Category:Work

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'I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it,' former US president Thomas Jefferson once said. Certainly, industry has played a key part in the prosperity of Derbyshire, from the engines of Rolls-Royce and the railways that have kept the wheels of the local economy turning round to the manufacture of fine china and pottery which the county is famous for throughout the world.

And there’s plenty of evidence of the work ethic that drove Jefferson to be successful. In this section, you can read stories of people who dedicated their working lives to one company, others who grafted a living for years in the harsh conditions of mines now long gone, and men and women who even found time for romance in between shifts.

Other categories: Famous Residents Places Eras Sport Leisure Transport Education

1

• 100 Years Since Rolls and Royce Plumped for Derby

A

• A way of life that has gone
• Abba tunes kept Slix chicks’ sewing machines whirring
• Abbey Taxis: Working for taxi man Jack was an experience
• Andrew Handyside and Company
• Associated Northcliffe Digital
• Austin Hodgkinson - Old-fashioned service with a smile
• Auxiliary Fire Service

B

• Baby lambs came in fives in Spring of '88
• Barlow Taylor and Co: Fun time as a junior at Barlow Taylor in 1950s
• Barnes, Harold - from used car salesman to MD
• Bath Street Mill: Fate of historic mill is to go under hammer
• Bemrose And Sons: In the grip of the iron lady
• Bemrose Shoes - Anyone remember the X-ray machine?
• Bemrose and Ling: Solicitors mark 70 years' service
• Bemrose and Sons: Childish Destruction of Loo Rolls
• Bike ride home from Ley's was a spectacle
• Birds the confectioners
• Birkin lace factory welcomes The People's Princess
• Board's: Buxton and High Peak in the frame
• Bottlers of the Best
• Brave old engineer probably saved our lives at Fletcher’s
• Brewed to Perfection - Derby Tea
• Brewery worker worked with SAS sending coded messages from a candlelit Greek cavern
• Brownsword's: Derby watchmakers crafted beautiful silver timepieces
• Burnaston airfield: Working at "Derby" Airport was a labour of love
• Burrows & Sturgess - Did they invent 'Iron Brew'
• Burrows and Sturgess - Did They Invent Iron Brew?
• Butler's Stationers - From Gloy paste to Basildon Bond
• Butterley Engineering: Built like a giant Meccano set

C

• Celanese
• Central Educational - Not as boring a shop as it sounded!
• Chimney sweep: Killed in chimney for tuppence a week
• Christmas truce when old Waxie helped us meet football heroes
• Cobblers: Did you know the Crewe Street Cobbler?
• Colourful memories of a rookie Derby PC
• Compositor: Laying foundations for the laptop generation
• Core Design
• Cosmetics: A thing of beauty is a joy forever
• Cox & Bowring - A lost Derby company
• Cox & Bowring - A lost Derby firm
• Crash put Rolls-Royce on a new flight path to success
• Cresswell Colliery: Eighty men entombed in coal mine

D

• DRI
• DRI: Happy days as a friend of the DRI
• DSD Slater Ltd: So many of the city's small shops have gone
• Denby Pottery
• Derby City General Hospital: Helping the City Hospital for half a century
• Derby City General Hospital: The day a trainee nurse rode her bicycle down the hospital corridor – for a dare
• Derby Daily Telegraph town’s first evening paper – by 20 minutes!
• Derby Gas Light and Coke Company
• Derby Gas Light and Coke Company: Milestone for a woman in a man's world
• Derby Livestock Markets - A Brief History
• Derby Telegraph
• Derby's oldest travel agency organised trips on first trains, then boats and then planes

D cont.

• Derby's queen of hats
• Derbyshire Children’s Hospital: Holly, flowers and drivers were first gifts
• Derbyshire Police: Lucky escape as crusher cliff destroys homes
• Derbyshire Royal Infirmary: A friend in need is a friend IS A FRIEND INDEED
• Derwent Valley Mills

E

• E W Grimes And Co Ltd: Granddaughter loved the shop
• E W Grimes And Co Ltd: Grimes was the last of its kind

F

• F W Hampshires: Sugar dust, fish glue and grease
• Factory noise terrified young Lorna
• Farewell to Cardinal Square
• Fire Service: Fighting fires at British Celanese
• Fire service: Celanese fireman for 40 years
• Fire service: Magical dance treat lit up night at fire station
• First World War misery inspired injured soldier to become a doctor, easing the suffering of thousands
• First job in 1938 was in Derby Market Hall
• Following dad's footsteps into the cotton mill
• Former waitress recalls the little teashop as a homely, happy place to work in the late 1940s
• Franklin, Benjamin: Ocean no barrier to exchange of ideas
• Freeman’s drapery and hardware store: Sister act, Mrs J and Mrs D, ran successful Derby hardware store

G

• G H Robinson's foundry: Fascinated by foundry machines
• Getting the sack did war bride Win a favour
• Greengrocer: Celebrating the market charter
• Greengrocer: Grandad ran grocery store

