FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS RELATED TO ELSIE WEBB

The donor was born Elsie Williams in Eccles in 1922. Her mother's family had moved up to Eccles from Wolverhampton. The donor was born in 2, Booth Place, Eccles, a small alley near to, and owned by, Eccles Co-operative Society. She stayed there till the age of 10 then moved to Phillip Street, Patricroft where she lived until her marriage in 1942. She was the youngest of 3; Bill was the oldest (b. 1912) and Fred the middle one (b. 1919). Her father was sacked from Gardener's Engineering Works and, through a friend at the church, got a job on the trams but he caught T.B. and died in the late 1920's when the donor was still young. Her mother got 18/- a week pension (10/- for herself, 5/- for Fred and 3/- for the donor.) This was not enough to really manage on and the donor's mother, despite being almost bedridden with rheumatism, took on a cleaning job from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. each morning, (helped by her sister). The donor attended St. Andrew's School, Barton Lane, Eccles, leaving at the age of 14, although from about 12 she was working every Saturday in a hat-shop in Eccles. When she left school in 1936 she wanted to be a hairdresser but her headmaster told her it would be too expensive to pay the necessary "premium" and so she ended up working on the embroidery machines at Vantona Textile Ltd., Portland Street, Eccles. The family was also active in King Street Mission, Eccles.