I was ‘carpeted’ and sent to the store workshop

I LEFT school at 15 and went to work in 1952 in the carpet department of Webbers, the Oxford High Street store (Memory Lane, October 7).

People I remember working there were Mr Westbrook, head of department, Mr Hastings, second in charge, and Mr Gomm.

After three months of attempting to work as a carpet sales assistant, I had an incident with a lady asking to see everything we had to offer.

This meant lifting huge carpet squares and rolling out metres of lino. After half an hour of going through our stock with her, I made the mistake of saying she was only there to get out of the rain. This meant a trip to head office!

Luckily, I managed to keep my job and was transferred to work at Gill’s Yard, Webbers’ workshop next to the Wheatsheaf pub.

In the workshop, I worked with my hands, which is all I ever wanted to do. I repaired furniture frames under the guidance of head joiner Bert.

Other people who worked in the workshop doing upholstery and carpet laying were Mr Harris and a man called Ernie. There was another man, but I cannot remember his name.

There was another apprentice like me called Mike Drake, and a man called Ally who was the overseer of everyone there.

Above the workshop were a group of ladies who stitched together the squares of carpet.

At that time, fitted carpet came in 27in wide strips, so it was a skilled job getting the pieces to fit together.

I worked at Webbers for 18 months, my first job after leaving school.

Unfortunately, I contracted TB after these 18 months and could not return to work after my two years off for recovery. ALAN COLES Kidlington

 

Interviewed by Mrs Webber

MY FRIEND sends me the Oxford Mail every Monday as I do like to read your Memory Lane.

I was delighted to read about Webbers store in High Street, Oxford.

I went there straight from school, did a three-year apprenticeship and stayed there until I left to get married in 1955. I am 80 next year.

I remember Mrs Webber interviewing me. I remember a few names – Mrs Fogden, Mrs Pipkin, Mr Dandridge, Miss Lester (I kept in touch with her until she passed away), Joan Baker and a woman called Jenny.

I am still in contact with Phyllis Ryems. They were good days. RUTH RACEY, Bognor Regis, West Sussex

Not all schooldays were good days

RECENT cases of child abuse and ill-treatment caused me to recall some of the things I experienced at school in Oxford in the 1930s and 1940s, mostly during the Second World War.

I would be seven to 10 years old, but can see in my mind’s eye some of the things that happened in class. If a child was a little slow in understanding something, the teacher would use the curly end of the cane to deliver a wake-up call to the top of a pupil’s head – me sometimes, but not always.

In another class, at the beginning of the day, the teacher would call several of us out to the front of the class to receive a caning to the hands, just in case we did something that deserved punishment during the night.

The result of that was reflected in the poor standard of our writing, so yes, we got the cane for that too.

I remember being caned along with four other boys for damage caused to some street lamps. We weren’t involved in the damage, but that didn't matter – we got the cane anyway. We did consider doing it as a result of the caning – punishment first, act of vandalism to follow – but didn’t do it.

Then came the day when I did do something for a dare. We got caught doing it and were called out to the front of class yet again. Teacher asked me why I did it. My reply that I was told to do it got the response: “If you were told to put your head down the toilet and pull the chain, would you do it?”

I replied: “No.” “Why not?” asked the teacher. I said that with my head stuck down the toilet, I wouldn’t be able to reach the chain.

Yes, once more, hold your hand out. I guess the teacher didn't have much sense of humour.

There did, however, come a time when we boys thought that enough was enough. On being called out for the usual start of class caning, one of our group, an older and rather big, strong farmer’s son, took hold of the teacher, lifted him up and gave him a real good shaking.

Needless to say, we were let off the caning bit and sent out to work on the school garden.

I’m glad to say the early morning ritual was never repeated.

At age 13, I somehow managed to win a place at the Junior Technical School in Oxford city centre, where the treatment was excellent. Thank God those days are well and truly buried in the past - BOB REASON, Camborne, Cornwall

Does anyone know the history of Dean & Son company?

I RESCUED an old manhole cover from the garage I worked at in Dawson Street, Oxford, between Cowley Road and St Clement’s.

It came about a few years ago after correspondence with a man who was second-in-command at RAF Harwell during the Second World War.

After the war, he became book-keeper for a company called Dean & Son in Cowley Road.

They were apparently ironmongers and their shop was on the site of what is now Cafe Coco.

Behind the shop bordering Dawson Street was their forge, where they cast various items like iron railings, lamp-posts and manhole covers, mainly for the local market. The building I worked in, opposite the Dean & Son forge, apparently dated back to the First World War.

In the floor of our building was a manhole cover in very good condition, with Dean & Son cast in it.

It was in a position where it didn’t get much wear and as it was inside the building, it didn’t get any weather either, hence the excellent condition. Once my company had vacated the building, I knew it was going to be demolished so after we all moved out, I volunteered to stay behind for a few days and clear up, obviously with a mission in mind!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the rim out of the concrete floor, but did manage to remove the cover.

This is now in the path in my back garden. I paint it occasionally and pick out the lettering in a contrasting colour, as you can see in the photograph.

I can’t find out much about Dean & Son, but there are bits and pieces on Google. Apparently, they became Cowley Ironworks before finishing in about 1980.

I have seen a picture of another Dean & Son cover in a pavement somewhere in Oxford on the Internet, but try as I might, I can’t find it again.

Perhaps your readers might know more about the history of the company.NIGEL DAWE, Elizabeth Avenue, Abingdon

 

Battersea school was requisitioned in war

SALESIAN College at Cowley was incorporated into the Oxford area education system in 1945 as you said (Memory Lane, October 14), but was operating as a school from 1939, since the Army had requisitioned its Battersea premises as soon as war broke out.

I was bombed out in London while attending a school in Clapham in October 1940.

By chance, my mother had a cousin in Kennington, then in Berkshire, and having got a scholarship, I cycled from there to the Salesians in Cowley over the rather scary planks to Sandford lock when the Thames rose quickly that winter of 1940.

Later, I found digs in Cowley and stayed there until I left school to go to work at Oxford University Press. Thank you for an always interesting section. PAT DUFFY, Benmead Road

 

Kidlington Aunt was worker at the radiator factory

I WAS interested to see the 1976 picture of workers at Osberton Radiators in Oxford, who built radiators for the Spitfire aircraft during the war (Memory Lane, October 14).

The woman in white in the front was my aunt, Gladys Higgs, later Gladys Inness. She lived in Water Eaton Lane, Gosford. My husband, Stan, believes she was a chargehand at the factory. ILMA WHITE, Cherwell Avenue, Kidlington

 

Model bridge given to bosses as present

I WAS interested to read about the Bailey Bridge at Port Meadow, Oxford (Memory Lane, September 30 and October 21).

Donald Bailey, a civil servant in the British War Office, who made model bridges as a hobby, presented one such model to his bosses.

A team of Royal Engineers at the Military Engineering Experimental Establishment (MEXE) at Christchurch, Dorset, took the idea forward.

I lived in that area for many years. The first bridge was erected as a trial over the River Stour at the rear of the site and proved successful.

There was an article about it in the local newspaper some years ago. The bridge was still there then, but I am not sure if it still exists. A MITCHELL, Lee Court, Thame