Mill drama all part of textile city’s rich tapestry

a little hard work never hurt anyone, so the saying goes, and sisters Eunice Sutcliffe and Nellie Jowett wouldn’t disagree.

The pair started work at the age of 14, rising before dawn to walk several miles to the Drummonds textile factory in Bradford and then walking home after a long shift, side-by-side with their mother, who got jobs at the same mill for all seven of her children.

The sisters, who started at Drummonds during the war and went on to work there for more than 50 years, were in nostalgic mood yesterday as they gathered with other textile workers to recall the the story of the city’s textile heyday, which is to be turned into a theatre production.

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Mrs Sutcliffe, 82, a former winder, recalled rising at 5am for a shift which began at 7am and could finish at 6pm, with overtime.

“We had ten minutes for breakfast and half an hour for dinner. We walked with mother to Lumb Lane and back. At the end of the week we handed over all the money to mother, one pound and 30 shillings, when I was 14.”

Her sister, a twister, recalled; “We made stuff for the troops during the war, making khaki for uniforms, bandages and slings.”

Late-comers would find themselves sent home.

“If you were a minute late you would be sent back home. I was late once because I had been out dancing the night before and I couldn’t get up,” said Mrs Sutcliffe with a chuckle.

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Both recalled happy times, although they had to be careful of the overhead leather belts which occasionally would snap with a deafening crack.

The sisters were among around 100 former and current textile workers who gathered at the Ukrainian Club in Legrams Lane, Bradford, at the invitation of the city’s Freedom Studios, a theatre company which is putting together a performance called The Mill – City of Dreams which will be performed at the now-closed Drummonds Mill in March and April.

Former Drummonds staff welcomed the idea but some said that no theatre production could recreate the sounds and smells of a working mill.

For Austin Byrne, 88, the “horrendous” noise is a defining memory of Drummonds, where he worked from 1936 to 1987.

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“The day I was 65, I retired; I had done my sentence. Towards the end I could tell you how many days I had to work. I was counting them down.

“I started at 14 as a weft boy. I remember the quality of the cloth, and the noise, it was horrendous.

“When you opened the door it was like hitting a wall.

“For the first few weeks I had whistling in my ears but after a while it didn’t bother you.

“You had to learn to lip read.

“I remember the smell, the greasy smell of the wool and the oil mist which came off the modern looms.”

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When he retired after 51 years the boss handed him an onyx telephone and he was happy to be gone.

Sitting on the next table at the reunion was Christine Hillas, 71, who worked in the mending room, a quiet part of any mill.

“I worked at seven mills during 45 years in textiles. Those years were the happiest in my life. We had fun, a laugh and a joke. It was all women in mending.”

Even today she has a keen eye for a piece of cloth. “If I go into a shop, I can spot a missing end or a ‘slub’, a bit of fluff,” she says proudly.

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She could take home up to £400 a week in the 1970s because she was on piecework and a quick mender could do well.

Although many mills have closed, a handful remain.

Janine Shepherd, 58, a burler and mender at Clissold in Bradford, was talking about wages yesterday with her friend Joan Salo, 69.

Both agreed wages used to be good. In the days when miners were on £100 a week, a skilled textile worker was earning about the same.

Mrs Salo doubted it was possible for a theatre company to recreate an authentic portrayal of mill life inside a silent old mill.

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“How can you put on a show about textiles? Drummonds had 60 looms – it was deafening.”

Her friend said mill work was about the people.

“I don’t think you can beat mill girls; they are very outspoken. It’s not like working in an office.”

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