| Description | An interview with Robin LYNDON, a Separated man with one son, who is a Supplier Quality Engineer, born in Birmingham and now living in Walsall. Robin LYNDON’s father was a Driver, born in England and his mother a Housewife born in England. In the interview, he talks about …
'ROBIN LYNDON MS2255/2/087 Logged by Lorraine Blakemore
01
I was born in 1954 on 29th January in…Lozells. Father was a milkman, mother was a housewife. Good memories of family life. Only family in the area to have a holiday every year to the seaside.
1.33 Memories of Christmas as a child.
2.31 Father’s background.
02
Large family living close together.
54” Lived in a privately rented 3-bedroomed house. Describes the style. We were possibly the last house in Lozells to have a bathroom…because ours was a privately rented accommodation whereas most of the others were council….we had to endure…traipsing round to my grandmother’s to have a bath….
1.58 The family finally got a bathroom in 1972… Moved into the next road into a council property.
2.35 Growing up and needing a place which was acceptable to invite friends back to.
03
Family owned a car which was unusual in the Burbury Road area.
04
I’ve got friends who, until they were 15 or 16, …had never seen the seaside…. Other visits to Yorkshire.
05
Lozells was a special area…The neighbours were very good…There wasn’t a lot wrong with the people who lived there in the late 50s, early 60s… Describes friendships at school.
2.14 Details school days.
06
Because there were no telephones or that kind of thing, I’d got a brother who was 2 years older than me….they would give him a letter to take home to my father….or they’d send a slip to my mother to go up to the school…
52” School subjects.
1.18 Moved to secondary school in 1964. Attended Gower Street Secondary Modern School.
07
Initially worried about going to this school because it had a reputation for being rather harsh.
2.11 There was a question of going to grammar school but in those days there was a class distinction….it was something that was never discussed in my household…if any of us had gone to grammar school it would have given my parents a massive monetary problem in uniforms and things like this…we all went to school in T-shirt and jeans….
3.59 Friends of his went to grammar school, but stopped being part of their group.
08
Details streaming at school.
09
Had several offers of apprenticeships on leaving school but chose William Newman’s in Newtown.
10
My first job is still my current job….I left school in 1969. I was 15 years old. Starting an apprenticeship with the company and never really looked back…I felt that the men and the women in the factory had always got time for you. I’d only been at work for 6 months and had quite a serious accident. I was off work for a long time…
11
Describes what his apprenticeship entailed.
1.33 Within basically the first 5 years I’d been at Newman’s….I’d learned how to assemble every type of door closer….I’d been moved around all the departments….
12
After 12 months apprenticeship he was moved to the shop floor.
39” Worked from 8-5 o’clock 5 days a week. Played football during lunch break.
1.41 Quota system of work which would ensure a bonus.
13
I feel that the youth of today are really up against it. We don’t do an apprenticeship at this company anymore and we haven’t for 15 years…The skills that the children need, they can only learn by work experience… Story about a school boy on work placement.
14
Spent 3 years on production line doing various jobs. At 18 went to the forces' recruitment office, but turned down on medical grounds.
50” Conversation with management resulted in move to inspection/ quality department in 1971. After 3 years progressed to chargehand. In 1979 he became the quality supervisor.
1.53 It’s like a kind of a marriage with the company….I’ve been here 32 years….the good times far outweigh the bad times and I do enjoy my job…The nature of the job has changed enormously….Gives details.
3.05 The lifestyle of people has changed immensely….When I started work and through the late 60s, early 70s I felt that times were a lot harder than they are now, monetary wise…but people of today seem to be more stressed out and under pressure to achieve things than they’ve ever been….We’ve been through major unemployment issues in the mid-70s and early 80s…
15
You have people going to the doctors now and bringing sick notes in with stress marked on it….When I was a kid…the stress factor was never discussed….Because I’ve been here so long they’ll come in and talk to me about home life, private things….
1.05 Although people have said to me recently that I should be looking to improve my status…I don’t want to… Comments on how important it is to get on with people.
16
Management has improved the environment for people on the shopfloor.
Gives examples.
1.11 Some people still work hard…but it’s human nature that if they are not being paid to rush….In my day you had to do 100 components a day to get a bonus….Today they can come in, clock in and if they don’t feel like rushing they don’t have to….
17
Worked as a paper boy as a teenager.
25” Congregated in local parks at night playing football.
1.08 Attended an all-boy’s school, but there was a girls' school nearby.
1.48 Types of music bought in the 70s at a local record shop.
2.39 Importance of friendships.
3.06 Started football team from a pub in Newtown. Also played for the works football team.
4.10 We started going to nightclubs and the nightclubs in Birmingham in the mid to late 70s were very good… Gives details.
18
The racial thing was simmering away slightly in certain areas, but it was certainly never part of my life….
19
My parents were quite strict with the subject of racialism and they wouldn’t stand for it because although we’d grown up in an environment…basically white people….they looked on it that you should welcome people and be friendly….Describes an Afro-Caribbean friend.
1.07 Conflict with parents about drinking.
2.05 Comments on nightclubs in Birmingham in the 70s.
3.21 Describes The Locarno. Story about parents coming to the nightclub looking for Robin.
20
Preference for recorded music over live bands. Types of music played.
1.16 None of the clubs were, realistically all white or all black people. There was a good mixture. Rebecca’s was known as a black club. But we went in there and never had any trouble, although you used to hear reports…the first time I heard of anything like that was on the Lozells Road…there was a record shop that was called Black Wax and it was for black people only…. Comments on how this has got out of hand.
21
Story about meeting his wife.
1.22 Financial difficulties getting married in 1982 and starting up a home in Tamworth. Separated in 1993. Close to son.
3.27 Would like his son to branch out and experience the kind of things he enjoyed as a teenager. He’s a sensible lad, I’ve got no fears of drugs or anything like that happening, although it is a stage that I went through in the early 70s with the weed….
4.02 Holidays in the UK rather than abroad.
4.19 Describes the Tamworth starter home.
22
Continued.
23
Decided to move back to Birmingham in 1986. Relocated to Erdington. Not entirely happy about living in Birmingham.
24
Wife a very keen DIYer. Now Robin lives in rented accommodation and is not so concerned about decorating.
25
Contrasts people’s sense of community when he was a child and now.
1.02 Hasn’t voted for a number of years. Gives reasons.
2.08 In favour of public spending. I think that public spending isn’t enough. You look at what they spend money on, the Millennium Dome and things like this, when we need this money…lottery money…to be spent on health, care, training and education….
2.47 Son’s education.
26
Not strong views on religion. Doesn’t believe in preaching, but does pray when things go wrong.
27
Employees social club closed down 4 years ago.
28
Changes in technology at work.
1.22 Given a booklet on how to operate his laptop computer.
29
Banter at work about England-Pakistan cricket matches.
30
Up to the 1980s I wouldn’t have wanted to live anywhere else, it was a fun place to be…but I think over the last 10-15 years, the changes that have taken place with culture…with Lozells, Sparkbrook, Moseley,…have become very rundown….I think a lot of it is down to the people who live there, the people who dump rubbish….
31
Story about his mother and the litter accumulating in the area where she had been living.
32
Always had a car and doesn’t use public transport. Explains why.
33
Relationships were easier in the 60s. Comments on sexual behaviour.
34
His attitude to relationships was very different from his parents and older siblings.
ENDS. |