110 MARK FINCH INTERVIEW
00:00:20:00 MF: My name is Mark Finch. I was born 31st
of the 10th 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.
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