The Nostalgia column with Margaret Watson: Generations of families worked at Dewsbury’s mills

The photograph above should help because it shows the kind of people many of us grew up with – lovely families.

The Kaye family, of Thornhill Lees, in the picture, worked all their lives at Wormald and Walker’s Mill in Dewsbury.

They were typical of many families who worked in local mills, and just looking at this picture makes me smile.

Readers over the years have kindly sent me copies of the quarterly magazines this mill used to publish.

I have found them a rich source of social history because they give us glimpses into the lives of employees, their weddings, retirements, social events and sporting successes.

The mill had its own sports fields, social club, cricket teams – ladies as well as men – a drama group, a youth group and a swimming club which was given use of the First Class swimming pool at the old Dewsbury Baths.

They also held regular dances, including a Christmas and New Year’s dance, as well as a posh staff dinner, in Dewsbury Town Hall.

The company owned three large mills, Ratcliffe Mills and Dewsbury Mills, both in Thornhill Lees, and Britannia Mills in Aldams Road where B&Q now stands.

The firm exported blankets all over the world, including Northern Canada where their famous Hudson Bay blankets were snapped up by Eskimo trappers who also made them into coats.

Whole generations of local families, like the Kaye family, worked there and many met their prospective brides and bridegrooms there, and their children followed in their footsteps.

One of their most loyal workers was Harriet Westerman (nee Kaye), of Thornhill Lees, who worked at the Ratcliffe mill from leaving school at 13 until she retired in her seventies.

Her family kept safe the certificate she was given by the local education authority giving her permission to go into full-time employment when she left school in 1916 aged 13.

Most of Harriet’s sisters, brothers and cousins worked with her at the mill including Stella Long, Dick Frost, Pauline Sheard, Pearl Bloor, Ivy Bloor, Paul Kaye and Lela Dunford.

Harriet’s husband, Eli, also worked at the mill.

The company regularly gave employees special treats, like the evenings when directors took small parties for a night out in London.

They chose who would be going by putting all the works’ numbers of staff into a hat and picking out three or four.

A couple of directors would take them by train to London and then on to the Lyons Corner House cafe for tea and then to see a show at the famous London Palladium.

Former employees also recall the children’s parties, annual dances, trips to the seaside and the annual staff dinner which was attended by the directors.

The main speaker at the 1949 dinner was the company chairman, Mr P J Walker, who gave an annual update on how the company was progressing.

He gave the good news first, including news that their finest coloured Kingfisher blankets were selling well and an order for 12 had been received from the Queen of Denmark.

But, he also took that opportunity to comment on the poor time-keeping of some workers and reminded them that they worked a 45-hour week and not a 42-hour one.

He also noted that more people were “clocking-in” late in the morning and leaving work early in the evening.

It “depressed” him to see people queuing outside the watch-house up to 10 minutes before finishing time so they could leave early.

“Soon we will have new looms operating in the mills and it is only by running them to their fullest capacity that we can hope to get a return from them,” he said.

“The price of these machines is exorbitant, so we have to keep them running not 42 hours a week but 45 hours.

“It has got to be realised, as it was in the old days, that it is a crime for a machine to stand idle.

“If these looms are allowed to stand or run in the slap-happy way in which some of our younger weavers treat them, then indeed the future of weaving in our firm is in jeopardy.”

Sadly his fears for the future were eventually realised in 1983 when the mill folded and the last few hundred weavers were made redundant.

But the closure had nothing to do with poor time keeping, but competition from man-made fibres, central heating, and duvets.

However, although the looms were silenced forever in 1983, the memories of Wormald and Walker’s lives on, and will do for many years to come.

In the meantime, I would be interested to hear from former employees to record their memories and photographs.

Also, I would be grateful if Stephanie Butcher, who some years ago compiled her family tree, would kindly contact me.