I remember attending Caxton Hall from 1953 to 1959 when I was an apprentice letterpress printer at Messrs A & S. Walker King Street Manchester. Fred Simmons was the area Secretary and was instrumental in forming a Apprentices committee to encourage other apprentices to join. We also assisted in cloakroom duties at the annual dinner of the pensioners of the Typographical Association. I can remember the local comedian Jackie Carlton cracking near-the-knuckle jokes to the delight of the "owd uns"!
The closeness of the dreaded non-union shop of D.C. Thompson (Beano and Dandy comic publishers) - just across the road from Caxton House - was always a source of conversation but gradually we accepted the fact that the printers and compositors wouldn't join us.
Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteOne almost expects Aslan to start speaking.
ReplyDeleteI remember attending Caxton Hall from 1953 to 1959 when I was an apprentice letterpress printer at Messrs A & S. Walker King Street Manchester. Fred Simmons was the area Secretary and was instrumental in forming a Apprentices committee to encourage other apprentices to join. We also assisted in cloakroom duties at the annual dinner of the pensioners of the Typographical Association. I can remember the local comedian Jackie Carlton cracking near-the-knuckle jokes to the delight of the "owd uns"!
ReplyDeleteThe closeness of the dreaded non-union shop of D.C. Thompson (Beano and Dandy comic publishers) - just across the road from Caxton House - was always a source of conversation but gradually we accepted the fact that the printers and compositors wouldn't join us.