Norna Clarke
from Thurso.
Posted 13 Mar 2002.
I started work as a short hand typist. My starting wages were 25 shillings a week which was considered a very good wage being 5 -10 shillings more than my peers made.
The hours were nine in the morning to five at night, with a happy working atmosphere where I made some very good friends. It was always male management, all the heads of department. It would never have been considered to have a woman in charge. In fact it wasnÂ’t until war started that girls were trained to take over clerical jobs.
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Moira Eicholtz
from Australia.
Posted 12 Apr 2002.
I was a tracer (i.e. I copied draughtsmen's drawings onto a special linen for reprinting and long time storage) at the firm A. & P. Stevens which built elevators. It was in St. James Road, Glasgow. I worked there from the time I was 15 until I left 9 years later to go to Australia. The building is still there but the works has long gone. I didn't travel very far from home which was in Couper St (mostly gone). I went first to St. David's School (gone) then next door to City Public Senior Secondary (used for other purposes now) then next door again to A. & P. Stevens. I don't remember what I earned when I first started but at the height of my earning power it was no more than nine pounds, of which I gave my mother three pounds for my board and keep.
