The reason for this article was initially as a response to someone on a forum who insisted that as a result of the 1944 Education Act, every child left school at 15 or later because 15 was the school leaving. This was rarely the case because for many years post war industry demanded workers and teenagers were available.
I discussed this with a few friends from the same generation and they all agreed that it was not unusual for people to leave school as soon as a job came up. Michael, left school at 13 when an apprenticeship became available at a local printers. James worked increasingly in the family funeral business and became full time by the time he was 14. The education system recognised the sense in it.
It was Monday 12th June 19xx and I was 14 years old. I walked from Temple Meads Station and arrived here, Broad Quay just after 8. This is an older photo because there was another office/warehouse building to the left of the one in the picture. I was paid £4 - 1s - 6d per week.
To get this job required that I attended an interview and I had to prove I was reasonably literate, as did almost everyone applying for a job at that time. My literacy test required me to write a thousand word review of a book I had recently read. I chose to write about Jack London's White Fang.
I had a range of duties. From 8:30 I worked in the post room helping sort the post and then delivering it to the various departments and managers. All the senior managers would also receive a Financial Times which they used to check commodity prices. Towards the end of the day I would be responsible for franking outgoing mail then taking it across the road to the Post Office.
During the lift operator's lunchtime I would operate the Executive lift which was just up some steps after you passed the doorkeeper. Both these men wore a uniform but I didn't have one for my one hour stint. The lift wasn't automatic and you had to respond to calls and take people to the floor they wanted. This lift was for important people. Everyone else used the door and the automatic lift in the other building. Everyone, without fail, felt the need to comment, "I suppose this job has it's ups and downs."
My main job was assisting with the warehousing and movement of stock samples at Broad Quay and sometimes working in the main warehouse near Old Market.
Some of the managers liked to tell you about what they did. On one occasion I had to deliver some marmalade to a manager. He held up two jars and said, "what's the difference?"
"One's darker than the other," I replied.
"But do you know why," he asked.
I didn't and he explained that the lighter one was made with whole oranges including the juice while the other was just pulp after the juice was removed.
Another manager showed me the commodity prices in the Financial Times. "This is how we make sure we're charging the right price for things like sugar in the shops," he said.
Outside the door at the Broad Quay building in the evening was a newspaper seller selling the Evening Post. He wore a flat cap and a duffle coat tied around the middle with string. I assumed he was very poor. One evening I was late leaving work. I bought a paper and the newspaper seller offered me a lift home. We walked round the corner and I had a ride in an Armstrong Siddley. It transpired that his family owned several newsagents shops and he was quite well off. He had worked the Broad Quay pitch for 30 years. He pointed out that you probably would not sell as many newspapers wearing a 3 piece suit..
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