Thomas Glover at Carlton

[crankypig 457]

Does any one remember Thomas glover on chesterfield st Carlton ?they had two factories one on each side of the street,they made things like jock straps and surgical ankle supports.my first job was there,I hated it,but it was near home and saved on bus fares I got £3 per week .

[Cliff Ton 10,457]

I didn't know the area, but Picture the Past can oblige with both sides of the street.

[Dave 48 847]

I worked at Elastic Yarns in the late 60's early 70's and we supplied Glovers with cotton covered rubber for surgical knitted items.

[crankypig 457]

After I worked on the sewing machines at glovers,I decided I wanted to work on the knitting machines. They were not electric and you had to work the carriage back and forth (you had to stand up )you had to work like merry hell as you got paid per garment knitted. We were all very slim,no wonder.no one would want to do it now.

[Alan Palmer 6]

I lived in the detatched house at the side of Glovers, you can just see the garage, the house was painted  white. You will probably know my mum, Winifred Palmer. If you climbed the fire escape, went through door, through dividing door to bottom  end she was on about third row  in 4 up from very end sat next to a lady called Joan. Made surgical belts, supports and jock- straps. The hooter went off at 1pm prompt and all the ladies either went into the canteen or elsewhere for their dinner.  Were you on the top floor fire escape end when I set fire to the kitchen, lots of your ladies came out to see all the black smoke coming out the back door.. I have excellant memory of this wonderful factory.

 

Mr. Wilson the caretaker. Lived in thin house opposite. Everyday he polished the brass plaque outside and cleaned the weeds from the gravel. The place was spotless. He was up at 5 am to lite the oil boiler in the boiler room that I played in but shouldnt of. Do you remember a lovely lady called Mrs Bramley, Mr Godfreys secretary? She had a yellow Ford Capri. Sexy car for a sexy lady, well I thought she was. Mr Godfrey was a real gentleman boss my mum used to say. You could always talk to him. He always organised a christmas do somewhere for the workers kids. Everyone got a present from Santa,  jelly and cake at the party with games and taken there and back in a coach. Now who does that nowadays? My auntie, Ada Palmer was in the time and wages, ground floor through front entrance bottom end or canteen end as I called it, where packaging was too. We lived on pit estate and one day my mum saw the detached house next door up for sale, told my father and they went round later , looked at it and bought it with a mortgage from....Carlton Urban District Council. Paid £2600 for it. I had a wonderful childhood there full of love and laughter and this factory holds great memories for me. The one opposite we played football, cricket, dobby and upteen other games in there. We could take a ball in there, shut the huge wrought iron gates either end and kick about to our hearts content. 

 

We smashed windows with footballs and cricket balls, ran and hid from Mr Wilson whose ears were no doubt tuned in to the sound of breaking glass. It was all accidental, just kids being kids with a ball. Up until its demolition, the older factory you could still see the cricket stumps on the brick wall scratched in orange from a broken bit of brick. The lampost outside in the photo was the hide and seek post you started  and finished touching.... Throughout the day all you heard was clickety,clickety,clickety from the machines yet it never bothered. Come  5 pm, it was quiet. Dad said he got cheaper rates due to having the factory in front. I still see a couple of the girls who are in their nineties and they still remember my mum....and me!  Mum sometimes let me clock her in them give me a clip round the tab and told to geroff to school. Loved it.

 

In the pictures you can see a yellow escort and a Grey Vauxhall. Mr Godfrey owned the Vauxhall Cresta i think it was, but a black haired factory forman owned the Escort. Not a nice bloke, nasty tempered git, even Mum said so but he left after a few years. When the factory  was closed for the day and weekends I was always playing around the back, even going on the roof up the fire escape ladder, hoping or praying old man Herbert Wilson didnt see or hear me. I can close my eyes and in an instant I can see the faces of loads of the ladies that worked there. I often went up the fire escape, through the big door, a sort of off green colour and down through to my see my mum, passing the girls putting cotton on bobbins, to get the house key off my mum, running the gauntlet of big sloppy kisses and cheek pinching..” oh look, aint he sweet”, covered in red rouge from the kisses..yuk! But I loved it really. They were both really nice factories, especially Glovers next door run by the gentleman boss Mr Godfrey. I also know his son Peter. I regularly walk up past mum and dads old house as it still has a magic about it to me, and the sight of the flats where once these great factories stood saddens me and I could shed a tear even now And me? Im Alan, Winifreds son. 

[Cliff Ton 10,457]

That's definitely in contention for the best 'First post' anyone has ever made on Nottstalgia !

[trig 0]

Alan you lived on the top side of Glovers I was born at no 10 the house you can see below the factory. We moved in about 69 or 70 across Carlton Hill onto Southcliff Rd. I went to Carlton Central so saw the house every day