Sound Recordings, Bedfordshire

Description

The first two [?radio broadcast] recordings on this tape relate to working and community life in Luton. The first, with an introduction by Ron Hall and possibly recorded in the late 1950s, is entitled 'The Luton Hat Trade'. A Mr. Freeman (curator at Luton Museum) talks about straw dealers and the selection of straw; the sale of straw to plaiters; describes and demonstrates the plaiters' work of sorting straw; bleaching and dying; plaiting technique; Luton Plait Market; seasonal nature of the plait trade; plaiters' pay; plaiting schools in Luton and south Bedfordshire villages; splitting straw to make a finer plait; plaiters' tools; hat trade and foreign competition; growth of trade and Luton; Mrs. Keysham and one other female informant talk about the hat trade and straw work in Luton; plaiting in villages and selling to merchants at Plait Hall; taking in warehouses; prices paid for finished items; time taken to hand sew a hat; poverty in Luton; old Luton community; grandmother's cooking;
childhood; sweets; female informant [?Mrs. Hoyle] talks about hat making, and their transportation by rail for sale in other towns; Fred Whittaker talks about days off for hat workers; sewing machines; workers (known as stiffeners, blockers); Lawrence Bushby, blockmaker, talks about making blocks - the wood used, process, patterns, tools, decline of skilled workers and the rise in machine block-making; Fred Whittaker talks about hat trade workers, London employers and their treatment of Luton workers; the poaching of trade secrets from other towns; Mrs. Hoyle talks about plaits and plaiters; Lawrence Bushby talks about and describes a riding hat; Mrs. Reid refers to felt hat making; Mrs. Keysham talks about [Luton] market and fair. [Tr. 1]


The second recording, also possibly a radio broadcast from the late 1950s and devised by Ron Hall, concerns the Luton Riots and Town Hall fire of 1919. Begins with the reading of contemporary news articles on the riots; background to the riots - the homecoming of servicemen who served in World War One, and the Council's refusal to allow unofficial celebrations in a local park; the Peace March; Mayor's reading of the King's message; crowd reactions; attack on the Town Hall; male and female informants relate their recollections of events; description of the rioting; fire-setting and the spread of fire throughout the Town Hall; arrival of the fire brigade and the crowd's reactions; the reading of the Riot Act; police presence; looting; troops brought in; rumours relating to the riots; postponement of official celebrations. [Tr. 2]


[Collector announcement]; Frank Horsler, recorded in Sundon on the 24 May 1975; gives biographical details; life in Sundon; joining the Army( Bedfordshire Regiment) in 1917; working life, including engineering, piece work in the hat trade, labouring and carpentry; father's career; grandparents; making straw hats; splitting straw and tools required; hatmaking seasons; Hudson's hat factory; West Hydraulics (later Vauxhall Motors); engineering workshops, starting wages and working days/week; seeing his first car; use of steam engines in farming; Works cricket team; collecting birds' eggs. [Tr. 3]


Fred Day, recorded in Turvey in 1961; talks about modern farming methods; farm mechanisation; artificial fertilizers; decline in traditional farming skills (hedgemaking); modern farm employees and pay; specialist workers, roaming men, of the past; notion of the good old days; rural hardships; standard of living; farmer/labourer relationships; harvest time pay; working clothes; Sunday clothes and chapel attendance; pew rents; food; pig keeping; gleaning for flour; Turvey residents remembered; the village and changes; the future of farming; return of some land to pasture following compulsory ploughing during World War Two; market gardening; village life and changes; cost of living; pubs and beer; discussion of tape machine and recording; village entertainments; visiting preacher; the Parson and his character. [Tr. 4]


John Franklin, recorded in Carlton; talks about building a haystack, with a detailed description of its thatching; thatcher's protective clothing, pay, tools and equipment; thatching a round stack; learning the craft; the decline in thatching and the number of skilled thatchers; describes stack building technique; talks about hedge laying and tools used; farm mechanisation; farming with horses; artificial fertilizers; weekly pay as a boy; sheep driving; pasture and ploughed land (post-World War Two); soil type; conversation, including Mr. Franklin's daughter Mrs. E. Pettit, concerning farming life, pay, father's work on a farm. [Tr. 1]


Mr. W. G. Howe and his wife Mrs. Howe, recorded in Carlton in 1962; Mr. Howe talks about starting work as a boy (farm work, with horses); entertainments - football, bird catching, cards, dominoes; the working day; pig keeping; the village and influx of new residents; impact of transport and increased mobility; decline in agricultural employment, and skills connected with traditional farming. [Tr. 2]


Tape 8. [8 of 8].

Provenance

Tape box labelled Ron Hall's programmes.

Access and usage

Reproduction

Access

This material has not yet been assessed under Data Protection and/or other relevant legislation that may limit the access that can be provided. Cultural Collections staff will need to review the material before the access level(s) can be determined. Limits on access may include items being closed, being only available for viewing onsite and/or limitations on copying or photography.

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Physical and technical conditions

9.5cm/sec. All recordings made on the right-hand track. Low recording levels. Adjusted on AC copy. Oxide layer missing in places.

Related material

The collector's lists of informants and interview locations, and correspondence between Bedfordshire County Record Office and the University of Leeds relating to the sound recordings and their deposit, are held in file LAVC/SRE/ARI/058.

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