Malcolm Mason talks about starting work.

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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