Olive Connor interview by Jo Bath

Oral history interview with Olive Connor, conducted and recorded by Jo Bath in 2004, as part of the Time Track oral history collecting initiative. Duration: 1 hour 3 minutes. Childhood, born in New Shildon in 1921, school in Shildon; Work, farm work in Piercebridge, return to Shildon where remained; [00:02:15] 1926 General Strike, father’s work during strike as boiler man, breaking wagons, tiredness; [00:05:10] father’s work in wheel gang, incident story; [00:06:50] memories of Shildon Works men; walking speed, meeting father at Works gate, streets of houses round the Works; [00:09:00] move to British Rail house; house description, questions why demolished?; [00:10:00] mother and fortune tellers, fortune teller’s house, weekly visit; [00:12:30] summer holiday, Piercebridge Farm; food eaten in childhood, ate well, father had a garden and hens; [00:14:10] work following farm work; live-in house maid for dentist with 4 children, then housekeeper (8 years), married dentist at age 24; [00:16:00] married life for 27 years, age difference; Second World War, called to help, excused her for childcare purposes, children’s life details; having a secret wedding; [00:20:40] father, member of Working Men’s Club, Sunday School teacher, pigeon fancier, father singing; [00:22:50] eldest brother electrician at Shildon Shops, started in “dipping shed”, then office work, night school leading to becoming an electrician; [00:24:00] other brother failed to get into Works, became a plumber, Navy in Second World War, post war worked at Darlington Rolling Mills until retirement; [00:26:00] further household details when married, large house, garden, livestock, fruit trees; [00:27:00] Second World War, almost self-sufficient, Shildon plane crash, air raid shelter, tunnel under house; [00:31:10] pits in Shildon, only work choice was pits or Shildon Shops; [00:32:10] work for women, little except housework, few women worked until WWII, work at the church; [00:33:20] sewing, sewing class, sewing for four children, knitting during the war; [00:36:30] Health Care memories; Senna Pod “memories”, generally healthy family, whooping cough, Hannah Hauxwell story; [00:41:00] dental work experience, helped in 1960’s, paperwork, workshop, surgery; [00:43:10] activities in spare time, church group, little social life, group day trips; [00:45:00] 1975 celebrations, Stockton and Darlington 150th anniversary, cavalcade, watched from street, Locomotion building; [00:48:50] visits to Shildon Railway Works open days; 1927 walking through Royal Train, visit to Locomotion (pre-opening), no memories of 1950 anniversary; [00:52:40] Shildon Agricultural Show, large famous event, lots of visitors; [00:53:30] Shildon Carnival, jazz bands, decline; [00:54:30] crafting, lots of brass in Shildon, made in Shildon Shops, mat making; [00:59:00] extreme weather, heavy snow events [01:03:22] [end of interview]

Time Tracks, Shildon Railway Village Community Project was an initiative funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund that encouraged members of the public to bring photographs and documents at Locomotion to form a community archive, when Locomotion museum was opened in Shildon, 2004. Over 50 oral history interviews were also recorded with members of the community. They shared their memories of Shildon as they knew it in their childhood and throughout their lives, from as early as the 1920s, as well as their work experiences in local factories and industries, including Shildon railway works.