Ian Andrews - Development

Ian Andrews

www.ianandrewsfineart.tumblr.com

Development of work

Aphasia     (projected digital film)

Experimentation using different projection methods to be used in the attic area above the shroud room. Using draped cloth to reference the shrouds originally manufactured in the room below. Also considering the possibility of projecting directly onto the ceiling of the attic making the limits of the film difficult to detect and dropping the obvious reference to the shrouds. Final decision will have to be made on site.

This artist creates vibrant projections that seem to echo memory of the building and lives passed. 

Fragments of Sarah Hayes' oral histories pieces

Transcriptions for Birmingham Conservation Trust, Newman Brothers Coffin Works

Key to notes

Underlined         Clarification required by local expert

Bold                       Interviewers questions/prompts

Black                      Industry specific

Black Italic           Newman’s specific

Blue                       Personal background

Blue Italic             Personal and relevant insight to Newman’s as well

Green                   Social and cultural comments/observations of historic interest

Green Italic         Historic events of wider importance

…                             Transcription not included – interviewer instructions/interviewee queries

Highlighted         Not relevant for project (?)

Tape: 113 Newman’s DV, Elizabeth Weaving WIDE, Copyright Birmingham Conservation Trust

Err, I’m Elizabeth Weaving. I was born in Scotland. Err, to be more precise, err just outside Ballantrae in Ayrshire, err and I was born in the, err bad winter of 1947. In February.

…

How did you come to work here?

I, as I say, I worked for another firm doing exactly the same thing and in those days you just moved because you want more money.  Erm, but at the time, err I thought there wasn’t much scope for me, and, err, somebody told me there was a job going and, as I say, err, the salary was more (laughs) and it was in, it was in the early ‘70s when I think most people, if you got fed up of a place, err you could just walk out, in the morning and by the err following morning you’d have a new job to go to (laughs).

So, how did you get involved in this industry as a whole because it seems like an odd industry to be involved in?

I left, when I left school, uh, first of all, I went to work for the Co-op Laundry err, dry cleaning section, err, I got fed up of that, and, err then I went and worked as a driver for S U Carburettors, delivering. I got fed up of that (laughs) and then, err I, I must admit that I did go to the err, employment exchange and s- and for err because I couldn’t find, because usually jobs would get err the jobs I had had previously, people had said, “ooh, they want such and such there” but no but the, so I went to the employment exchange and they said, “well, what, what can you do and what have you been doing and are you willing to work anywhere?” I says, ‘Well, within reason’, and err, er, they offered me a book binding job. I went. I didn’t like it. I didn’t think I’d like it and then they said, “Well the next one we’ve got,” err “how are you with the dead?” (Laughs) that was the exact question they said, “How are you with the dead?” I says, ‘in what respect?’ and err, she says, er “are you bothered about death? Does it frighten you?”  I says ‘no’. I says ‘where I was born and brought up err we were taught not to fear death.’ “Oh” she, I says, “Why?” She says, “Well, we’ve got a job here for an undertakers.” And er, so I says, “Well, yes, I’m ga- what’s the wages?”  – which I can’t remember – and I says “ooh, yes.” So I went along, and when I got there – it wasn’t here – when I got there it was er, T Ellis jones, and err it wasn’t far from where I lived, and it was in a little house. The whole factory was in a house. And they were ever-so nice. It was a family run firm and err, this is what it was to be (points to Newman factory surroundings) – sewing. That it was not an undertaker’s as I’d been left to believe, but erm, this [Coffin Works sewing room] and I stayed there for I think it was about 5 years, and err, as I say it was a small family firm, and it, it was run by the owner, the son-in-law, and his two daughters. And, erm, as I say, I only left for the reason that, erm, I was err, in the throes of getting married – or at least hoping to get married – so, of course, you wanted as much money as you can get to save. So, that was the reason I left. And, err, we were both sorry. I was sorry to leave, and they were sorry to lose me. And, then I went to work, err, I can’t remember where I worked after that. It’s a blank. Nobody else can remember it’s so long back though (laughs). And erm, then I, I heard that there was a job here be- because I did find that erm, sewing generally – ooh! It was Leroy’s. I’ve just remembered! I worked for Lee Rose er, that was, err, ladies clothes.

So, when, when you, when you got here, I mean, did, did, did you just, did they sort- did they do any tests? How did they decide?

I came in. I came for an interview. I came, I was brought up here [Newman Brother’s Sewing Room] and erm, I was left with the forewoman. And of course, she asked me questions, and the minute I said that, err “have you done this before”, and I says “yes, er, four or five years with err, T Ellis Jones” “Oh! We know them.” I says “yes” I says “and of course, I knew you through working with T Ellis Jones.” So of course, erm, they said, err, “well if you’re willing to start, we’re willing to have you” and “when can you start?” And I says, “tomorrow if you want me” (laughs). So erm I came the next day and I was here for about three years

So what was this place like, to work in?

