Rewinding yarn on to tubes of apprpriate size to fiton a loom

Tag : Viscose Yarn
Courtaulds specialised in man-made fibres and would supply work forfour local factories. Aber in Flint was taken over in 1917. CastleWorks was opened nearby in 1920, followed by the building ofDeeside Mill in 1922. The fourth, Greenfield, factory was opened in1936.

Former employee Margaret Williams remembers the day she started atCourtaulds.

"I was 16 on June 1st, 1953," she began. "It was the Queen'scoronation on the 2nd, so everybody had a day off.

"I had an interview on June 3rd at Deeside Mill. So along I wentand I was told th at if I came in for 1pm, I could start thatafternoon.

"I ran home and told my mum and she didn't believe me. I hadn'ttold her that I was due to have the interview."

Margaret felt very lucky to have been given the job. "It was 1953and industry and manufacturing was just starting back after arecession.

"I was one of the lucky ones to be taken on. I was put in this bigroom all on my own.

"It was full of machines but none of them were working and therewere all these crates full of yarn.

"I was asked to sort through the crates. I've a feeling it was amade-up job to give me something to do. I did that job for about ayear though.

"A lad with a push truck would bring more crates in and take themaway again when I'd sorted through them."

Margaret soon moved on to another area. "After a year I went up tothe pirning department but I don't think I was very good with themachines.

"I was told there was a clerical job going in the office, so I wentto the personnel office to find out about it.

"I was 'semi interviewed' while I was there and then went back towork. I was told off when I got back because I went on my own andshould have gone through my supervisor.

"I got the job, though, I think because I went along and askedabout it. In those days companies didn't have to advertise a joblike they do now so if someone came along from the company whofitted the bill, they could take them on."

Margaret recalls a great social side to working at Courtaulds.

"You sort of lost touch with your old school friends," sheexplained.

"But you made new friends at work. On some Saturday nights therewould be a dance at the Castle Works, which had a beautiful 'sprungfloor' ballroom, so all the young people from the factory would gothere.

"There were also dances at the Catholic Club and the memorial hallbehind the church.

"We'd go there as a big group of girls. That's how we had our datesas well, at the local dances.

"A lot of girls met their future husbands at these social events."

There was a great deal of camaraderie at Courtaulds, but thehighlight of the year for the girls at the factory was undoubtedlythe annual fete where workers from all four factories came togetherand the crowning of the 'Rayon Queen'.

"It was the one day of the year that everyone looked forward to.

"We had some big stars there, such as Petula Clark, who would openthe fete and crown the Rayon Queen.

"Girls who wanted to put in for the Rayon Queen would submit theirentries before the fete.

"There was a lot of excitement surrounding it. If someone fromDeeside where I worked was crowned, you lorded it to everyone,especially if it was someone from your department.

They took pictures and they went in, The Rayoneer, the Courtauldsmagazine."

Among other celebrities who are still remembered as VIP guests atthe Courtaulds sites in Flintshire were film stars Trevor Howardand Peter Sellers.

There were numerous social aspects to life at the factories andMargaret recalls the company being very supportive.

"We also started a choir," she recalled. "We got together and wentalong to rehearse at the Castle Works.

"It was all girls, so it became the Courtaulds Ladies Choir.

"The company paid for our uniforms and sheet music and it continuedfor a good few years."

Margaret also recalled that the factories had excellent facilitiesfor the staff.

"The factories had a canteen and also a surgery with a sister andfully registered nurses so that if anyone was unwell they could gothere," she added.

Margaret herself stayed with the company for many years, trainingin typing and shorthand and eventually moving to the company'shealth and safety offices in Coventry as a secretary in 1964. Shefinally left the company when she returned to Flintshire in 1968.

* You can hear Margaret and other former Courtaulds employeesstories in a half-hour programme, entitled Rayon Queens, part ofthe Past Master series, to be broadcast on BBC Radio Wales tonightat 9.30.

The oldest contributors began work in the 1930s and talk about thecamaraderie of the coning room.

They include the former Rayon Queen Rita Roberts (nee Jones), now89, whose father sold a cow on his farm to pay for her coronationfrock, and local historian Vicky Perfect, who describes howCourtaulds became so important to the area.

The show will also be repeated on Sunday November 2 at 2pm.

Courtaulds factfile...

* Courtaulds was established in the late 18th century when thecompany's founder, George Courtauld, returned to England fromAmerica and founded a silk, crepe and textile business at Pebmarshin Essex