Why I had the Co-op bakery to thank for putting me on the right track to work

IT was in June 1961 that I completed my A-levels and then had the usual long wait to find out what my results envelope had in store for me. First I had to decide what to do with myself during that long wait until the middle of August. Some of my mates had money from parents, and I still had a paper round, but not the sort of funds needed for a desired trip to Butlins before the day of reckoning.

I knew I needed to get my hands on a decent amount of cash and I knew the means of doing this had to be legal.

A proper job was the answer and a visit to the jobs vacancies in the Friday local paper seemed like a good start. Most adverts were looking for qualifications or experience and did not seem to need the likes of me who wanted about 10 weeks work before I got my exam results.

That was until I found an advert for a job in the Co-op bakery that did not want experience at all.

The phone call I made only wanted to know if I was over 18 and could therefore legally do night shifts. I was told the work was simple, and they did not mind if I just wanted employment during the holiday period when cover was needed.

The job involved six shifts a week and I was given a start the following Sunday on my first week of nights. Picking up the loaves of bread as they came down to the ground floor from the ovens upstairs was hardly a brain tester – but you could burn your hands if you did not wear cotton gloves. The nightshifts were hardly exciting as each night all I did was place the hot loaves in the trays to cool ready to be sliced.

The following week I was on day shifts and these only involved occasional relief to the ladies who on days looked after the hot bread.

I was now on general duties and this included working the bread slicing machines. I did have some skills with mechanics, and I was soon offered the task of changing the blades on the slicing machines. This was apparently a skilled job and paid more per hour.

My first pay packet was breathtaking, with a substantial sum, given I was yet to pay tax. Nightshifts had a shift premium as did all Sundays, and the work on the bread machines paid well.

It was soon apparent that I had a good amount of immediate spending money as well as some funds for my planned relaxation at Butlins.

I was sure I did not want this job permanently, but then my exam results arrived and I am afraid they were not as good as either me or my school expected.

I had a scholarship to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough awarded to me, but this was going to need some repeat of A-levels. The school liked this idea, but I was not so sure. Despite the fact that my scholarship was capable of a one year deferment, the idea of studying with the previous year’s lower sixth did not appeal.

It was my Scout leader who suggested the railway and a civil engineering studentship and the idea was attractive.

Sadly the salary wasn’t! To start with it would be hardly £5 weekly and would not even have doubled after five years. Initially, I declined this training role, but then had the sense to return to the bakery and ask if I could work casual shifts at weekends without telling them I really wanted the arrangement for a number of years. Luckily they agreed.

It was 60 years to the day since I started that railway studentship, and I have the Co-op bakery to thank for making it financially possible.