The girls, the women, we were all very friendly err were more like sisters – and aunts with the older ones – err same with the men, err sometimes I would go down at lunchtime err, it’s all been altered slightly. (Gestures around room to doors). That you used to go downstairs and you could get out through the side to go to the toilet. And, er, on the ground floor, they used to have the, err, breast plates, pack them all up, and sometimes there would be, coffins and caskets that had been, err to go on from wherever they’d been ordered from. And I used to go down there was a, err I can’t remember his name, was a nice man. He was in his late 50s and, I used to go down and sit and talk to him in my lunch break erm, because he had been in the Great War, and I had a grandfather who had been in the Great War and, of course, err, I used to go down there and sometimes as I say, erm my seat down there was the err coffin or the casket (laughs). ‘Course he would cover it with, err, so it couldn’t get scratched because err, I’d go down there say, “sit down”, I say where and he’d “just a minute” and he’d put, and I’ve actually sat on coffins (laughs) They’ve been empty of course! We were- I would never do that if they were occupied.

What was, I mean, tell, tell me more about- You’re actually sitting there. Paint a picture for us about what else would be going on.

Well, you’d, you’d  have the machinists here doing whatever they were given because we didn’t all only do g- err we didn’t just do gowns, we did other things. There’d be the Forewoman making up the orders. She and her partner, they would be making up the err – ooh sorry – making up the erm gowns and the orders.

Through there would, there’d be the men doing the handles, breast plates, all the coffin furniture then there’d be the men doing the handles, breastplates, all the coffin furniture then there was the packers err, I mean we would, err these would be packed up into boxes, err I think there were 12 to a box and, was it 24? They were great big boxes. And then of course they would go downstairs err, to be, err shipped off to wherever they were, whether they were for this country or a-abroad because we literally sent them all over the world.

 And err, of course there was the office, but we never saw the office. Even at the interview I never saw the inside of the office. Erm, it was very, well as you can see, Victorian. Very, even, even in the ‘70s – err, late ‘60s, early ‘70s. It was very Victorian. I don’t want to sound as if I’m putting the place down but it, the values were still erm, sort of erm, ‘30s and ‘40s. That erm, so long as you got on with your work, you were alright, but I mean Newman Brothers were, were not the only firm that were like that. I have been in other firms whereas so long as you kept your nose clean, you were fine and you got on well because of, of course, as I said before, it was in the days when it was easy to get new staff, and for the staff themselves that if you didn’t like the job, you just, say “I’m off, I’m leaving” (laughs) I know that must sound callous

***

Joyce Green Interview

Joyce Green Wide Part 1

00:00:23:13

Joyce Green: In my bag there’s a bottle because I get, um, I’ve got a husky, husky voice. Can I put it down there?

Interviewer: Ok, just do your best but let Miss Green Talk alright? Cumbersome process tele, isn’t it?

JG: I’ve warned you, you should be making me look beautiful.

I: Oh,

JG: What are you going to do to make me look beautiful?

I: Don’t need to. You look fantastic.

JG: Laughs Hold your chin up!

I: Ok? Alright lovely, just so we’ve got this on the tape I want you to introduce yourself, um, and could you tell me, ideally can you also tell me where you were born

And if you’re willing to, when you were born

JG: Laughs Well my name is Joyce Green. I was born in Birmingham. I’m seventy five years of age, born in 1931.

I: Brilliant. So how did you come to work here?

00:01:51:00

JG: I came to work at Newman Brothers because I worked across in Summer Row and the, my boss who, um was the owner of that business made tubes for Newman Brothers, that’s part of the casket work. Um he was really, um a dust extractor but he, this was a sideline as well and of course over the period they came into our office and, um, got chatting and then I was invited over to have tea with them in the afternoons. Not every afternoon but here and there because I worked alone and, um, my boss didn’t mind me coming out and of course he would say

“See if you can get us an order we need, we could do with some more, an order for some more tubes.”

 And I would sort of casually say

“Well you know we’re, Mr. Jones is a little bit short of work. Could we put a further order in for you for when you-”

“Oh yes-”

 You know. And so I had tea with them at 4 o’clock and that’s how I got to know them. And when they went, um, had um, an outing, they did a works outing and so I was invited to come to the works outing which I think the first one was Blackpool. And so we, you know, hired a coach and um, we all go off to Blackpool for the day.

