Me First Job

[Craig Strongman 13]

I had an interview at the Derby rd head office, 243 wasnt it? anyway, elsewhere i recalled how my first job, actually it was an after school job, was at the Co Op in New Basford, stacking shelves and delivering groceries on a bike like Ger Ger Ger Granville, in open all hours!

I only left when a bloke said to me that shop work was for women, and that i should get a job in the building trade, this came from a man who was a shop keeper, so i figured he knew what he was on about!

[Stan 386]

Those were the days! My first job was on Saturday at Dewhursts on Hockley. The main task was to ride the firm`s bike to the managers and his mates house in W.B.Ford to deliver the most enormous joints of meat .

That was aged 13 years.

At 14 I was promoted (!) to delivery boy for the Co-op on Birchover Rd. This entailed never leaving school at Trentbridge after 4 in order to catch the connecting buses to Strelley Rd. to start work every night at 5 with my Co-op bike delivering orders,

and the walk home eating a huge bag of broken biscuits (6d.) provided by the shop.

Saturday worked only` til lunchtime.What was the enormous payment for all this work? 14 shillings!(70 pence) and boy was I envied for having such a high paying job by the paper lads.

The benefits? The exercise and the tips!

It was really strange how the same lady at the bottom of Birchover Rd.,always got her order first,(2/6d tip) and the remainder in descending order of tipping and how beautiful their teenage daughters were!

Needless to say the moaning old B... on Cockington Rd.always had to phone,and its odd how many eggs became cracked on the journey!

This was my income and boy did it teach me the value of hard work and money.

Iwas quite sad to leave at the end of school,as unlike Craig,I did not find any of them wet. Indeed I learnt to play hard ball at poker and Solo during the tea breaks with a really happy group of blokes.

[Limey 242]

My first job was as an order boy too - for the Long Eaton Co-op, Grasmere Road branch. I did it for three years - and loved it. But, like Stan said - we knew how to get revenge on the bad tippers! There was one I remember very well who always had a HUGE order - it would only just fit in the bike basket, EVERY week, and she never tipped - even at Christmas. Well, if we got to pack the order, the eggs went on the bottom!

The money was better than a paper route, and at Christmas we got lots of overtime too!

The manager at the time is still alive - I visited him a couple of years ago and he still remembered all the tricks we used to pull! Happy days!

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Never did the part time jobs when at school.

my first job was when I left school, I was 15, and went to work for GT Ranby, the electrical contractor in Commerce Square opposite St Mary's Church, off High Pavement. Spent all of a year and a half with them before I got an electrical apprenticeship with the NCB.

[katyjay 5,091]

At age 15 I went to work for Raleigh in the offices. I was in the training school for 3 months, and my wages were 2 pounds 18 shillings and 10 pence a week for that duration. To earn a bit extra we were told we could come in at 8am, to the postal dept, and do an hour's overtime till our usual 9am start. We opened mail and sorted it by department. The princely sum for doing this, a shilling an hour. But it meant an extra 5 bob in my wages, which went a long way in those days. Laughable now though.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

When I came out of my time, my "top line" was 18 quid a week for 37 1/4 hours on shifts with face allowance, dirt money, water money and grease money. I left Cotgrave to work at J Jones Rewinds for 40 hours at 18 quid a week, no shifts and no crawling along a low coal face with a tool bag!

[plantfit 7,599]

Ayup Craig,

I started my apprenticeship at a small garage at the bottom of Sneinton road back in 68 50 hours a week including Saturday morning, I too had the pleasure of riding a delivery boy's bike which I used to fetch motor vehicle spares from various motor factors throughout Nottingham. One particular occasion I was coming back from Cripps down Lenton lane with the basket full of pistons, crankshaft, cylinder head and a full set of valves for a commer lorry (bl@@dy heavy) when pedalling back up Derby road standing on the pedals to keep the thing moving the chain snapped OUCH! the back wheel fell out and the front stand came down, I sat there still mounted, resting on the back forks and front stand watching my wheel earrolling back down the hill and me with an audience of what seemed to be the entire population of Nottingham. So if anyone can remember seeing that disaster back in 68 ,,,No it wasn't a stunt and thanks for helping me. And all that for £3.1s.4p a week.

Rog

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Now that would have been funny Roger..

[Limey 242]

Hey plantfit - you are EXACTLY one year younger than me!

Your story made me laugh - and I can just see it happening! Order bikes were always mistreated beasts - the brakes on ours rarely worked, and the front stand had long since disappeared - but at Christmas time I was sent, on the order bike, to the head office in Long Eaton (about a 1-1/2 mile ride) with 500 quid in a carboard box to bring change back! I was always terrified I would fall off or something and loose all that money - 500 pounds was a LOT of money in 1966 - it still amazes me that the manager trusted me with it!

[plantfit 7,599]

Ayup Limey

Today you would require an armed guard, bomb proof transit van and a fortnights notice in writing from the chief constable to carry that around good old Nottingham. Just think of the amount of drugs that would buy.

