Venture Bus Company

A Memory of Victoria Garesfield.

My dad was a driver for the Venture Bus Company, we lived in Greenside not far away and in 1962 I went to Hebburn Technical College to do a two-year secretarial course. At this time, living in a pit village, girls leaving school at 15 (who had failed the 11 plus), were factory or shop fodder - this was my chance for something better. There I met Maureen French, Vera Gardener, Joan Tiplady and Mary Webb. I became good friends with all of them... sadly I lost touch a long time ago. l can remember singing Michael Rowed The Boat Ashore ... in the break. We worked hard to get our typing and shorthand speeds up. It was the time of Rock and Roll - of back-combed hair, thick eyeliner and virtually white lipstick. My straight skirt was so tight I had to hop up the bus steps. Whilst I never made a fortune I had skills that always kept me in work, even now at 67 I still do the odd temping job. It is hard to believe I started on a clanky old manual typewriter - then working at C A Parsons (yes, I travelled to Heaton, Newcastle every day) I graduated to an electric typewriters and now I hammer away on a computer at 80 words a minute making emails a piece of cake - the speed astounds a lot of younger people, but I have been doing it for some 50 years now!! Doesn't bear thinking about.

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