My Time at Autowrappers in 1962
by Les Davison
Posted 13-07-18
I
left
school
at
Christmas
1961
and
went
for
an
interview
at
Auto
Wrappers
just
after
Christmas,
(
there
was
only
2
days
holiday
for
Christmas
at
that
time,
Christmas
Day
and
Boxing
Day)
I
was
interviewed
by
the
personnel
manager
Miss
Margaret
Burton,
and
had
to
take
a
written
test
which
was
made
up
of
about
20
mathematical
questions,
mostly
algebra
and
trigonometry
style
questions.
I
passed
this
with
flying
colours
and
was
immediately
asked
if
I
could
start
next
week
on
the
Monday,
which
was
the
1st
of
January
1962,
which
I
did.
I
started
my
Apprenticeship
in
the
Drawing
Office
for
a
couple
of
months,
printing
the
drawings,
which
I
took
over
from
Stephen
Pope,
who
then
moved
into
the
factory,
to
start
his
engineering
training.
When
I
moved
into
the
Factory
I
worked
with
George
Wigget
for
a
little
while
and
later
I
shared
a
bench
with
Dick
Gash,
our
foreman
was
Bert
Goodings.
Next
to
our
bench
was
Frank
Oakley
and
"
Fred"
Horne,
(It
was
ages
before
I
knew
your
real
name
Roderic). Opposite me and Dick in the "R " Section , building the feeders for the Roll Wrappers was Bob Bull, Paul Jarvis and Jack Hudson.
Update 10-2-19
Hi, Les. again, here,s a little story some of you lovers of fine cigars may like, (or not ).-
When
I
was
about
half
way
through
my
apprenticeship,
while
we
were
still
down
Edward
Street,about
a
year
or
so
before
we
moved
,
we
got
an
order
from
a
French
firm
to
build
a
machine
to
wrap
cigars.
Basically
it
was
just
load
the
machine
up
with
flat
boxes
and
cigars
and
the
machine would form the boxes, close the bottom then push 5 cigars into the box and seal the top.
I
was
helping
two
other
fitters
with
the
build
of
this
machine.
When
we
had
finished
building
it
,
and
it
was
time
for
trials,
the
French
firm
sent
two
big
tea
chest
size
boxes
full
of
cigars
to
test
it
with.
During
testing
quite
a
few
cigars
got
broken,
while
adjustments
were
being
made,
(and
a
few
got
burnt
up
on
the
line). Finally
when
testing
was
finished
and
the
machine
was
running
at
full
speed
with
no
problems,
we
thought,
big
share out time now.
Unfortunately
this
was
not
to
be.
Customs
and
Excise
knew
we
had
the
cigars,
and
no
duty
had
been
paid
on
them,
so
in
their
infinite
wisdom,
decided they all had to be burnt up in one go, rather than one at a time.
I
was
given
the
job
of
collecting
them
all
up,
most
of
them
loose,
but
a
lot
still
in
the
boxes
from
the
trials
,
tipping
them
into
cardboard
boxes
,
and
putting
them
into
a
wheel
barrow
and
wheeling
them
out
into
the
yard
where
there
was
an
incinerator,
an
old
oil
drum
with
holes
in
the
side, which was used to burn rubbish.
I
then
had
to
tip
them
all
into
the
incinerator
while
the
Customs
man
stood
there
watching,
with
his
clipboard
and
papers
in
his
hand, You
could
tell
by
looking
at
him
he
was
not
the
sort
of
bloke
you
could
do
a
deal
with,
like
you
take
a
few
handfuls
and
I,ll
take
a
few
for
the
men
on
the
line. When
they
were
all
burnt
up,
without
saying
much
he
just
signed
a
bit
of
paper
on
his
clipboard
to
say
they
were
all
destroyed,
and
I
had
to
sign
it
to
confirm
he
had
been
there
,and
then
he
gave
me
a
copy
for
the
firms
records
and
then
just
walked
off
up
the
road
to
a
little
van
he
had parked up there and drove off.
Les Davison