Working At Litton Mill

A Memory of Litton Mill.

I went to work at Litton Mill when I was seventeen. Worked in the Sizing, Charlie Mellor was the supervisor. I met many lovely people and a great lot of characters. The sizing was machines with huge rollers set in a bed of sticky substance, the cotton yarn went through it and was wound into cones. The operatives had to watch for the yarn breaking and knot it up again. As with all millwork in those days the work was hard and long hours. Andrews Bus used to take us at 7am in a morning and bring us home at 5-30pm, Monday to Friday. Litton Mill was so tiny, just a hamlet really, set in a valley with hills round it. Very pretty with the river running past down to Cressbrook. There were big trout in the river and it was a haven for Fishermen. There was a shop run by Evelyn Buckley ('Ev' to us).. a dear lady with a heart of gold. I stayed for a year at Litton Mill then went to work at Eyam shoe factory. Years later I went back to work at The Mill on the twilight shift, as we called it. 5pm to 10pm again we were taken by Harold Anrews himself - what a character was Harold. Everything had changed, all automated and a worse noise than ever. The mill employed French, Italians and English and the cotton had been replaced with nylon. This time I was in the twisting; all my workmates were young mothers with children. What fun we had and made friends for life. Lovely, lovely memories. Elsie Hollis International Poet.