Teesside Iron and Steel Memories Interview: Judith Munroe

Background & early work:
Born 7/8/1941
Started at Cargo Fleet (part of S. Durham Steel & Iron Co) at 15 yrs old after school
There 1 yr as office girl in Purchasing Dept, then became teleprinter operator in Switch Dept for rest of her time there
Large no of people in offices then, ~10 men in Purchasing plus assistants plus typists, with similar numbers in Sales, Invoicing, Accounts
Almost all very local - South Bank, Normanby, Grangetown etc
Travelled to work on trolley bus or cycled
Good social life, 1 or 2 organisers
Trips to Scarborough, dinner dances @ Coatham Hotel etc
Night school @ Redcar College in early years - shorthand & English
Description of the Teleprinter - 'E Mail' forerunner, direct link to other parts of the works for orders etc - carbon copy printers
Worked as switchboard relief operator on old 'dolls eye' switchboard, operated with a pencil end
Regarded the company as pretty good employers
Tale of old lady recalling widow being rehoused so she could continue working
Description of canteen & staff dining rooms
Mother-in-law was manageress of dining rooms
JM had to type menus - all 3 course meals
MD & Snr Management had silver service, wait service for other managers
JM married in 1962 and left when she was pregnant (no date)
No return to work in those times

Later working life:
Out for about 11/12 years until youngest child start school at 5yr old
Retrained on TOPS course in typing for ~ 6 months, then temp jobs (not school hols) in colleges etc. Agency work inc BS Research Labs typing up manuscripts before permanent place in 6th Form college.
13/14 years in education, then same again in Health Service

Home life when started at 15 yr old:
Lived on S Bank housing estate with 3 brothers & 1 sister
Dad worked @ Cargo Fleet and knew of a vacancy (school careers people not much help)
Offered job at 14yr, but could only start after 15th birthday
Brothers worked @ Smith's Dock, ICI/Merchant Navy and 3rd went to London but returned to Dorman Long - redundant & now (2009) teaching

More on community spirit in Cargo Fleet works:
Cargo Fleet Social Club created for the works - still there
Football teams from mills, foundries etc in works
Works Band - secretary would come to the offices to get band notices typed
Private telephone calls (no STD then so all calls via switchboard)
These were permitted if lines were available
JM had to log these and collect payment each month
No telephones in most homes in those days so this was seen as a real perk
Other, more senior, telephonists were spinsters or married late & had no children and were there all their working lives
JM had never used a telephone when she first started
'Absolutely terrified' - took weeks to pluck up courage to answer it
Had to do so - it was a task of the women in the office to answer the phones - the men would not do so