Tom Tate

Father a coal miner and union secretary. Won competition for the design of banner. Contracted diphtheria at 10 - spent three months in isolation hospital. Sister died of meningitis. East Stanley School. Failed 11+, left school to work at the greyhound track. Interview at Co-op. Pranks. Pay, deliveries, routine. Cleaning cheeses. Weighing goods - world war two rations. Football team formed Wednesday afternoons, played in the "town trades Wednesday league". Women doing work of men during the war. Building and working conditions. Training. Life in the West Stanley Co-operative Society, serving customers, delivering orders, collecting money. Other small shops around. Army service in the Middle East for three years, sightseeing in Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Cyprus. Return to West Stanley Co-op after demob, accident with horse spilling load, stables. Then employed by Insurance Company and later as senior store man at R.H.P.Ball bearing factory. Demonstrator at Beamish Museum Co-operative grocery Stores.

Location: Stanley
County: Durham
AUD1992-32

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