00:03:33:01

I: Not heard

JG: Oh yes, yes, all picked up at Fleet Street and then off we go for the day. And of course it was the first time I’d ever been to Blackpool so of course it was quite a, an eye opener really all the, you know, all the rides and all the things you could do so of course we had, I had quite a, I had a lovely day. And um, Mr. Horace came and John Kellet and Charles Floyd and of course the rest of the, the factory.

I: So, I just, can you tell me a bit more about your background? How old-

JG: I was eighteen when I came here.

I: And what, what is your family background? You were born in Birmingham, what’s your family background?

JG: Well I was born in Birmingham, um, and my parents were, were Birmingham bred and born and um, I, I lived near, in the early years, I lived near um, Smallheath Park. Not far away from there. And we were there until, a three storey house- you know a three storey, um you know a house with two stories on top, big house, and… and then of course came the war and, um, the bombing and of course we were very close really there to the BSA. And so um, there were one or two horrific nights as a young girl with my sister, and um, we were, we were housed in the cellar. But of course when things got very bad neighbours had to come and join us in that cellar and when, after that particular heavy raid, my father said

“Well, we’re going to move.”

And he did quite an unusual thing, he moved out to Shirley. Um, people thought he was mad but he moved out to Shirley and bought a house out in Shirley. And that’s where I grew up.

00:05:46:22

I: And what did your father do for a living?

JG: Well my father was an office worker for the um, Birmingham Corporation. He actually dealt with the um, the transport side and the money side of a large um, Yard wood depot.

I: So. Tell me about your first- you already knew the place and you already knew the people but the first time you came to work here what were your first impressions of this building and what happened here and the people here?

00:06:18:22

JG: Hmm, well it, it was just natural to come really I suppose because I’d sort of been to tea and, and then, um, I can’t think of the ladies name she, um Miss. Ree, Miss. Ray, Miss. Regan. Miss Regan decided to leave and um, they said “Look” and my boss had had a heart attack so it all fell in very well that I came to work for Newman Brothers. When I did come I found out that everything, all invoices were written by hand into a ledger, one of the large ledgers still left here, and then were typed separately to the customer. Well, I soon altered those arrangements because you would just be doing double work. So um, we started a different system on the book keeping and it, um, had a different type of invoice where you had three of four to view, which would mean when you typed the top copy, then came the advice note, then the copy for the office and then the travellers copy. So it was all done in one.

00:07:43:08

I: What was your, I suppose, I admit, it’s interesting your impression of the whole place and the people because you must have had, I think when people come round here they have quite a strong first impression of the place. Are you-

JG: Well I just found it a, I just found it quite a happy place. There were young people. I mean John Kellet was young, he came after the war. Dai Davies, he was young, he came after the war, um, Charles Floyd he came after the war, so it was a young nucleus of people that I joined. And we grew up together in a way because they had lost a lot of their growing up years abroad and um, in the air force, all three of them had been in the air force. So really it was a sort of a starting off point really although some of them had been here a year or so before I came. So it was just natural that I came here. 

Sarah Hayes - Developement

110 MARK FINCH INTERVIEW

00:00:20:00 MF: My name is Mark Finch. I was born 31^st of the 10^th 1967.

Interviewer: And when did you first come here, and what impressions did you have of it?

MF: First impression? It was like a time capsule. From the, at the time it was, it’s gradually even over the short time that I was here, its sort of, how can I say it, when I first, very first came here it didn’t seem as much, what’s the

00:01:00:00 word, it’s a bit surreal being part of the history of something. When you feel so young if you like, but no I mean it may have been my age at the time, I was only 17, 18 at the time, but it was just another workplace to me at the time when I first came.

I: Was it your first experience of work? [Interruption-adjustment to microphone] So you are saying as a 17 year old you walked in here and it felt ancient to you.

MF: Yeah, obviously even from the outside on the street it did, although it did blend into the surroundings more at that time because obviously now it just completely stands out as an unusual building like. At that time in this area it didn’t really stand out that much. You could obviously see that it was an old

00:02:00:00 factory like but it didn’t have as much an impression as it would now, even that short time ago.

I: So how did you get the job here?

MF: If I remember it was a careers office. Think it was a careers office that I just visited and they said it that there was a vacancy for I can’t remember what the job title was at the time. Probably just Operative, Production Operative at Newmans and at, I mean from me remembering now, when I was told it was coffin furniture, it did appeal to me at the time because it sounded unusual and I think that I may have been drawn at that time to come for the job and then so the rest is history from there and I did actually take the job.

00:03:00:00 I: And what did you do? What was your job here?

MF: When I first came here it was basically just little odd things here and there, you know. I wasn’t really doing any work in the stamp shop. There was Norman used to work in the stamp shop at that time. Probably for 4 or 5 years in the time that I was here.  And Gradually I picked up bits off Norman in that time as well, but most of my work was just doing bits of packing. There was a lot of deliveries and things at the time so there was a lot of unloading of wagons and things. But it wasn’t, it changed from when I first came here to when I left. My role had changed dramatically like.

