Starting Work

[Bobbydem]

When I was fourteen in 1964, I and all my peer group, couldn't wait to get a 'Saturday job' to inflate our pocket money ...and contribute to the household. My friend applied for and was accepted in C and A's (C and A Modes to be exact). I got a job in Terleys in Saracen. We mainly sold curtain materials, window nets, bedding and to a much lesser degree, bits and pieces like underwear and gents socks. I received 25 shillings for my Saturday (£1.25 in new money) working 9 to5.30. I loved it...up and down the ladders with bales of materials...anything from cottons, brocades, dimities, tapestries to fibreglass - the new discovery for high fashion curtains. I was allergic to it and would carry the battle scars of matching and cutting the materials to be 'made up' at home or to be sent away for the more discerning customer. Candle wick bedspreads were in with huge floral displays in the middle and quilts with valances. The candle wicks shed their wick like a moulting dog for weeks when first displayed on the bed but boy were they posh!!! Terleys ran a ménage where friends and neighbours would agree to form a wee ménage club, contributing the same amount every week. Lots would be drawn for what week you got the money to come in and spend on the 'ticket' supplied by Terleys. Saturday was a popular day for this, with what felt like half the city crammed into the shop , every customer eager to spend their ticket on new curtain materials and bedding. The shop was like a wee club of its own on a Saturday, everybody meeting up, exchanging gossip and frank ideas on each other's choices of purchases. I worked there for almost three years every Saturday and on school then college holidays. I think at one point my mother worried I was going to forego my nursing training for a permanent job in the shop. I didn't ...but it wouldn't have been the worst thing that ever happened to me. Over 50 years later my memories can transport me straight back to that little shop next to the cafe where we got our bacon sandwiches for our tea breaks , in the hub of the tenements , pubs, bookies, shops and the best of people...and some characters. Happy days.

[paddyscar]

I remember hemming curtains made with fibreglass fabric, about the same time you were working. I could never work anywhere near fabric, because I would go home in a negative position - buying more than I made.

Frances

[Bobbydem]

Tell me about it!!! I used to love taking my grandparents surprises. She had a singer sewing machine ...electric...with a long steel bar that slotted into base and you pressed it with your knee to 'make it go'. Long after she had gone I still used that machine which never needed as much as a service. Anyway, think I used to go to work, especially over holiday breaks, just to earn the money to take them the latest materials or a bedspread. I loved to see them enjoying these wee treats. I can see their bed now made up with the candle wick over the top. Nice memories.