Rog

[mick2me 3,033]

In the 70's the Long Eaton Coop was taken over by The Nottingham Coop,

where I worked as an electrician. But I cant remember where Head office

of the Long Eaton Coop was?

[plantfit 7,599]

Just remembered another delivery bike disaster from about 68./69 Coming back from T Shipsides. (The one at the back of the post office near Huntingdon street,) with exhaust pipe for Austin Cambridge when I saw the other apprentice from the same garage as me walking through Sneinton fruit and veg market, I stopped and he got in the front basket for a lift back to base. Flying through the market as you do with a passenger on a delivery bike when I thought it would be a good idea to run over a digarded apple box left in front of one of the stalls. After that is a bit of a blurr but apparently the box was picked up by the front wheel and jammed in the front mudguard with me and passenger doing a full on face plant on the concrete road much to the amusement of the market stall holders, many of which were account holders at the place we worked so there was no hiding the tomfoolery from our boss. We ended up with a smack in the earhole each and we had to repair the bike, Oh halcyon days and the follies of youth

Rog

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Sounds like you were as bad as me Rog..

[Limey 242]

In the 70's the Long Eaton Coop was taken over by The Nottingham Coop,

where I worked as an electrician. But I cant remember where Head office

of the Long Eaton Coop was?

It was on the corner of Station Street and Main Street in Long Eaton. The building dept. was on Chapel Street.

[mick2me 3,033]

There was the big coop store on the left corner and the building

on the right has the clock tower, Was it the store or the building

with the Clock?

[Limey 242]

There was the big coop store on the left corner and the building

on the right has the clock tower, Was it the store or the building

with the Clock?

It was the building with the clock. Also home to "Peoples Hall" - a popular spot for discos in the 60's.

[pemberton 15]

My first job was 'shop lad' at a small engineering firm called 'J Undy Ltd' at the top of Denman St. It was that small that it only employed about five bods and that included the boss. I had to do mundane tasks like cleaning the swarf from under the lathes each night and keeping the boiler topped up - wo betide me if I let it go out! I also had to go to the chippy on Alfreton Road for everybodies lunch and packets of park drive or woodbine, ocassionaly I would be allowed to do a bit of turning on a lathe or a bit of milling. All the machines were run from one central motor, power being conveyed along a central shaft and then through a leather belt to each machine, now thats a good way of being prudent!

[pjmccree 1]

I don't quite have the age and experience of some of your lot, but I think I witnessed the back end of child labour...?

My first job at age 10 (1975), was sat'deh lad at a high st green grocers come butchers shop (ex Kerry's) in ruddington. For a twleve hour shift, i used to recieve a whopping £1.50.

My duties would include removing all gunky animal remains from the sausage maker, swabbing the decks, scrubbing the butcher's blocks till me little fingers bled and lifting bags of spuds around that weighed heavier than myself...!

As a treat on christmas, i was allowed to pluck 50 turkeys wi' me bare 'ands...!

[Bip 88]

Going to sound boring now but only had one job all through my working life.

Well ! what do you expect my life story?

Bip.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Jeeze Den! I was chasing money and gaining experience in my trade, worked at GT Ranby, then the NCB at Clifton and Cotgrave Collieries. Then J Jones Rewinds, Arco Rewinds down Beeston, then Wilson Ford Rewinds in Basford. Beeston Boiler Company, British Gypsum at East Leake. Cleveland Potash in North Yorks. Renison Bell in Tassie, A.I and S wongawilli Colliery near Wollongong then my last employer was the Electricity Commision of NSW at Angus Place Colliery.

[katyjay 5,091]

pj, it sounds like the only thing they didn't have you doing, was being a chimney sweep, by shoving you up the chimney!

[plantfit 7,599]

Ayup PJ,

I used to frequent Ruddington in my youth, mainly the pubs, but there were some nice looking girls there and even better looking with a few guinness and ciders inside me. Brikkies, White horse, top house Red heart, so on,& so on,

Rog

[pjmccree 1]

pj, it sounds like the only thing they didn't have you doing, was being a chimney sweep, by shoving you up the chimney!

lol... if they'd have had a chimney katy, i'm sure they would have had me come in on a sunday morning for free when the shop was shut to clean it...!?

It was all character building though, wasn't it...!

[Limey 242]

My uncle owned a garage and petrol station in Ruddington - I believe it was on Easthorpe Street. In the early 60's he was a BMC dealer and sold Shell petrol.

[pjmccree 1]

Ayup PJ,

I used to frequent Ruddington in my youth, mainly the pubs, but there were some nice looking girls there and even better looking with a few guinness and ciders inside me. Brikkies, White horse, top house Red heart, so on,& so on,

Rog

Aye up Rog,

I spent 25 happy years growing up in ruddington, the red heart was my local when bill & mad-beryl ran it. It was comical when she'd dive over the bar, baseball bat in hand when clifton invaded every sunday night.

Me old fella still props up the bar in the jollies, tillos or the 'oss...!