by oldun » Tue Jul 29, 2014 8:32 am
My Uncle Shadey (Shadrack) Westwood and my cousin Goff(Godfrey) Westwood, both worked in the glassworks of Stevens and Williams in North Street, Brierley Hill when they left school at 14. Both worked there all of their lives. Uncle Shade only had time off to help with winning the War to end all Wars WW1. When he came out he married my Aunty Vi Randle . He'd cry out in his sleep, 'oh the poor buggers, they're only kids'. This was regarding the German 'soldiers' who probably weren't a lot older than themselves, but were sent into battle. Uncle Shade had shrapnel in him that stayed with him all of his life. He would take cold tea to work at 6am until 2pm and in the early days the knocker up would wake him for work. The knocker up, had a long pole and he'd tap on the window. His cheeks were quite 'baggy' and sunken from blowing glass. On youtube you can see a film called 'the Crystal Makers' ]showing him and Goff amongst others at Stevens and Williams working in the glass cone. Uncle Shade pre marriage lived in the 'foad' call Virgins End, next to the Baptist Church in South Street and they were a big family. When he married my Aunty Vi they lived with her parents in South Street, just a few houses down on the opposite side. It was a nine roomed house so there was plenty of room. He'd written to her when he was in the trenches as he didn't know anyone else and romance blossomed. There was a drive next to their house which led up to a big house know as 'Mullets' and on the other side of the drive were small houses and in the one on the end lived a family called Mallen. It was slightly raised with a wall you could lean on from the house yard and watch people walk by or throw a handful of soil on the chaps as they walked by chomping on their chips. My mother was a tomboy.
Last bumped by oldun on Tue Jul 29, 2014 8:32 am.
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