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A MILLWORKER’S TALE [Spring 2006]
In 1831 Jonathan Dodgson Carr travelled from Kendal to Carlisle to set up a corn merchants and bakery.
Later, he set up a biscuit factory in the city and a flour mill at Silloth - both of which are still operating today.
Harold Bosward (pictured right), who worked at the mill for 50 years, spoke exclusively to the April edition of Yesterday magazine to help celebrate the company's 175th anniversary.
His memories include being taught how to sweep up properly when he first entered the mill as a 15-year-old in 1952:
Pay Day was cash in hand:
"Your wages were in a small tin with your number on that you collected from a cubicle where the pay clerks sat. I got about two pounds and I gave it to my mother who probably gave me ten shillings back but she bought all my clothes so I never worried about that."Harold was a popular member of the 'rough gang' in the warehouse:
He affectionately recalls the halcyon days of the 1950s:
"It was hard work but there was a lot of laughter, jokers who raised a smile when spirits flagged and innocent pranks. Nailing someone’s shoes to the floor, gluing a billy can to the table or sending the green and wide-eyed to the workshop for a 'long stand' - the fate of nearly all new mill workers down the years."Harold has fond memories of the last two members of the Carr family to run the business - Ivan and Ian Carr.
He remembers the innate skills of the old millers:
"Millers like Tommy Slack could instantly assess the quality of wheat grains simply by pressing it through their fingers. Sometimes they would shake their heads because it was too wet or too dry whereas today you cannot fail to get it right. Now, machines tell you everything and there is constant quality control throughout the milling process every hour of the day."
