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Out Work

gingerjon

gingerjon

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN R.I.P.
just some thoughts of mom's endeavours to bring in extra money to make life a bit easier my mom used to get outwork from Lawlers factory,
lamp shades binding the metal with tape before putting the material onto the lamp shade finishing off with a tassle ribbon glueing it on with a white paste another job making paste jewellery cementing the stones into posistion with an intoxicating liquid it use to smell like sweets very nauseating these then had to be wrapped in white tissue paper and packed in boxes then there was the rug making ripping old material into strips cutting them down to right size then using a wooden peg to make holes for inserting the strips into a hessian square to make a multi coloured rug there where other jobs called carding were you had to put small items on to a card ,hair grips, buttons, studs for mens collars and many other small items like these I wonder how much this brought in to help mom to eke a living one of the good things that came out of this was we all mucked in often sitting around the fire talking about many different things. A family together which you don't see much of to day
have you any such memories (Mom's were great)
 
work at home

John thanks for the memories...yes I remember how we used to sit there and glue coloured glass into pendants and sew buttons onto a card. As you say we all sat around the table chatting away. Funny about those Pegged rugs though, they used to last forever.My Mom mainly made them out of old coats. But we loved sitting on them in front of a roaring fire in winter. My Mom took in babies as well during the day for a few bob a week...they really tried hard to eek out a living didn't they. :roll:
 
Hair grips: My sister's husband worked as a delivery driver that used to have hair grips made by outworkers. Each was supplied with a little jig that bent the wire into shape.

As a kid, I can remember seeing him loading up dozens of boxes of them. It made me wondering how much hair there must be in the world. :shock:

Because my parents were staunch socialists and looked on this type of work as slave labour, there was never any done in our house. Still, I suppose it was okay for them to have these principals, as we were probably better off than a lot of our neighbours.
 
My mother did a variety of outwork jobs, sewing sequins on for artistes in the theatre (boss was Emile Littler), sewing buttons on cards, making brass hinges for trinket boxes(a little gadget for rolling the edge then knock the pins in) but the best one was putting the spring curl on the end of brooch pins for 3d a thousand, the tool supplied was useless and dad designed and made different one which we could all use and we made a lot of money until mom proudly showed the new tool the her boss. Crafty lot nicked the idea and took the job in house. Eric.

Ps. Luckyjo, Where are you in Queensland, my brother is in Kingston.
 
Box making

My husbands mother and grandmother both undertook 'home work'. Living in Potters Hill and Phillips Street respectively, they had enourmous amounts of outwork delivered to them and collected from them, on a weekly basis, from Bayliss and Ormerod in Icknield Street.
They worked all day every day making all shapes and sizes of boxes, needlework boxes in particular. They also made satin platform linings for boxes which displayed fancy goods, these were called 'silks', and were a popular job, as although they were more fiddly, as glue couldnt be allowed to overspill onto the satin, they also bought in more money.
The smell of the animal glue would penetrate the house. It would have to be heated up till it was pliable and placed within a bowl of hot water to keep it that way. When it was time to cover the boxes, the glue would be spread like butter, across an enamel sheet, that had previously had a life as a stove backplate, and the coverings would be placed on the glue, then the made up boxes would be carefully placed on the glued sheet of paper, with no room for error.
If you recall, boxes had half moon shapes punched out on the sides, to facilitate the easy removal of the lid.......as a child, this would be my husbands 'job', he enjoyed sitting with the 'special plier type tool' punching these out.
This full time job, would bring about £4-5 per week into the household kitty.
 
I well remember Wallace lawlers Lampshade factory in Geach street .
My Nan lived in Guildford Street and her and my mom used to sit for hours each day making those shades. As John Houghton has said ,the frames had to be wrapped in a white tape first ,then the fancy crepe shade sections had to be stitched on through the holes ,and a braid glued on to the bottom edge. My mom used to go to the factory and collect the stuff herself AND take the finished work back.It was a dark old factory, you had to go up a staircase with open spaces between the treads, it used to scare the hell out of me as a child. but Wallace Lawler became a councillor and he used to hire a bus for the campaigns ,and all us kids use to ride round in it , singing vote vote vote for wallace lawler :p never forget those days ROFL
 
