Being born
into the nineteen forties I carry a certain pride, probably because I am a
product of the Second World War, where families struggled against the odds with
working class values born from the war years, many families already deep in
poverty. Life was filled with the days of rationing, grief and loss, whilst
sons and young husbands were fighting for the future of freedom. My own family history
could be presented in any reasonable historical novel, my maternal grandmother in
service as a young house maid made pregnant at sixteen with the ‘master’ of the
house which was the first step on a downward spiral of poverty for any girl
with an illegitimate child. No such thing as social security or benefit, just
something called ‘The Parish’ where rich folks condescended to give handouts to
the poor.
Pre war
families were resilient and unbeaten by adversity and because of that there was
an insatiable drive to lift out of poverty and improve standards which we post
war children inherited. We, of course
are known as the baby boomer generation, growing up at a time of dramatic
social change. We were the first in Western countries, to grow up with
television and perhaps seen as rebelling against religion only to return later
in life. My own early experience was of a scanty catholic school upbringing, where
education came secondary to religion and the wrath of the church. I left school at fifteen, only realising what
I lacked in education when it came to finding work. Many of us in those days were
considered to be factory fodder and I suppose you could say we were lucky to be
able to walk away from one rotten job in order to find another. My best friend
was fortunate enough to have to choose between Comptometer operator training or
shorthand and typing for which she would attend college. How I envied her. Girls
from my background had limited choices in 1959. Sadly it was the factory for me
until I discovered night classes at the local polytechnic a few years later. I
think that for boys it was generally an apprenticeship, joinery, electrician,
the construction industry or commercial. If you were lucky to do well in school
you might be accepted into an indentured apprenticeship which meant a company
insisted on parents signing an agreement pledging their son would attend work and
college in order to complete the training. How many parents today could make
that assurance I wonder? What happened to all those skilled trades? Indeed,
what happened for us to lose those opportunities when at that time the UK was probably
the leader in the Textile, mechanical and electrical engineering industry?
Working
class children born pre and post war have seen massive changes, from living in
small back street terraced houses with outside lavatories and a tin bath tub
hanging on the back yard wall, brought in for the weekly family ablutions. Each
member taking their turn, with the littlest child going first followed by the
next oldest moving up the line, adults taking time later when they could ‘wash
each others backs’ in private. This whole ritual happened by heating up a gas
boiler to get enough hot water. There were the joys of getting dry, then
snuggling into warm pyjamas in front of the fire, whilst listening to ‘Friday
Night is Music Night’ on the radio. Of course the drawbacks were getting rid of
the large tub of water and trying to dry up the condensation which ran down the
scullery walls all of which went unnoticed by the kids.
In those
days we knew no different than putting on a coat to go outside to the loo,
using cut up newspaper for wiping our bottoms and taking a candle to protect
against the spiders that lay in wait. Of course living conditions have vastly
improved. I remember our family moving into a council house and wandering the
empty rooms with wide eyes and open mouths at the sight of a white walled
bathroom and inside loo, large windows letting in the sunlight, new kitchen
units and hot and cold running water. We had our first television around 1956.
It was a time when we children were seen and not heard and had to earn what
little spending money we could. I remember getting a Saturday job at Woolworths
when I was fourteen and hiding under the counter because I couldn’t add up. My
first wage packet had to be handed over to my mother who gave me a pittance in
spends in return.
Since the
war we have born witness too numerous changes, one being ‘make peace not war’
with the onset of flower power and ban the bomb in 1960. Then in 1969 American
Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon. It seemed unbelievable back then but now we are blasé about such
things. A profound effect upon society
was the onset of the computer coming into the home in the late 70’s early 80’s and
in the early 90’s we could access the World Wide Web with its capacity to seek out
information freely, with a gateway to knowledge that would have been difficult
to find previously. We have made the transition from a telephone box at the end
of the street to the digital age and the first mobiles. When I had my first
computer surfing the net was something I thought happened at the seaside and
email terrified me. At nineteen I had learned to type on a very old type writer
with a Pitman’s, ‘Teach Yourself Shorthand and Typing’ manual, eventually branching
out to a new typewriter followed by the magical word processor. Now it’s
impossible to imagine my life without my lap top the internet and broadband.
I really want
to say Ah! Progress, I really do salute
you whilst acknowledging the wondrous strides within the last fifty years but
in terms of unemployment how can we embrace progress when we now have over a million
young people falling off the edge of education into the wasteland of benefits.
First
published in the North Wales Weekly News 2012
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