Papers of Syd Clay

Personal papers, Teesside Pensioners Association, Trade Unions and Communist Party. There is also a oral history transcript made in 1988 in which he gives an account of his life and political activity to Bert Ward.

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Syd Clay was born in Thornaby on 6th August 1927 and moved to the Newport area of Middlesbrough as a child where his father worked on the railways. His father held left wing political views and did at one time stand as a labour candidate for the Council but was not elected. Syd left school at 14 and went to work on the railways where he became involved in the trade union movement (National Union of Railwaymen) and later the Communist Party. He was Branch Secretary of the party in Middlesbrough, was on the District Committee and served on the Secretariat with, amongst others, George Short. He attended the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students in Bucharest in 1953, the 5th in Warsaw in 1955 and the 6th in Moscow in 1957, where he represented the NUR and gave a speech (his first) about the railways in Britain. These visits were important in consolidating his political views and his support for peace and nuclear disarmament.In 1963, he left the railways because to the insecurity associated with the future of the docks and eventually moved to London where he worked for various employers, mainly as a driver. He stayed until 1968 but decided then to return to Teesside and went to live in Billingham where he spent the rest of his life, mainly at Melsanby Court, Low Grange. At first he worked at Billingham Forum as a porter but hen did a variety of factory jobs including at the ICI Ammonia Plant (1970-1976), Weir Polypac and Hardy Spicer. He also did some work for the Saltergill School in Kirklevington. Throughout, he continued to be an active trade unionist (TGWU) and member of the Communist Party and had in 1972 become involved in the pensioners movement, becoming area secretary until 1992 during which time he played his part in organising the many campaigns, lobbies and rallies that helped bring the pensioners concerns to public notice.After the closure of Hardy Spicer in 1981 which happened despite his proposal for a survival plan, at the age of 55 his employment prospects were bleak but he took a part-time 'volunteer' post of TUC Regional Organiser for Centres for the Unemployed until 1992 (although funding was apparently withdrawn in 1990). After this time he scaled down his political activities and was awarded the Harry Cowans Certificate for Meritorious Service by the TUC in 1992 and the TGWU Silver Medal for Services to the Union in 1993.Syd never married but was close to his family, a keen photographer and football fan and died in January 2014.