. Shopkeepers used to know your name and have a chat.
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Shopkeepers nowadays don’t give you the time of day.
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Birmingham City Centre..she used to visit Town with her father when he went over to visit his mother who lived in Nechells. She used to visit the Bull Ring; this was before it was developed in the 1960’s.
1.33” Describes New Street Station where she used to watch the trains before catching the number 57 bus.
2.00” Walking down Lawley Street when they had the old railway horse and cart.
2.50” Catching the bus from work and spending her first wage packet. She doesn’t attend Town any more, the shops that she preferred to shop in are closing down, which was Littlewoods and C&A. Her last visit to Town was just before they began the re-development of the Bull Ring.
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Her cousin’s wife, and her outlook on Birmingham City Centre…she found it quite ‘green’ and not so concrete.
2.30” How she loves trees and discusses how she helped preserve a tree across the road from where she lived. |