H

• HISTORY OF DENBY POTTERY
• Halcyon days at the Co-op paint works in the 1960s
• Half a century at the Midland Hotel
• How Royce’s rose like a phoenix from the ashes

I

• It was amazing what came out in the wash in Royal Mail spring clean

J

• James Smith And Co: I met my love by the factory door in 1963
• James Smith And Co: Workers were looked after by Derby clothing factory
• James Smith and Co: A 50-year journey from machinist to forewoman at clothing factory century
• James Smith and Co: Factory filled with true romance and friendship
• James Smith and Co: Factory's shock closure
• James Smith and Co: Tailoring to the needs of Derby
• James Smith and Co: The unforgettable day when hundreds of Derby clothing factory workers lost their jobs
• John Thompson: When shoppers when bananas on market day
• Joicies Bakery - Crusty bread for lusty men
• Joseph Mason And Co: Paintworks boss was the perfect gentleman

L

• Ley's Malleable Castings
• Lorry driver's load was a trailer full of tigers

M

• MacInnes, Eric - Former Editor of the Derby Evening Telegraph
• Major Ley and his office staff in the 1950s
• Manufacturing: Bustling busy Derby ensured that business back in the dynamic 1940s was booming
• Mechanical: Grandad and the mechanical genius
• Memories of life as a railway apprentice
• Midland Railway Loco Works: Leading artist was Loco Works apprentice
• Midwifery: Midwife attended family of 22 in 1930s
• Mills: The mill owner, the factory girl and their lasting love
• Mining: Behind a striking miner there's a strong woman
• Mining: From school to life underground - the first day down the pit at the age of 15
• Mining: Lead mining is the Peak District's oldest industry
• Mining: The day a miner went to work in just his boots
• Mining: When tragedy strikes and lives are lost down the pit
• Modernising efforts of war hero police chief disappeared after his death
• Monocled doctor dispensed in a simpler age

N

• Never a dull moment in 20 years at Assembly Rooms

N cont.

• New fire engine could travel at 60mph
• Newton Brothers - Derby's lost industrial heritage
• No trading places with Westfield tenants for stallholders in Derby's historic Market Hall
• Nobody's blushes were spared while filming Women in Love nude scenes
• Nurse recalls hospital fire rescue

O

• Offilers' Brewery - A lost Derby pint
• One awkward customer led to Qualcast making lawnmowers for the whole world

P

• Police
• Post Office: Best friends both met husbands at Post Office
• Post Office: Easy rider Mick recalls his GPO Bantam days
• Post Office: Life up the pole battling with the winter elements 60 years ago
• Post Office: Proud that four generations of family worked for the Post Office
• Post Office: Snow fell during pit disaster
• Post Office: Who needs mobiles and e-mails when you’ve got a Bantam?
• Pride of Derby was sold for scrap

Q

• Queen takes Easter Eggs home for grandchildren

R

• R Newbold: Fun and friendship as a factory girl
• RAF: Discipline and respect in RAF
• Railway: ASLEF man recalls brave colleague
• Railway: Instructor knew loco kidnapper
• Ranby’s: Customers were always right
• Recalling the day a sheepskin coat walked out on its own
• Ritz cinema: Working at the Ritz and the Palace in the 1940s
• Rolls-Royce
• Rolls-Royce receivership was announced on tannoy
• Rolls-Royce: Ivan took Saturday off work for a honeymoon
• Royal Crown Derby
• Royal Crown Derby: Princess Diana's 1987 visit

S

• Salt Bros: Store prided itself on service
• Stanton Ironworks
• Stanton Ironworks: Derbyshire's traditional industries hit by global competition
• Steam age will never be forgotten by railmen
• Stevensons Dyers: Competition killed Europe's premier dyeing company
• Sydney Bradley Menswear - Suit you sir - ooh!

T

• Tea cheer for tannery staff with leather in their souls
• Thatcher: The thatcher who met Lords and Dukes but never wanted to be ‘by royal appointment’
• The Old Cheese Factory
• The Old Silk Mill: Auntie Jane ran the Old Silk Mill
• The Royal Oak: Pulling pints for half a century
• The day Rolls-Royce called in the receiver
• The day Rolls-Royce crashed and burned
• The day Royce's workers fought to save the firm
• The day sugar works' siren was silenced for good
• The heavy metal men of Brown's
• Thomas Bridgett and Co - Silk Manufacturers
• Thorntons
• Thorntons: Easter Eggs for the Royal grandchildren
• Thorntons: ‘Utopian’ conditions for mill staff
• Thurman And Malin: Store was held in high esteem

V

• Victorian coal mining - dangerous times
• Victorian policemen were trained in using cutlasses

W

• We learnt on the job and were better for it
• When Jack Frost tried to stop 8.29 to Bristol
• Where There's Muck There's Brass - The Swarfega Story
• Work

Y

• Yanks bought piece of our history but it's staying here!