I: How? How?

MF: So like I say when I first came here I was doing unloading wagons doing

00:04:00:00 bits and bobs and then I gradually moved in to the stamp shop and gradually took over the all work that goes on in here.

I: Tell us about in here and tell us about what you would be doing in here.

MF: All the name plates, the back plates for the handles, all the stamping, all the plates that you can see around you in all the factory, most of the metal work that was done in here was done by me

I: And I mean these drop stamps. What are they like to work?

MF: Very hard work. There’s not much assistance in actually lifting the stamps and dropping the stamps. I can’t imagine how they used to use the big one at the end even with the drive, it wasn’t easy work at all.

00:05:00:00 I: So who taught you how to, because looking at this it looks baffling and dangerous to me, who taught you how to use it?

MF: Norman. Who as I’ve mentioned he worked in the shop and taught me how to use it.

I: What can you tell me about Norman?

MF: He was a drop stamper by trade. I wouldn’t imagine that, I had never ever seen a job at the time. It was obviously something that had been phased out years before. There may have been bits and bobs in the Jewellery Quarter which I’d seen like, but obviously at the time he was a drop stamper by trade.

He was a nice old chap. Bit of a character. He’d always go off at dinnertime. He’d have a two hour dinner. I can remember him going off down to The George and he’d have a few. He’d always come back a bit worse for wear like

00:06:00:00 on the afternoon and he’d still be operating all this machinery and the stamps so you can imagine, and he’d normally run out of money by Wednesday, Thursday, if I remember and he was always trying to sub his wages to keep him going for the next dinner.

He was *** a nice man. And like I say he passed on the bits and bobs to me. And then as he gradually got ill and he was doing shorter and shorter hours I think that’s when he was passing a lot of the information on to me. To take over from him when he went like.

I: And what was he like as a teacher, was he generous?

MF: Yeah he was, like I say he was a nice character, I got on well with him. He was nice, friendly, he wasn’t, again to me he seemed like thinking back on him now, he was like a throwback, he just fitted into the environment. He was

00:07:00:00           a throwback to the days as well like, where, again I think he was a bit like me at the time where he just sort of like as you see he just sort of like more or less pleased himself what he did, to a point, you know within reason. There was no strict times on anything really, not like today, not like in other workplaces now where, I think that was the appeal to a lot of the people that stayed here and I think that passed on,

I: It’s often been described as having a real family atmosphere, this company. Is that how you experienced it?

MF: Yeah definitely, like I say, it was a nice, relaxed, friendly, it was almost not like a workplace at times, where you didn’t feel like, I mean me personally, I mean it’s not like a workplace now where you clock into your workplace at a

00:08:00:00           set amount of time, and you finish at a set amount of time and your role is defined, exactly what you do and what you don’t do and all the regulations, it just didn’t seem any of that from what I remember here, it wasn’t, there was no real set rules on anything.

I: Can you remember and if so can you describe for me what it felt like the first time you used one of those big stamps, because you must have been quite young and it must have

MF: I can’t actually remember the very first time that I used them, it’s that long ago now, but I think it was quite daunting once you heard it all running, let alone going down and doing any of the stamping like. I often, I mean

00:09:00:00           whether it was true or not, but Norman told me stories about things that had happened to people in the past with stamps and again whether there was any truth in it or not, whether it was just like, but yeah it was quite, not frightening as such to me because it had an appeal to me but I mean yeah I was a bit wary about it all, you know, whether it was actually a safe procedure.

I: Why did it have an appeal to you? What was the appeal?

MF: It was just the history of it. To see things, to see something like this that was still actually producing work and making money. I mean that appealed to me, I mean the whole place had an appeal to me in that respect.

00:10:00:00           I: So Norman’s stories, these stories that may not , may or may not be true. Which ones can you tell us?

MF: He did tell me one about the big stamp, somebody getting their head stuck in that at some point. When it was I don’t know it could have been a long time ago, I don’t think it’s true. I don’t know, I probably believed him at the time but yeah, one or two losing, I think he actually did lose, I think Norman had lost a couple of fingers as well at some point. I can’t remember whether it was on the stamps or not. But he did lose a couple of fingers somewhere along the line. It may not have been here, he had worked in other places, like I say he was a drop stamper by trade so there was a lot, in his younger days I suppose there was a hell of a lot round the Jewellery Quarter. and what have you, a lot of drop stamping going on.

I: Did you ever hurt yourself?

