Bike ride home from Ley's was a spectacle

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In the 1950s and 60s, most workers at Ley’s Malleable Castings, in Derby, travelled to work and back by bike, which led to a spectacular rush of cyclists rushing home at the end of the day. Dave Thomson, who was an apprentice at the foundry, recalls it was an even more interesting sight following Christmas revelries.

An exterior view of Ley’s Malleable Castings in Derby taken seven months before it closed, in April 1987

With Christmas just behind us, I was reminded once more of how we used to spend the last day at work, before the break, in the late 1950s and early 60s.

I worked at Ewart Chainbelt, which was part of the Ley’s foundry site, as an apprentice, at the time.

The factory was not the most luxurious of workplaces. There was no free issue of overalls or shoes, so everyone was dressed in assorted clothing.

Rats were seen on a regular basis on the shop floor. The toilets were in the yard and there was no roof on them, so you never stopped in long if the weather wasn’t kind. You also needed a long leg to prevent the door being pushed open while you were in there, as there were no locks, just folded paper jammed in the door.

Most of us mashed our tea in billy cans, bought from the Army stores.

There were three main shops at Ewart’s and, from early December, people paid into a Christmas fund for the shop fuddle.

As the money was collected, designated shop floor members started buying cans of beer and bottles of spirits for their particular shop fuddle. As the last day approached, cupboards were full of drink and food was brought in.

If Christmas Eve fell on a weekday, that was obviously our last day at work and it was always recognised that very little work was done on that day.

The staff in the offices didn’t usually venture out and the foreman also tended to remain in his office with the door firmly locked.

The pubs around the factory also used to gear up for the hour lunch-break when they would be packed solid with workers. After lunch, it was back to work to start on the fuddle, although often workers sneaked a few drinks out in the morning.

It was manic in the afternoon and, if one shop had finished their fuddle first, it was a quick visit to another area to help them finish theirs.

It was a noisy affair and became progressively more colourful as hats were donned from the crackers that had been pulled.

The staff were even more unlikely to appear in the afternoon and the foreman in each area used to keep an eye on the proceedings from within the confines of their offices.

At Ley’s and Ewart’s, the start and finish times were always signified by the sound of a large air raid warning siren. The main gates on Colombo Street were then opened once the siren had sounded.

Most employees, in those days, either walked, cycled or caught a bus to work. There were hundreds who were riding bikes, including myself, and we used to gather out of sight of the gates and wait for the siren. The last day before Christmas was viewed with interest and amusement by the householders that lived in the streets around the factory as everyone on a bike was carrying presents, food or raffle prizes on their handlebars.

Some of the bikes were festooned with Christmas decorations and many of the cyclists were wearing party hats.

As the siren sounded, hundreds clambered onto their bikes, headed through the gates, up the short hill and turned right to go down the hill towards Osmaston Road. A policeman was always positioned town side of the railway bridge to stop the traffic and allow the mass of bikes from Ley’s to turn right towards Allenton, which was up and over the bridge.

Usually the policeman on duty watched for the cyclists, who would come tearing down the hill so he could stop the traffic in advance, allowing the lads to get some speed up to help them on the incline of the bridge as they turned left.

One of my classic memories of the last day before Christmas was the year Ernie Ford, a grinder in our shop, won a cockerel in a raffle and took it home tied to his bike handlebars by its feet. The bird was not plucked or prepared in any way. Ernie was determined to be the first to the policeman and was really shifting.

The traffic had been stopped but, as he was swinging round the policeman, the cockerel’s head and neck swung into his front wheel and Ernie capitulated over the handlebars, just missing the policeman, and ended up on the pavement.

Several feet away, the cockerel was mashed into the front wheel of his bike and many other cyclists had crashed into Ernie’s. The policeman was doubled up laughing and people were applauding on the pavements, as they viewed the scene.

Even Ernie was laughing, and he was a bit battered and bruised, but he wouldn’t have felt too much because of the “medicine” he had taken during the day.

It wouldn’t be allowed to happen today because of Health and Safety rules now in place in factories – quite rightly so, too, but it is a truly wonderful memory of Christmas past that will never be repeated.

As we all had to return to work the day after Boxing Day, there was a genuine feeling of relief and happiness at not having to go through the factory gates for two days.

Most people now have more holidays and more money to spend but are they happier, I wonder? I’m not sure.

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