Alan Cartwright |
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Surname
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Cartwright
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Forename
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Alan
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Date of recording
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Nov 2012
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Year of birth
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1948
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Place of Birth
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Gateshead
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Occupation
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Carpenter
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Fathers occupation
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Soldier and coppersmith
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Present Address
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Aldeburgh
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Location Interview
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Aldeburgh
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Summary |
Duration
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180 Mins
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No of tracks: 16
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Track 1 (12 mins 40 secs)
Born 1948, Gateshead. Father a regular soldier. 51 Fairfield Road. Unmade road. Shelley Ward the cobbler. Marbles. Brothers. Linden Close before development in 1950’s. Family picnic. Collecting pine cones. 1950’s council house. Father a copper-smith in Gateshead. Father a sergeant major in Engineers Regiment. World War Two army service in India. Strict discipline at home. Respect for adults. Birth of younger brother. Mrs Cooney, volunteer midwife. Boyhood friends. Children’s games in 1950’s: ‘Tin-Tickle-Lurky’; ‘Twenty Flashes’. Buzzy witches. The lifeboat buoy. Landing the lifeboat. Playing in Chestnut Wood. Games of dare. Playing outside as a boy. Canoeing. Fishing in ditches. Track 2 (9 mins) Fishing in ditches. Playing by railway line. The railway. The steam train. Playing in Martello Tower. Catapult fights. Playing on the marsh. Mr Hallas. Town dump. Dustcart. Claude Chase. Somerville’s farm (Church Farm). Boys’ Brigade summer camps. Circus in Aldeburgh. The King’s Field (The Cricket Marsh). Percy Marjoram. Fish-and-chips. Grandparents. Leiston Works. Uncle Norbert. Aldeburgh’s dirt roads. Slaughtering pigs. Football using a pig’s bladder. Delivery by the milk cart, 1918. Candle light and gas light. Biking and walking to Leiston works. Track 3 (12 mins 40 secs) Leiston Works. Father’s work. USAF Bentwaters. Biking to work. Parents meet during World War Two. Wartime wedding. Father demobbed. Post-war married life. Aldeburgh Primary School: Barbara Brooke, a good Head. School photos. The Lily Pond. Bluebell Wood. Teachers – Mr Marfleet, Mr Cooper, Mrs Ratcliffe. School dinners. Playground accident. Mr Grimwood. Jack Vincent, caretaker. Christmas parties. Country dancing. Christmas in Aldeburgh. High Street car parking. Keith Cable, Father Christmas. Carnival. Bert Stocks’ funfair. Dr Nora Acheson. Wild West rodeo in Aldeburgh. American airmen. Track 4 (12 mins) Their Catholic religion. Church attendance. Changing to Church of England. Delivery boy for Mr Hallas and Baggott’s. Shops in the 1950’s. The coal office. Freddy Wharton’s shop. The Station Corner. Blackberrying. Gathering water cress. The town dump. Felix Thorpe’s paraffin business. Paraffin room heaters. The beach. Swimming. Fishermen. Sprats. Herring. Cod. George Constance. Transporting fish. Sea fishing from beach. Butt-lines. Dabs. Whiting. Lug-worm. Changing beach level. Track 5 (12 mins) Changing beach. Lifeboat slipway. Lifeboat launches. Hector Burrell. Christmas launch to the lighthouse. Lifeboatmen and beach crew. 1953 flood. Local policemen. Sergeant Bird. Respect. The steam train. Aldeburgh railway station. Home deliveries. Travelling to school. Cigarettes. Sweets. Benjamin Britten. Aldeburgh Festival. Local stage-hands. Snape Maltings fire. Doctors’ surgery in Lee Road. Track 6 (12 mins) Ipswich Hospital in-patient. The Odd Fellows. The British Legion Hall. Children’s outing to Felixstowe. Shelly Ward the cobbler. Aldeburgh Primary School. The 11-Plus. Leiston Secondary Modern School. Leiston Grammar School. School punishments. Career choices. Track 7 (12 mins) Career choices. Apprentice carpenter and joiner at Reade’s. Reade’s workshops and offices. The carpenters’ shop. Buying his tools. Using the tools. Pride in tools. Learning to use tools. Timber. Tea breaks. Day-to-day life recorded in drawings by workmen. Fitted kitchens. Flush doors. Church doors. Track 8 (12 mins) Reade’s wonderful tradesmen. What they made in the workshop. Apprentices out on the building sites. Carrying timber on bike and hand-cart. Roof work. Master and boy. Building site stories. Mistakes by apprentices. Characters on Reade’s. A brilliant craftsman. A hard taskmaster. Setting out roofs. Tea breaks. Tidy sites, taking care. No pressure at work. Reade’s had all trades to build house. Reade’s a wonderful place to work. Track 9 (12 mins) Roy Catchpole, skilled craftsman. Bert Kemp. Pay day. Fear of the foreman. Big change in building trade; sub-contractors. Falling standards of work. The Martello Tower. Track 10 (12 mins) Apprentice boys’ practical jokes. Changes for apprentices. Christmas on Reade’s. Lots of men in workshop. A good apprenticeship, Good work. Jobbing carpenters. Sent out onto the sites. Development of Linden Close. The council houses. Practical jokes. Kenny Unsworth, vegetable salesman. Willy Stowe, vegetable salesman. Track 11 (12 mins) Building site stories. Lenny Edmunds’ home-made violins. Site toilet. Health and safety. Reade’s Christmas parties. The firm’s outings and photos. The office staff. The firm’s hierarchy. Aldeburgh Young People’s Club. Watson’s garage. Skiffle band. The Louvre, Atkinson’s clothes shop. The Gaumont, Ipswich. Jubilee Hall dances. Alcohol. Aldeburgh Black Horse. Track 12 (12 mins) Saturday night dances. Meeting Karen, his wife. The White Lion. Karen’s catering career. Marriage. Renting a house from Mr Tuohy. Alan’s self-build Colt bungalow. The Plantation. Aldeburgh Borough Council mortgage. Council offices. In the fire service. Chimney fires. Fire station stories. Track 13 (12 mins) Fire station stories. Fire Service equipment and training. Female fire-person. Fire Service colleagues and comrades. Home Office requirements. Treatment of females. Lunch with the Queen. Long service medal. CPR. Track 14 (12 mins) Fire fatalities. Bee-keeping. Ferreting. Snowden’s Farm, Leiston. Rabbiting. Track 15 (12 mins) Killing a rabbit. Road-kill. Breeding ferrets. Karate. The Plantation. Council housing. Leaving Reade’s. Shuttering carpenter. Building Sizewell ‘B’. Blacburns the builders. Bentwaters USAF base nuclear-proof shelters. Faircloughs the builders. Farlingaye school. Alan a general foreman. Self-employed carpenter. Track 16 (2 mins) Harvey’s wet fish shop in Aldeburgh High Street. Reflection – fortunate in his family life. |