00:11:00:00 MF: Yeah, I just caught the tips of my fingers on the guillotine at one time and had to go to the hospital I remember. Because there was no, I mean there is a guard now, I think that was added later on. But no there was a lot of, I can remember cutting strips of metal like that so your fingers were within half an inch of the blades coming down. So not a very safe practice.

I: What about the women, because I get the impression from talking to people that there were loads of women working here. Or you know a large portion of the workforce were women. What memories have you got of them? What, how did they treat you?

MF: Obviously like you say it was run by a woman, Joyce. Lily Wassall was the

00:12:00:00           foreperson, I suppose you could call her now. The only real male influences that I had was Don, Peter up the stairs, Norman, who went. But the majority of the place was run by women. I have quite good memories of them, I mean we had our differences, me and Mrs Wassall, because she was obviously quite elderly at the time when I first, even when I first came here. And as an eighteen, nineteen year old, we did have some differences.

I: Such as?

MF: We’d have one or two arguments. I mean she probably did know better at the time but of certain respects, but obviously as a seventeen, eighteen year old and you know, I thought I know better on a lot of things. But yeah, it was

00:13:00:00           unusual for that age of a young man to be told what to do by an older woman if you like.

I: Don, you mentioned Don. What can you tell me about Don?

MF: Don, I’ve got good memories of Don. I mean a lot of what I do now is an influence on the way I look at working life and things. I mean he’d work, he was here at seven in the morning, and he’ll stop till seven, half-seven at night. Great stories about, it’s really funny thinking back now where we used to have our break just above, and you’d have, I can’t think many people can say that they’ve had their break with, be having their breaks with somewhere who fought in World War 2 on the British side, and somebody who fought during

00:14:00:00           World War 2 on the German side, you know. It was very unusual. They both had different views on war. I mean it was basically, that was his predominant conversation, Don, he’d always be telling you stories about the war, and you know his time, his time during the war. I mean Peter, obviously he didn’t say anything. He very rarely mentioned the war at all. He often used to say to me that if you had seen what I seen during the war you wouldn’t be looking back on it like you did you know. That was his predominant conversation, was about the wars mainly.

I: And when you say that he’s helped shape who you are now. What was it about him that you admired, what qualities did he have that you appreciate?

MF: It was just his work ethic. I mean he, he never took any time off. I can

00:15:00:00           never remember him having any time of at all to be honest thinking about it in the time that I was here. And how hard he worked and I don’t think he got a great reward for it, for what he did. I think that’s, it makes you appreciate things a bit more where, you know, when you, when I moved on in to my working life then, you know, I took bits and bobs off, it all has an influence on how you feel later on in life you know.

I: How does it feel sitting here?

MF: It’s a funny feeling. It just seems as though the last ten years haven’t happened like you know. I mean it’s as if I can’t explain it, I mean like I say it’s a bit surreal to be part of history when I don’t feel I’m, that old. But, no, it

00:16:00:00           just seems exactly the same as it was the day I’d have walked out of here. It’s fascinating

I: What was Miss Green like to work for?

MF: She was, I don’t think I really, when I first joined the company, I don’t think I had really that much to do with Miss Green at that time. It was a bit, well a lot busier than it was before it shut, or the later years. It was gradually as I moved on into the packing area where I used to do a lot of the packing and postal work, that’s when I gradually got more to know Miss Green again. Again, she was the same character as Don, I mean she’d spend, She’d

00:17:00:00           probably spend 24 hours a day here if she could at times. It just amazes me, it just amazed me, you know, the work ethic in the people where it was just totally their life you know.

I: And do you think that’s changed? Do you think we’ve lost that or do you think that is just a bit bunkum and there’s plenty of it around?

MF: I not seen it since, since I’ve worked here. I mean I can only speak from my only working experience and I’ve not seen that work ethic elsewhere. I mean probably I don’t go that far with it but it’s not a requirement in today’s society I don’t think. I mean there may be other businesses that are run the same way even now but, I think they’re few and far between.

I: So what does this place, if anything, what does this place mean to you?

00:18:00:00 MF: It’s a hell of a part of me life, like I say. It’s the, I mean it’s the formative years of your working life so obviously you probably carry more memories of this than I have done since. I don’t think I will, I think, the way I have looked at, I mean work to me since I’ve left here has just been a work place, a job. Somewhere to work. I do look back on this as a completely different experience. I mean yeah it was work but, it was like a family.

I: Anything else you want to add, are there things that in your mind that you want to tell us about, describe to us?

MF: No, I say, it’s a bit of a strange experience being here.

I: Does it actually, I mean can you picture Norman here, sitting here?

00:19:00:00 MF: Yeah, I can picture all of this running now.

I: What are you seeing?

MF: I just picture all this running. I could go back to the time, opening the door there and Norman would be down there on the stamp, stamping away. I mean I can still see me old cupboard, it’s probably still got my name on the

00:19:50:00           front of it. But really strange, a very strange feeling.

