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Quarry Bank Mills
Tales of the Mills project- what we achieved
Memories of the Working Past
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Memories of the Working Past
Location: Kirklees
You can learn a lot about the industrial heritage of your local area by just talking to an older generation of workers, those who have witnessed in first person much of the stuff we might have learnt in the classroom history lesson.
It’s these tales that really brings history alive and a number of Local Heritage Initiative projects are reclaiming the past by committing to memory the collective stories of everyday working life.
The Mill Buildings of Kirklees in the Holme Valley are still a feature of the local landscape, although the workforce left long ago, and with them most of the skills learned and practiced by generations of workers.
Reviving some of these dying crafts is the aim of ‘Tales of the Mills’, a project which is literally encouraging locals to tell tales. Their memories paint a vivid picture of life in the early years of 1900, when earning a living at the age of thirteen was commonplace.
Eleanor Cuttell, who recently celebrated her 100th birthday, remembers the black woollen stockings worn over the arms of mill workers in an attempt to keep clean and a bottle of methylated spirits that was always kept within reach to prevent overworked fingers from bleeding.
Along with these stories, photographs of Eleanor and her friends capture the spirit and mood of working life. Viewed alongside photographs taken in later years, old black and white examples are pertinent reminders of the changes in manufacturing that have taken place over the years.
It’s the personal snapshots of past employees that are also helping the historical society of Irthlingborough tell the story of the Express Works, a local shoe factory which once enjoyed an international reputation.
Wearra shoes, the adverts boasted, came in “multiple fittings” and were hardy “all year rounders.” Their reputation for quality was such that during the war the factory churned out boots by the million for the armed forces. It was a major employer in a town where most of the community were involved in the boot and shoe business.
Staff welfare was important and the progressive company motto: “Happy workers means good shoes” meant annual day trips to London and the coast and a calendar of social events that played cupid to many a couple in the town.
Today, all that’s left of the boot and shoe industry that once dominated the town are the derelict factories and warehouses. But it’s the stories and memories documented by this project that have done much to explain their presence and the town’s place in history.
These anecdotes and personal photographs have now become the subject of a book, and interest generated by the project has even brought to light a film that was made about the factory.
Changes in twentieth century working life have resulted in many of the jobs previously done by hand now being done by machine. Sharing stories of the working past can go a long way to preserving traditional crafts and skills now superseded by technology, ones that might otherwise disappear without trace.
It’s putting names to the faces of black and white photographs depicting previous generations of workers and bringing the history lesson alive.
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