EDWARD (Ted) Bennett worked for many years both before and after the Second World War at Musgrave's Atlas Mills in Bolton (better known as "Muzzies", where Morrison's supermarket now stands on Chorley Old Road).
During the war he spent some time at Bellhouse-Higson's in Westhoughton, where parts were made for the Lancaster bomber. He moved to Somerset in 1955 with his wife to become caretaker of Downside Abbey Church, a Benedictine Abbey with a monastery and public school.
He retired in 1983, and is now 90 - still doing six mornings a week paper round ("I am sure I am the oldest in the country," he says proudly).
Ted also took up painting, and often when visiting his sister in Westhoughton came to Bolton where he did some sketching. As a result, in 1977 he had an exhibition of his work at the Octagon Theatre.
He has also always followed the fortunes of the Wanderers, recalling watching Bolton in the days of Seddon, Vizard and Joe Smith; he was at Burnden Park at the time of the 1947 disaster, but fortunately on the opposite side of the ground.
He saw his first "talking picture" at the Palladium, Bolton - Al Jolson in the "Jazz Singer", and has written a booklet "Memories" about his life.
In the article below, Ted tells of his time at "Muzzies", details of which may well bring back memories to others who worked in the mills.
Incidentally, if you remember Ted, and would like to contact him, his address is 2, Wells Road, Chilcompton, Radstock, Somerset, BA3 4EX
I LEFT school at the age of 14, after the summer term of 1926. At that time many Bolton mills were recruiting in the area, so I started work (still wearing short pants!) in the mule-spinning department of the No 4 mill of the Musgrave Spinning Company, in Mornington road, Bolton.
I lived in Hindley, eight miles from Bolton, so to get to work I had a 20 minute walk to the railway station, a 15 to 20 minute journey by train, then a 10 minute ride in a tram-car to the mill. I would leave home about 6.30am and get home about 6.30pm.
My wage at that time was 14s (70p) a week, a good starting wage for those days, but the snag was you were on that wage until you got promotion and that could be years ahead.
On my first working day I waited outside the overlookers "cabin" (office) before being taken into the mule room, and left in charge of a "spinner" for two weeks' training.
The to-and-fro movement of the mules and the noise of the machinery were rather daunting at first. After two weeks I was then placed with a spinner who needed a "little piecer".
A spinner was in charge of a pair of mules; he had a "sidepiecer" and a "little piecer" to help him. He was on piece work, but his assistants were paid a fixed wage, which the spinner paid in cash out of his earnings.
Musgrave No 4 mill was one of the largest in Lancashire, a five floor building, four floors of which housed 60 pairs of mules. On the ground floor was the card room where the cotton was cleaned, "carded", and the yarn wound on to bobbins which were then taken up to the mule room ready for the next stage of production.
The mule room was kept warm and humid to suit the spinning of the cotton. Humidifiers blew clean humid air into the room. On a summer's day the room could get very warm indeed, sometimes reaching a temperature in the 90F.
The little piecer's job was mainly sweeping up and keeping the mules as clean as he could and learning to piece up and replacing the bobbins in the creel when they started to run bare. The sidepiecer's job was to keep his side of the mules pieced up and the spinner the other side. The spinner was in overall charge.
When I started work in 1926 we worked a 48 hour week, 7.45am to 12 noon, then 1pm to 5.30pm Monday to Friday. On Saturday the hours were from 7.45am to 12 noon. There was no clocking on, and when we arrived at the mill in the morning we made our way to our mules. We undressed to our vest or shirt and underpants, put on our overalls. Shoes or clogs and socks would come off as we worked in bare feet.
Before starting the mules the spinner oiled the necessary parts of the headstock while the sidepiecer and little piecer oiled the spindles. One of the effects of this oiling was that when the mules started up the surplus oil was sprayed out and eventually fell to the floor which would become oily. Hence the bare feet which was better than any footwear, much safer.
A drawback was that you would sometimes get a splinter in your foot.
If I remember rightly I don't think we were paid any wages if we were off sick. We had one week unpaid holiday in the summer, but later things steadily improved.
Most of us had an enamel can with a lid for a cup. In the morning and afternoon hot water was available to brew up.
Those who could went home for their mid-day meal; those of us who had to travel had our usual sandwiches sitting on the factory floor and leaning against the mule carriage. A chip shop was not too far away, and there was a pie and cake shop across the road from the mill for those who wanted better fare.
We had a simple sign language which was used when necessary. There was the usual mixture of human nature but there was good camaraderie and help was always available when needed.
The mill was a world of its own and a way of life.
During the early 30s there was a lot of short time in the mill and hardship was unavoidable, but we just tightened our belts and got on with life as there was little work available elsewhere. Later the threat from Hitler began to have its effect, and full time working was resumed.
When I started work it was intended to be until I got a better job, but apart from five years' working on munitions during the war, I worked there until 1955. By then it was a dying industry and I was fortunate to be offered a long term job in Somerset.
Altogether I spent 25 years in a cotton mill, but I have no regrets. I had good companionship and much fun, and I look back on my mill days with a certain amount of pride, for when I left in 1955 I had been for a few years in charge of a pair of mules, a SPINNER.
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