Mothers at work

I became a' latch key kid' when I went up to Gower Street School in 1944 ( from Burlington Street ) Mother must have thought I was responsible to be left to my own devices. Money was a little tight so she got a job at Palmer & Harvey on Aston Road North followed by work in the Jewellery Quarter and finally at Underwoods in Allesley Street where she worked until she was 70. I thought she may have given it up when I stared work although the £1/4/7 I earned was not much especially after she had taken out my pocket money 2/6. I think going to work gave her a buzz after being 'house bound' bringing up myself and my sister, I think many mothers were in the same situation going to work allowed the to socialise and get out of a rut
Harvey Barr
 
hi all...just caught up with this thread..mom used to take in out work...i will have to confirm it but i think it was for a firm called linreads..it may have been on gt hampton st...nuts and bolts i think it was...they came in cloth sacks and i remember the smell to this day...sometimes i would sit and help for hours.....

astoness
 
Yes there is a lot of Linreads on Google they seem have made different things I think I saw Nuts & Bolts Lyn
 
I don't know about mom other than she was always knitting and then selling the garments but I did typing for students at the IMI [metalurgy] but soon gave that up. I sewed chami leathers and had a tiny hand press in the porch where I put knobs on saucepan lids. I did quite well with that as it was for Pete's boss. Jean.
 
My stepmother used to strip down plastic covered metal washing up baskets, what an awful job it was too. I used to help and for everyone she only got 6d. It would take all evening just to rip the plastic off two. They had gone through the plastic coating machine and got messed up, so in other words they were rejects. Another lady I used to help in the evening used to put the clips on the back of clip on earrings, now that one was a much more pleasant outwork job and much quicker. I never asked what she earned for that.
 
I sewed hats for the biscuit factory the pay was abysmal and I had to use my own sewing machine! I then made 'eyeball' badges in the C.B. days these were done on my sewing machine ready to attach to jacket's. My last enterprize was a knitting machine. The orders flowed in at least all the profit was mine.
 
Not out of work per se – but like many of you I used my talents to make pin money, by writing short stories for the ‘Digest’ but they only paid $20. a story back then, needless to say I gave it up . . .
 
I used to paint little lead soldiers and then went on to make modern jewellery for boutiques and big stores. All of these jobs paid a pittance for many hours of work. But I did learn how to paint tartan kilts and how to make my own jewellery, so all was not a lost cause.
 
I used to repair automatic gearboxes in the kitchen (did not go down well with the wife)till I made enough money to buy a shed, nice little money earner the hardest one to repair was the mini box the easiest the French Bourdeax box used in Ford vehicles
 
Well done John! Nice to know that someone did well out of homework. None of it seems to go down well with partner's though. None of mine did.
 
My Dad used to bring outwork home just after the war, for my Mom too assemble from the GEC WITTON ,it in covered assembly of domestic fuses screwing in all the brass pins and fitting the right fuse wire to the right bakealite fuse case.
 
Hi Astoness,
My Mother when we lived in Welsley Street of Farm Street Hockley used to do out work for Linreads sorting out mixed Nuts & Bolts and me and my Sister had to help for some pocket money. can you imagin
Kids today doing that for hours on end just to get about a shilling ????


And remember you are younger know than you willever be again
 
hi pete and welcome to the forum...and no i cant imagine the kids today working away like we did for a few coppers...by the way i have posted a pic of the corner of welesley st and nursery road on the forum if you are interested...just type it in in the search box top right of the page....if you have problems finding it let me know

lyn
 
hi pete
there was a work at home for pin money on rocky lane aston cross
it was a small place just as you waited for the number eight bus facing the golden cross pub
they would deliver bits of chamie leather to your house with big balls of strings i think it was about fifty chamies for a tanner
when we was kids living on the lichfield rd aston we would walk down with a pram and pick it up andtake it home and make them but we never made ant money ,
proper money that was , eventualy theyu stopped and the game was making envelopes we stopped and made paper planes
but that sort of thing was all the rage in those days pin money ah
have a nice day best wishes astonion
 
Alan I worked for them too sewing chamie leathers. Didn't make much money at it though. As you say small world. Jean.
 

I remember making those window leathers I used to catch the bus from Kitts Green to Aston Cross it must have been two buses. We used to sit for hours putting the chamois scraps onto the string. Then it was back with the finished product. I can't remember how long we stuck with it but I am sure we did not make much money.
 
Hi all
a bit late but i have just read this thred.it takes me back to the late forties when both my gran and auntie did out work for wilders fireworks of greet.
The job entailed rolling the labels on bangers and roman candle type fireworks.they did this on a table in front of an open coal fire.when the nights work
was at an end they shook the table cloth they had been working on on to the open fire to get rid of the iron fileings andpowder.it was a lovely sight.
No health and saftey in those days.
 
Hi yes it was a great show .also i had all of the fireworks that had crooked lables .
I was the most popular kid in formans road in those days on bonfire night
 
I bet you were Ken. They used to do the same at the brewery when bottles labels were not quite right.
 
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