What on earth did they think you and your husband were going to get up too if you were kept together? I am 61 and a bit I remember mum taking us as young children for free orange juice and cod liver oil. Thank goodness for the national health service . It's a much abused system but precious and needs protection. On odd jobs my dad had several bouts of ill health so my mum used to have home work from a glass bead factory on Tudor road and we used to sit a round like a third world family sticking hatpins into brown paper strips , 12 per strip. -----Original Message----- From: J FLEETWOOD Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 12:20 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LEI] Memories Continuing the theme of jobs, I find it hard to believe that my mother actually accompanied me as a chaparone & sat in on my first ever job interview at the Leicester Permanent Building Society on the corner of Bishops Street & Pocklingtons Walk. I got the job & met my future husband there, but as soon as we got engaged one of us had to leave. It was me & I had several jobs from then on. You were right Graham when you said that there were plenty of jobs around in the 50s & 60s. My last job that I left to have my first child paid me £8. OO a week. I worked in an office as a receptionist/Secretary on the Saffron Lane just below the Roundhill Library. My maternity pay in 1960 was about £30.OO, & in those days you had to find another job on your return to work after the birth. But we did get free orange juice, rose hip syrup & extra milk, but the first two were only available at the Clinic with coupon books. I remember taking my first baby to the chemist every week for her to be weighed. I still have the little weighing book, which I found with the family's ration books & identity cards from the war. Yes we actually had Identity Cards then. June From: Graham Jennings <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, 16 February 2012, 23:13 Subject: Re: [LEI] Memories Bit of a change of tack but memories of your first job? I met with the careers advisor at the tender age of 14 and three quarters ( me that is not him) .”What would you like to do then” he said? Me, bright eyed and fresh faced naively said “ a radio & tv engineer please”. When the laughter had subsided and the tears wiped away he told me in no uncertain words that a secondary education did not provide me with the qualities needed for that that sort of career ,those jobs suited grammar school boys. On the bright side however he could offer me an apprenticeship in a foundry or a sales opportunity in the electrical department of a high quality upmarket store . No contest, job in a suit please. I left school on a Thursday and the following Monday entered the hallowed portals of Morgan Squires on market street. A sniffy department manager looked me up and down as i stood dressed in my slightly too large catalogue bought suit , Lighting he said ,you are selling lampshades!! What a throwback to days gone by ! I’m sure the idea for “are you being served “ came from there . There was even a Mrs Slocomb character ,50 ish, bleached bouffant and plenty of cheap perfume .She fawned over the the rich and looked down her nose at the man (or woman)who dared to come in off of the street , even though they paid with hard cash.The better off took items on appro , only to return most of it a month or so later often in a used condition . I was paid £3.10s. 6d for a 5 1/2 day week , with a take home of £2.19s. I kept 30 bob and my mum had the rest. A commission scheme was in operation and you had your own pad of sales receipts. I did not get one as I left before the 3 months trial period was up . The Personnel dept offered me another half crown to stay but the lure of £4 .7s. 6d at the Co-op Hi Fi department on the High Street was too strong . I became a radio and tv engineer for the co-op ,so in a roundabout way i did get the job i originally wanted . That was 1965 and you could just wander from job to job if desired . What a change from today’s job scene. Lets hear some of the strange , odd or even bizarre jobs people had in their early years of employment. Graham ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Precisely Graham but those were the rules.   Married couples were not allowed to work together. June From: Graham Jennings <[email protected]> To: J FLEETWOOD <[email protected]>; [email protected] Sent: Friday, 17 February 2012, 0:38 Subject: Re: [LEI] Memories What on earth did they think you and your husband were going to get up too if you were kept together? I am 61 and a bit I remember mum taking us as young children  for free orange juice  and cod liver oil. Thank goodness for the national health service . It's a much abused system but precious and needs protection. On odd jobs my dad had several bouts of ill health so  my mum used to have home work from a glass bead factory on Tudor  road  and we used to sit a round like a third world family sticking hatpins into brown paper strips , 12 per strip. -----Original Message----- From: J FLEETWOOD Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 12:20 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LEI] Memories Continuing the theme of jobs, I find it hard to believe that my mother actually accompanied me as a chaparone & sat in on my first ever job interview at the Leicester Permanent Building Society on the corner of Bishops Street & Pocklingtons Walk. I got the job & met my future husband there, but as soon as we got engaged one of us had to leave. It was me & I had several jobs from then on. You were right Graham when you said that there were plenty of jobs around in the 50s & 60s. My last job that I left to have my first child paid me £8. OO a week. I worked in an office as a receptionist/Secretary on the Saffron Lane just below the Roundhill Library. My maternity pay in 1960 was about £30.OO, & in those days you had to find another job on your return to work after the birth. But we did get free orange juice, rose hip syrup & extra milk, but the first two were only available at the Clinic with coupon books. I remember taking my first baby to the chemist every week for her to be weighed. I still have the little weighing book, which I found with the family's ration books & identity cards from the war. Yes we actually had Identity Cards then. June From: Graham Jennings <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, 16 February 2012, 23:13 Subject: Re: [LEI] Memories Bit of a change of tack but memories of your first job? I met with the careers advisor at the tender age of 14 and three quarters ( me that is not him) .”What would you like to do then” he said? Me, bright eyed and fresh faced naively said “ a radio & tv engineer  please”.  When the laughter had subsided and the tears wiped away he told me in no uncertain words that a secondary education did  not provide me with the qualities needed for that that sort of career ,those jobs suited grammar school boys.  On the bright side however he could offer me an apprenticeship in a foundry or a sales opportunity  in the electrical department of  a high quality upmarket store . No contest, job in a suit please. I left school on a Thursday  and  the following Monday  entered the hallowed portals of Morgan Squires on market street. A sniffy department manager looked me up and down as i stood dressed in my slightly too large catalogue bought suit  , Lighting  he said ,you are  selling  lampshades!! What a throwback to days gone by ! I’m sure  the idea for “are you being served “ came from there . There was even a Mrs Slocomb character ,50 ish, bleached bouffant and plenty of  cheap perfume .She fawned over the the rich and looked down her nose at the man (or woman)who dared to come in off of the street , even though they paid with hard cash.The better off took items on appro , only to return most of it a month or so later often in a  used condition  .  I was paid £3.10s. 6d for a 5 1/2 day week , with a take home of £2.19s. I kept 30 bob and my mum had the rest. A commission scheme was in operation and you had your own pad of sales receipts. I did not get one as I left before the 3 months trial period was up . The Personnel dept offered me another half crown to stay but the lure of £4 .7s. 6d at the Co-op Hi Fi department on the  High Street  was too strong . I became a radio and tv engineer for the co-op ,so in a roundabout way i did get the job i originally wanted . That was 1965 and you could just wander from job to job if desired . What a change from today’s job scene. Lets hear some of the strange , odd or even bizarre  jobs people had in their early years of  employment. Graham ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message