I think the jobs in the upper echelons barely touched Keighley. The order of jobs only began with doctors, teachers, bank managers, then moved downwards. I think that in my family, which was definitely working-class, any job in which you didn't wear blue overalls or get your hands dirty was considered a cut above what most people in our street did. One young woman was a dentist's receptionist and she was thought to have a 'reight good job', as was being a secretary, working in a bank or an office, being 'one of't bosses at Trico', and so on. Expectations were low because of the nature of the town, it was still very much factory-based, with very many of the relatively few 'white-collar' jobs being direct or indirect spin-offs from that. What do people now work at in Keighley, I wonder?

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Current location (optional) Keswick, Cumbria

I don't think any particular social order would have occurred to my parents. They were working class, both left school at 14 and knew "their place" in Society. I am enclosing a small piece from my own "Aussie Memoirs" which I think illustrates the thinking of people of our parents vintage. Just to fill in gaps, I left home for Aussie with my parents blessing at the age of 17 looking for a better way of life than I could foresee in post war Yorkshire, rightly or wrongly. They followed me out with my siblings as assisted migrants about 18 months later in 1955. The following clearly illustrates how my dad thought. I had arranged for them to transfer their funds to a local bank in Geelong, by this time I was 19. Here we go-----------



I am going to relate an incident now which will illustrate the difference in attitudes between England and Australia in those days, and also how much I had developed in the 18 months I had been in Geelong. When dad and I went to visit the bank there was a short queue at the enquiry counter. We waited our turn and as the person in front of us finished and turned away, I stepped forward and said something like “right dad, it’s our turn.” Unbeknown to me, dad had stepped back to let a chap in a suit and tie go first. When I turned around and realised what was happening, I said to dad, “come on, it’s our turn now.” We finished our business and when we got outside dad said to me “don’t you ever do that to me again.” A bit bemused I had to ask “what have I done?” “You know, you embarrassed me in there when you stepped in front of that chap in the suit.” Then I realised where dad was coming from. I said to him “dad, you are in Australia now, it was OUR turn. Because he was wearing a suit it doesn’t give him priority over us.” In fact, I was also wearing a suit but that didn’t register with dad. We were still a working class family and someone wearing a suit was management or better off than us.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1947-51

Current location (optional) Orewa, NZ

Bill, that sounds very much like gut acceptance of a particular social order to me; the one your dad had recently left behind in Yorkshire. I sincerely hope he lived long enough to realise, as you had, that Australia was offering something quite different.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Current location (optional) Keswick, Cumbria

Hi Doug. Thankfully he did live another 22 years down under and loved it and never regretted the move. He always accepted being a working class lad, but I know that quietly, he was very proud of how I got on in life. He found it hard to believe though, that his eldest son was on first name basis with a PM in NZ, who was a real working class chap who not only built his own house, he moulded and made the bricks to build it with. That was Norman Kirk of course. I remember saying to someone at the time, mid 70s, that only in NZ could it happen when I answered the phone in my office to hear voice "that you Bill, Norman Kirk here" etc etc. He was a champion bloke. Cheers.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1947-51

Current location (optional) Orewa, NZ

Doug - you were wondering what folk work at in Keighley nowadays. Well, yesterday I was driving from Edinburgh to Fife and found myself behind a lorry emblazoned with the legend 'Intelligent Logistics of Keighley'. So there's your answer. Intelligent Logistics - t'thinkin man's wagons!

Well, Allan, that reminds me that once or twice, recently, when driving through Keighley, I've found myself behind a wagon which tells us: 'From Yorkshire - supplying the whole of London'! So, far from what I expected, it does seem that t'owd place 'as really gone up i't'world. And we shouldn't forget 'Taylor's for Men of the Planet' at this juncture, either!

Doug

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Current location (optional) Keswick, Cumbria