Table of colleagues who worked at Weldon & Wilkinson Ltd & further articles

As my mother told me,get yourself a trade and you will always find work.So I did and thought I was going for a real 4 year apprenticeship as the job was advertised. Of course only later to find out it was just a 'closed shop' practiced by the firms i.e. each local firm wouldn't poach labour from each other. Thatcher put a stop to that practice I believe.

           The trim shop was located at the end of the tunnel, leading into the biggest room I had ever seen, with the packing room and loading bay far off in the right hand corner through rubber doors. I first worked in the far left hand corner at one of the wooden benches along the back wall. These benches were the entire width of the room on the back row .Must have been about about 10, each with a steam press with either a handle on the left hand side or an arm above the press with heavy cast iron balls at each end. These were pulled across winding the hot plates shut on the wooden leg/foot shaped boards that we had deftly slotted into the 1" gap. Hoping desperately that the legger (apprentice) didn't cause any creasing in the sock or trap the boards causing the press to crush the heels. If I did I got a rap across the knuckles or a punch on the arm. Then I was made to wet the crease and put it into the press again for a few seconds. When 12 boards had been legged i.e. socks put onto the boards with toe and heel splicing in the correct position and ribs or pattern neatly lined up along the wooden board, I would turn around with the boards balanced in my left hand ready to quickly place them one at a time into the slot again once 'my man' (Trimmer) had taken the hot pressed work out, holding 6 boards in each hand and turning them over and dropping them onto the bench. He would then strip each sock off and place the neat pile of 6 pairs onto a hardboard square and build up a pile of about 15 - 20 dozen. These were then carried to the packing room. At 15 I was a very small kid and didn't carry much meat on my bones and had to have a wooden block to stand on at the bench. The wooden boards were held in position with your stomach trapping it against the bench. We had to have a 'leather' apron tied  around our waist with an old stocking to cushion the wood. These 'leathers' were the flaps from old handbags and lasted for years. Some used folded dyehouse bags instead. I was made to carry a heap of finished socks to the packing room and being small, the heap was above my head and once they started to tilt, over they went. After a couple of these accidents he got the right idea and carried them in himself.

           As the trimmers were on average earning while training their leggers, speed didn't matter and was a perk for them. But after a year (I think) the legger's wage of £3/8s/5d was increased as we now paid tax and we went onto full piece time rates. Whatever we earned the legger was due a quarter, the trimmer 3/4. Around the following year we got 1/3. Later we would pair up with another legger and split the earnings 50/50. 

As my trimmer was a waste of space to me, I went from earning £5 when on 1/3 to £10 a week on 50/50.Then a few months later I left the bench forever and went onto the steam machines. Then my wage increased to £16 in 1959. I could eventually earn more but as I'd hated the benchwork for years, I'm afraid I wasn't a good time keeper and often took a day off in the week. I always said that if they had put me with a decent trimmer I may have had a different outlook on the job. 

"Weldon's fabric unit was on the corner of Duke St. The Lion was our choice after our morning shift ended at 2pm.Darts,dominoes or cards were always played. "

"I never saw W&W Scotholme works even though we started an archery club on Weldon's sportsground there. I  was always under the impression that just long hose was trimmed there.I was surprised to see the photos of the new build. We left the area in '76 and never hear anything more re Weldons. We never knew there had been a fire in '77...."

"Duke St used to have a bike shed about 40/50 ft from the corner. I had my mo-ped stolen from there and was found in the Babbington pit bike shed a week later. Further up the street about 100yds was a chapel that Weldon's had for their canteen. Decent meals too, if you didn't mind looking a grave headstones lined up at the open back door.  Later they built a canteen in the factory when the room where we had old Pegg boarding machines became free.These machines were old fashioned and took up more room for a one man operation that a new two man. I hated these machines with a vengeance as when the process had finished, the tray of 36 aluminium very HOT board would sometimes quietly and slowly roll out and if you were still legging the socks with your back to the tray, an almighty crash would wake you up as the tray at the end of the rails would tilt into position and drop down sending all the  boards forward.sometimes if you were on the wrong side when it happened, you would automatically raise your arm as the board came falling towards your face. Many a trimmer had burn stripes across their inside fore arms where the boards had hit you. It didn't happen often but once a shift was enough. " Ted Marriott January 2023