Artist: Sarah Hayes

This artist produced work based on the oral histories of the museum and the workers.
Below is some of the transcripts the artist has created their work from:

106 DR ALLEN WALKABOUT

00:00:20:00 JG: Oh dear, I’ve got a, I’ve just got a tickle from … make sure I’m not. Do you want to come here? Can I just take my walking stick out of the way. Otherwise it makes me. Here, is that ok?

                   I: Yeah, If you can try and ignore me if that’s all right.

                   JG: Talking too much. Now Dr Allen, here’s your father.

00:01:00:00 AA: Now that’s interesting. What …

                   JG: Well we would have bought some things from Ingles wouldn’t we?

                   AA: I don’t know then. I thought in my father’s time it was one company.

                   JG: It was Ingle-Parsons for a long time wasn’t it.

                   AA: Travelling expenses.

                   JG: That’s it. Here’s your father.

                   AA: Yes. Travelling expenses.

                   JG: Here we are.

                   AA: 8 pound.

                   JG: 8 pound.

                   AA: That’s for a week’s work. He did quite well didn’t he.

                   JG: He got ten pounds sometimes. 1939.

                   AA: 1939. Yes.

                   JG: Yes.

                   AA: Is there anything earlier than that?

                   JG: I don’t know. I wouldn’t know. I haven’t been, this is just one of the ledgers that we kept and there’s lots of other ledgers but I don’t think there’d be a cash book. I mean this is pretty good 1939 is pretty wonderful I think to have kept. We didn’t sling things out did we really. But there’s one where he’s

00:02:00:00           got £10 and then there’s the other side where Horace has put that he’s had to return £2 70 because he obviously didn’t spend it all. I’m looking for the £2 70 that he had to return.

                   AA: There’s another one there. What’s that?

                   JG: No that’s just. No that’s, oh yes 8 pound. But here, on this side, is where you returned the money. That’s what you paid out. That’s what you put back into the company. And your father had to pay £2 70 back. But I thought they must have been very generous with him, because in those days £10 expenses would have been a lot of money wouldn’t it, in 1939.

                   AA: Well it was a bit.

                   JG: In 1939.

                   AA: Yes. He was running a car then too.

                   JG: Yes, well, it doesn’t say what the expenses, I mean we don’t know what the expenses were do we. And I mean did he stay away at night, did he travel far?

00:03:00:00 AA: Oh yes, he went at 7 o clock on a Monday morning and came back 6 o clock on a Friday evening.

                   JG: Oh so he was away every week?

                   AA: Every, and then one month in three, or at least every third month, he’d have a month in Ireland.

                   JG: Oh yes, because we did a terrific trade in Ireland. But George did some of the travelling didn’t he in Scotland.

                   AA: I think he did Scotland.

                   JG: He did definitely.

                   AA: I think George was a liability because he drank.

                   JG: Well he couldn’t have been that much of a liability, because he, you know, he ran, he was here running Newmans wasn’t he. Because Horace didn’t run Newman Brothers.

                   AA: We thought he did.

                   JG: Mr Horace didn’t.

                   AA: I thought he did.

                   JG: He was very good on figures.

                   AA: How far does this go on?

                   JG: I don’t know. I never looked. 48.

                   AA: 48 yes.

00:04:00:00 JG: But you said, you were saying he was gone in when?

                   AA: 45.

                   JG: 45. Well that was just a little while after George died. Here we are, 46. Excuse me coughing.

                   AA: Good writing.

                   JG: This was Horace’s writing. Excuse me. 45, here we are. 45.

                   AA: Did they produce resin handles here in the factory?

                   JG: Plastic ones no. We haven’t got the room or the …

                   AA: What went on at the back of the polishing shop. There was a lot of grinding equipment.

00:05:00:00 Dr Anthony Allen Walking around Newmans

00:05:16:00 I2: Ok thank you very much. So this is the front door?

                   AA: Yes, this hasn’t altered at all.

00:05:50:00 AA: This is all different.

                   I2: So where is this?

AA: It’s all completely different. It wasn’t like this. It’s this new building that’s done it. The letters were written by hand, they were recorded in a great big leather tome, which was opened, it had semi-absorbent paper. They gave it a quick damp, put the letter in, closed the book and screwed a press down and that gave a record of the letter. That’s how the filing system …

                   I2: So what do you make of this room?

                   AA: It wasn’t anything like this. This is all new. The office actually was here.

                   I: If you want to pause at all, can you just say so.

00:07:00:00 AA: And you see the storeroom was downstairs. This is much later. It’s not brass.

                   I2: It’s not brass.

