Teesside Iron and Steel Memories Interview: Elsie Peacock

Background & family work history:
Born 19/11/1925 in Carlin How
Main subject is not herself, but her father, William ('Bill') May
Born in Middlesbrough where his father worked in the rolling mills
In WW1, Bill was away in the army & his father transferred to Skinningrove to open the 36" Mill and work there
Lived in a works' house in Carlin How
Bill was wounded in the war & came home then to Carlin How
When he left the Army, Bill worked at Skinningrove in the rolling mills
Worked with his Dad until he retired, then became a roller when the previous roller, Bob Murray, lost a foot in a Works' accident
Bill was very friendly with Bob & upset at the accident
Many years later (~2004), a man asked Elsie 'Are you Bill May's daughter?' and told her he'd worked with Bill during WW2 and they set an un-broken record for a single shift's rolling
Either Bill or his father (Elsie cannot recall which) rolled some steel for the Sydney Harbour bridge, and put his initials on it
Bill stayed as a roller until he retired
He was at Skinningrove for 45yrs, and received £45 on retirement.
Elsie herself left school and went to 'Slowlands' [Longlands?] in Middlesbrough for shorthand & typing
She got a job at British Steel [Dorman's] office in Middlesbrough and travelled from Carlin How each day
She was actually under the railway bridge in Middlesbrough in WW2 when the station was bombed
It was Bank Holiday Monday, she had worked until lunch-time in the cashier's office typing cheques for various companies
She was 16yrs old and she & 2 others walked up Dock Street to the station and saw an aircraft overhead
Her 2 colleagues went to a pub for a drink & EP was under the railway bridge when the bomb dropped
Next thing she remembered was an air-raid warden sheltering her over the road near the Yorkshire bank
She took shelter in someone's house nearby under a table in the living room
Her 2 colleagues came looking for her & put her on the bus home
Subsequently got a job at Skelton Council offices until she was married
Just before then, her mother took ill with cancer & EP gave up work to nurse her
She then moved back to Middlesbrough as her husband worked there, and she got a job at Debenhams for nearly 20yrs

Working Relationships & Social Aspects:
EP's grandfather was a roller at Middlesbrough and had sample carriers who ran errands and carried samples to & from the mills
Also kept the rollers supplied with flagons of beer from outside as the work was so hot
Bill also had sample carriers supplying sandwiches etc
He liked his beer when he came home from work
Never tasted the 1st pint as they were so hot & dry
Bill was a big Trade Unionist & Labour man
He married during WW1 but his 1st wife died of flu
He lost 2 sisters also to the flu
One sister married a Romanian man just before the war & they moved back to Romania
They lost touch during WW2
Tried to make contact later through Consulates etc but with no success
During WW2 some bombs were dropped on Skinningrove and 1 or 2 boys were killed
EP knew a boy at school who was killed in the bombing at the bottom of Loftus Bank, in front of his mother
The family had air-raid shelters - an Anderson shelter in the front garden
Bill would not go into it, he stayed in bed saying 'If I'm going to be killed, I'll be killed in bed'
Very congested in Carlin How at shift change when the United buses used to collect men from the surrounding villages for the different shifts
EP remembered, when still at school, an overhead railway being built to bring iron ore in buckets from the mines at Skinningrove up to the steelworks
There were no real changes in work conditions during the war, they just worked the same shifts
Several cousins & friends all worked in the steelworks
The family had a fairly good life despite the rationing as Bill was always in work & had a good job
Mother always had lots of dirty washing to do
Moleskin trousers, stiff with oil & grease had to be scrubbed on the floor
'Long Johns', vests & sweat scarves were worn because of the amount of sweat generated in the hot conditions on the mills7