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 cu...

Fred Edwards
Started in leather factory in Northamptonshire – stood on tiptoe in order to join the navy. Taken out to sea for a day to decide if wanted to sign up. Journey to a posting in China Sea; was there when heard of outbreak of war. Sent to South Atlantic to hunt for the Grafspier battleship. Fighting the Italians in the Mediterranean, his destroyer was holed, escaping the wreckage. First cigarette. Experience of diving for mines in the Suez Canal. Journey home on leave, emotion on returning home. HMS Nelson and the Malta Convoy, ship hit a mine during D Day landings. Meeting wife, a friend of the g...