                   AA: No. And I don’t really recognise the designs. We’re talking about a breastplate. That was a large piece of tooled steel which you probably took a couple of months to sculpt and then it made a dye that would stamp out the breastplate. But these are much more modern designs, they are different.

                   I2: What kind of designs did your father deal with?

                   AA: They weren’t quite so, that’s a bit more modern. They were a bit simpler.

00:07:55:00 I: Come through here because there’s quite a lot more stock through here.

                   I2: Everything’s labelled isn’t it and boxed, like they said.

                   AA: It must have gone on for some years after the war, really. That’s a brass handle, you can see the difference.

                   I: Say that again.

                   AA: That’s a brass handle you can see the difference, feel the weight. These are so called ornaments. They are trumpery things, we had solid brass ones. They are screwed on top of the coffin to decorate it and to hang wreaths on. I

00:09:00:00           never saw anything like that. That’s a proper ornament, that’s a bit better. In the main they produced handles, brass plates and ornaments. None of this fancy work. I don’t know where that came from; there must have been something else here later.

                   I2: So tell me what your dad actually did here? What did he do? Because he must have dealt with selling these?

                   AA: He sold them, but he also had quite a hand in running the business because latterly they weren’t frightfully competent. That’s a brass handle, well it looks as if it ought to be. That’s a much later design, I don’t remember anything like that. That’s much more like it. The handles were cast in brass and then for the middle trade they had iron handles that were plated to look

00:10:00:00 like brass, and for the lower end, particularly to be sold in Ireland, they were iron handles that were japanned. At the back over there, there was what was called the japan shed and they were hung on wires and went in and they came out sort of semi-shiny black kind of enamel. Such was the death rate in Ireland, that my father often sold, more than once, on one journey, over a gross sets of children’s furniture which shows you what life was like.

                   I2: So when do you think you first came to this factory? How old were you?

                   AA: I suppose I was six or seven when I first came. That would be about 1929/30 something like that.

                   I2: And what were your first impressions?

00:11:00:00 AA: Well it was an exciting place, particularly the foundry. I mean that was a fantastic firework factory. That’s a fairly typical one.

                   I2: Yes, you described it to me on the phone as a firework factory. Lots of …

                   I: Hang on a second. The foundry was out there wasn’t it?

                   AA: There, behind this new building.

                   I: If we go up to this window can you explain to me where the foundry was and what it was like?

                   AA: The plating shop was down there and presumable it’s still there. And behind that was the foundry which wasn’t very big. There was a walkway, about that wide. The patterns in wood were made, Old Mr Ray made them, in there. They were put into what were called core boxes, that was a box about

00:12:00:00 that size, which opened. It had casting sand in it, all nicely smooth. The wooden patterns were put in and then taken out. Well the box was shut and then opened again so there was a replica in sand, perfect. Then they ran, with a little stick or something, they ran little channels up to the opening. The core boxes were closed, they were leaned against the walkway. And there was a furnace going. As far as I recollect it had two, I can’t think of the word now, two great pots about that diameter, about that high, full of molten brass. And while it was molten it would be sparking and smoke going up. Two chaps would come along, very tough guys, with leather aprons; I don’t think they had a mask. They had a big pair of tongs, which they clamped the pot, lifted it

00:13:00:00           out, went onto the walkway and then tipped it into each core box. And that was the exciting part because smoke and flame and sparks, it was great fun when I was little. Then the boxes were allowed to cool and they were broken open and all the rough castings taken out and taken down there to the barrels where they were rattled and rattled and rattled all day, with water running over them. And then they came upstairs here to the polishing shop where there were about six rather buxom ladies, very wrapped up, all in linen. The polishing wheels were about that sort of diameter of laminated linen and they’d hold the piece here, and lean on the wheel and keep turning it and polishing it and they’d get a good finish on it in the end.

                   I2: You said you had a good relationship with some of the women in the

00:14:00:00           factory. It was mostly women here wasn’t it?

                   AA: I don’t think I had a relationship with them. I was too young!

                   I2: No I don’t mean that but I mean they obviously liked having a young boy …

                   AA: They liked somebody going round I think, watching what they were doing. I had a much better relationship with old Mr Ray because he fascinated me. He was making the moulds, he was making this, sculpting steel really, tooled steel, which is terribly hard. I liked him.

                   I2: What did you make of the Newman brothers, themselves?

                   AA: Well I said, with retrospect, one of them looked like Dr Crippin, he ran the office. And George, I think was a drunk. Old man Newman had more or less retired in the thirties. We had something to do with George’s daughter. I remember being taken to the Cotswolds in her old motor car once but I haven’t much recollection really.

00:15:00:00 I2: What did your father …

                   I: Sorry, that sort of stuff we’ll do in the interview, let’s try and get, if we walk through.

