Oh heck i leave school tomorrow.I have to find a job,my parents tell me i can have a week off then i must get a job.
I buy an evening paper,i find a job for a third sales mens shoes Barratts.I write off for an interview.I get a reply back to go for the interview,i am just over 16 years old,i go in my school trousers,i have no decent clothes,my shoies come from Leeds market,i am sure they are made of cardboard.,I get the job,despite the trousers and shoes.
The manager sells me some decent shoes at staff discount.It is summer i am below ground it is saturday i will not be home till 18-30,i miss the World Cup,i miss Leeds Utd,i pack the job in.
I want a five day a week job,no saturdays,i apply for a stock controllers job with British Relay Park Place Leeds ,i arrive,better trousers and better shoes.I get the job.Trouble is i am also the office boy,hell i must be the oldest office boy in Yorkshire.The wage is £5-25p per week plus luncheon vouchers.
This job is moving paper about, checking stock of televisions,i am bored.
My dad is really ill,he works for himself as a painter and decorator,he needs help,he can pay me more,i jump at the chance.We work in some very nice houses he has a good name in Leeds,we are never short of work,till xmas 1971,we finish a large kitchen in Headingley,the profit is £27 three of us share £9 each.
I say this is not enough ,this is xmas week this could have been my only income had i been married,not enough to buy food and presents.
Jan 1972 i join the post office,i go to my nearest delivery office for training after passing out in Leeds sorting office.
This is a great job,six weeks paid holidays,up early finished by dinner time,meet some great older blokes ex forces.I am sick and holiday substitute one walk is East Keswick village.Total number of bundles of mail to deliver is about six,not bags ,bundles of letters.I am being paid to walk about in the countryside,this is heaven.
It is 1983 i have a family i need more money so i go into town Leeds sorting office ,Wellington Street.I have fallen on my feet,one hour for lunch in a canteen cheap food,half an hour for breakfast.Easy work ,i meet some great blokes.I try out for phg at Leeds 7 delivery office,oh the job gets better,fantastic gaffer Albert Portway this man is an angel,the staff love him.Best times of my life.
Things begin to change we have to leave the delivery office as they split the work into three seperate parts,collection driving,distribution sorting and delivery work.but it's still good,then comes 1999 we go to Stourton a new but turns out to be crap office.By 2004 i have had enough first lot of vol redundacy gets offered i just miss out,it goes to 2006 and 28 more staff are offered vol redundancy,i am number 3 on the list,i leave with a lump sum tax free and my pension i am 56.
It is now week commencing sunday 2nd June,on monday i did 38 miles on my mtb to Bingley five rise locks yesterday i finished up at Boroughbridge.
It is the 6/6/2013 tomorrow i have been left school 47 years,hey it's not been bad.
I buy an evening paper,i find a job for a third sales mens shoes Barratts.I write off for an interview.I get a reply back to go for the interview,i am just over 16 years old,i go in my school trousers,i have no decent clothes,my shoies come from Leeds market,i am sure they are made of cardboard.,I get the job,despite the trousers and shoes.
The manager sells me some decent shoes at staff discount.It is summer i am below ground it is saturday i will not be home till 18-30,i miss the World Cup,i miss Leeds Utd,i pack the job in.
I want a five day a week job,no saturdays,i apply for a stock controllers job with British Relay Park Place Leeds ,i arrive,better trousers and better shoes.I get the job.Trouble is i am also the office boy,hell i must be the oldest office boy in Yorkshire.The wage is £5-25p per week plus luncheon vouchers.
This job is moving paper about, checking stock of televisions,i am bored.
My dad is really ill,he works for himself as a painter and decorator,he needs help,he can pay me more,i jump at the chance.We work in some very nice houses he has a good name in Leeds,we are never short of work,till xmas 1971,we finish a large kitchen in Headingley,the profit is £27 three of us share £9 each.
I say this is not enough ,this is xmas week this could have been my only income had i been married,not enough to buy food and presents.
Jan 1972 i join the post office,i go to my nearest delivery office for training after passing out in Leeds sorting office.
This is a great job,six weeks paid holidays,up early finished by dinner time,meet some great older blokes ex forces.I am sick and holiday substitute one walk is East Keswick village.Total number of bundles of mail to deliver is about six,not bags ,bundles of letters.I am being paid to walk about in the countryside,this is heaven.
It is 1983 i have a family i need more money so i go into town Leeds sorting office ,Wellington Street.I have fallen on my feet,one hour for lunch in a canteen cheap food,half an hour for breakfast.Easy work ,i meet some great blokes.I try out for phg at Leeds 7 delivery office,oh the job gets better,fantastic gaffer Albert Portway this man is an angel,the staff love him.Best times of my life.
Things begin to change we have to leave the delivery office as they split the work into three seperate parts,collection driving,distribution sorting and delivery work.but it's still good,then comes 1999 we go to Stourton a new but turns out to be crap office.By 2004 i have had enough first lot of vol redundacy gets offered i just miss out,it goes to 2006 and 28 more staff are offered vol redundancy,i am number 3 on the list,i leave with a lump sum tax free and my pension i am 56.
It is now week commencing sunday 2nd June,on monday i did 38 miles on my mtb to Bingley five rise locks yesterday i finished up at Boroughbridge.
It is the 6/6/2013 tomorrow i have been left school 47 years,hey it's not been bad.
