NWSA Sounds of the Lancashire Textile Industry: 1932 Strike

This is a recording taken from the North West Sound Archive's theme packs, one of several produced to give an insight into the region's history by use of short extracts of speech and sound taken from the Archive's large collections.

Click the multimedia box in the bottom left hand corner of the screen to open the sound file, and the box next to it to read the full text of the recording.

Do you remember this strike they had in 1932?

Oh yes, and me mother ... me mother wouldn't let me join the union, it's awful, you know, and they had a union, but it wasn't a strong union, but there was a weaver's union, and I hadn't to join. Me mother wouldn't ... me mother wouldn't let me join. I hadn't to join this union and I had to go to work, and it was awful really. And it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair, because some of the people ... we were only young, you know, but some of the people who went ... who were on strike ... and the people ... some of them who were working they ... if they thought this person on strike had better looms than them, because some looms are better than others, they would ask for them and they would take the looms, well it wasn't right.

But on the day of the strike ... do you remember the day of the strike itself?

Having to ... being shouted at and having to ... well they used to stand on the bridge.

What happened? Were you working...

Oh yes. Well they just shouted at you and tried to keep you from going in but...