                   AA: Where do we go now?

                   I: Well let’s, are you ok?

                   AA: Yes I’m fine, no I’m all right.

                   I: If we walk through this way I’m just waiting to see if there’s anything you recognise.

                   AA: There was nothing like this stock that I remember, not this much. I wonder if some of this was made at Ingles. I rather think it might have been. I don’t remember anything quite as ornate; that’s much more typical of the 1930s, yes. These are the thin sheets of brass in the drop stamps. Yes that’s

00:16:00:00  much more like the sort of thing, but that’s not brass. I don’t think this white metal existed then. I rather think this is where Mr Ray used to work. I think so here.

                   I: Which is now the assembly room I think.

                   AA: Well it’s the polishing shop.

                   I: Behind it.

                   AA: Ah, well he worked here. It looks as if some other sort of, some other sort

00:17:00:00           of work went on here. The great big wheels have gone, they were that wide. They went on there and they were about that size in diameter and they were that wide and they were laminated linen and the girls used to sort of lean on them. But obviously since my time there’s been a lot of different use in the factory. Right.

                   I: Bear with me for one second. Sorry.

                   AA: That’s the sort of thing, they were much bigger diameter than that. No, I think…

                   I: So what, tell us about, is this the room where that you knew …

00:18:00:00 AA: This is where the polishing went on, and those I presume are the original, they’re the original, I thought there were more, yes, there’s four, five, four of them, yes that’s about right. Yes I thought there were six but there’s four. But there’s a wheel each side, so that could have been eight women.

                   I: And what were those women like?

                   AA: They were completely enshrouded, they usually had rather large bosoms so they’d got something to lean on the wheel.  But the place was nowhere near as dirty as this. It really wasn’t, it was quite, as I recollect, it was much cleaner than this altogether, and none of this junk lying around. A bit ashamed of it really.

                   I: Ok, I just need to …

00:19:00:00 AA: I can see that little old man sitting there. But it’s obvious that there was some other use put, there was some other manufacturing going on here. We never made crucifixes.

                   I2: There’s a catalogue here. I don’t know how old it is. Your dad dealt with catalogues, obviously with his selling didn’t he.

                   AA: Yes, these are the things. Yes, I remember all these.

                   I2: Shall we start at the beginning.

                   AA: It was opened in 1882 and my father was here in about 1905 probably.

00:20:00:00 But this is the sort of thing, these were solid brass, as it says. If they were die cast they were brought in I think.

                   I2: And you said he was like a traveller so he travelled to the people he sold to.

                   AA: Mostly to undertakers and often in the country builders did undertaking. He called on a lot of builders. They made coffins and they did undertaking.

                   I: Sorry explain that to me again. What you just said please, explain it to me again.

                   AA: That he travelled to sell the products to undertakers but also to quite a lot of builders in the country. In smaller places a builder would often be the

00:21:00:00           undertaker. There’s still one in Stratford now. Interesting.

                   I2: So your father must have had a good reputation?

                   AA: I think he probably did.

                   I2: Very much a family business wasn’t it?

                   AA: It was indeed. They didn’t, they did make crucifixes yes. Big ones. I think they were bigger than that. They didn’t make coffins here at all. He had a coffin factory at Evesham when he was with Ingle-Parsons. And shrouds weren’t made here either. They were made by a family named Dewsbury. It was a lady who had I think four or five daughters who used to make shrouds. Very beautiful. I have a photograph of my cousin Myfanwy when she was about two and a half in a very pretty dress that my aunt had made up from a silk shroud. We’ve got it hanging up at home now.

00:21:55:00 …. the whole lot. But he came back, they kept his job for him. And when he came back, he was in Ireland, all through the troubles, in 1921-22. On one occasion he got arrested. He was in St Andrew’s Hotel in Dublin. And the door opened very quietly and he woke up and he saw someone come round the door with a candle and a revolver and they said “Get up! You’re a bloody English spy.” They took him downstairs in the cellar and he said, “I’m not. I’m a commercial traveller. I’ve got my samples here” And they said, “Come off it, they’ve got ammunition in.” And they fetched in one of these cases and opened it and there was a huge crucifix on the top. Of course they were all Catholics so it made a difference. In the catalogue it mentions die cast, but I never remember, they must have had them, but I never remember them. These are die cast handles. Well …

00:23:00:00 I: So I mean just, how does it feel being back here?

                   AA: Well it’s a bit disappointing really because it all looks so tatty. And you know stuff thrown all over the place. It was never like this, it was really quite tidy and clean, and it looked businesslike. This doesn’t.

                   I2: And when was the last time you were here?

00:23:29:00 AA: Must have been 38, 37 or 38 I suppose. I was in the war from 1939.