“No Pot No Mash”: A Day in the Life

There’s only one way to learn a new trade here at Sunny Banks Mills, and that’s to watch and do. It’s half past seven when we start and you’ll have to keep going for nine hours; bored stiff you’ll be, but you’ll get there soon enough, once you get the ropes, you’ll be one of us.

You’re due down at the main shed, working with the foreman for now, best hurry up. There’s a red light on the wooden gate, be through it and ready to start before it shines or you’ll be sorry. And don’t try to do what our Barry did and get stuck on the spikes, nine feet he hung in the air waiting for a weaver to unhook him – still had his pay docked of course, the foreman caught him red-handed, although I suppose the lads had a good laugh watching him creep through the main shed.

We’ll start with the easy job, the foreman’s got his tickets and you’re going to help him. The cottons and silks are all stored in the boxes downstairs, of course, you’re not having it easy, they’ll not hear ‘get me the reds’, it’ll all be numbered. And don’t forget they change in thickness too. Now he wants two twenty-twos and two twenty-sixes and two forty-eights, can you remember all that? It’ll be easier once you properly get to know them, you’ll know what colour to look for soon enough. Later, you’ll join the men on the loom, but there’s ten different colours, all different patterns and stripes and checks, so it’s going to be slow learning. That’s why you apprentice for five years.

Now, there ain’t much health and safety here, no ear plugs or glasses or anything like that, just be careful with your tie on the machines, the old belts up on the top floor, old fashioned things now, they’ll pull. So just be careful. The one rule you must stick to is there’s no smoking here in the department. Go outside or to the toilets but not here. We don’t want you sacked on your first day, the risk of fire is too great.

Lunch, now that’s a good time for a smoke. Though you are being an apprentice and all, you’ll oversee the tea tray. There’s a boiler now, in the main shed, but you have to get a tray and put all the pots on it and go down the lift. You’ll go through mending and walk to the boiler at the end of the shed, fill up the pots and make your way back. Make sure not to jolt the tray too much. You don’t want the teas swirling so hard you get tea in the coffee or Bovril in the tea. You’ll get belted by the men on the loom if you get Bovril in their tea. Of course, only the men who brought their pots get their tea, ‘no pot no mash.’ You remember that you only have ten minutes to trail down there.

You can go to the canteen for your lunch, if your house is too far after you’ve done the pots. It’s quite good on a Friday, it being fish day, but you’ll have a sandwich most of the time. Tea, sandwich and a smoke. That’s what I call a good lunch. You just go back in time. The owner, Alf Gaunt, Mr Gaunt to you, will do his second round of the mill in the afternoon and you don’t want to be the one chap to not say hello when he gets here.

As your first day comes to an end, remember this: this mill is one of the best in the world. Learn the ropes here, and you can work anywhere. You may feel like just one cog in the machine but this place is full of characters – strong, sentimental, mischievous and everything in between. There’s a real mix of people here, and now you’re one of us. We share one common purpose: to work here, and to work well.

Thanks to:  Laura Barnes

Digital Heros Volunteer working in collaboration with Heritage Network

https://www.heritagenetwork.org.uk/

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