Title
Malcolm Mason talks about starting work.
Subject
Being young
Description
Malcolm Mason explains the limited options for most people leaving school in the 1950s.
Creator
East Midlands Oral History Archive
Source
Interview with Malcolm Mason. EMOHA Ref: 1600, EM/103/YC
Publisher
East Midlands Oral History Archive
Date
1950s
Rights
You may use this item in accordance with the licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/
Format
.mp3
Original Format
.wav
Duration
1 min 19 sec
Bit Rate/Frequency
320 kbps
Transcription
Most people went into apprenticeships or just into labouring jobs. The trouble was that, at that time, when I left school, National Service was in, so if people – lads anyway, not girls, because they didn’t do it – lads that left school, if they didn’t go into an apprenticeship they was usually into labouring-type jobs and companies knew that they’d only got them for a couple or three years anyway because the minute they got to 18 they’re doing their National Service for two years, so they lost them anyway. You got a lot of lads that - I mean, I must admit I was a little bit envious of a lot of them – because they were doing labouring-type jobs and earning, in that day and age, good money. With myself, I did a five year apprenticeship and started on seven pence farthing an hour (approx. 3p), which worked out about £1.50 a week.
Interviewer
Colin Hyde
Interviewee
Malcolm Mason
Location
Interviewee's home address
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