Photo: Newspaper article about the creamery, 1960s

Description

Mair was a farmer's daughter, one of seven children, though the farm was sold after his death. Some of her sisters worked in a sewing factory. She left school at 16 to look for work, as coming from a large family it was necessary. She had wanted to be a nurse but she would have had to wait until she reached 19. She learned to type in the British School while looking for a job, and eventually got one in the milk factory, although she tried for work in the sewing factory too. This was in 1949 and she learned how to test the milk on the job. The relationship between the workers was good. £1 12 and 6 was her first wage and she gave most of it to her mother. She lived in Bodffordd and went to work on the bus. In the beginning she worked 9-5 but it didn't seem like a long day. Later on she did nightshifts too and bought a bike to travel to work then. There wasn't a canteen there just a little cwtsh where they used to hang their coats. There wasn't even a kettle and they used to boil water for tea in the lab. Mair worked there for 17 years until she lost her job in 1966 during a milk shortage, being a married woman with a husband to support her. It was supposed to be first in last out, she said, but not in her case. She was out of work for a while and it was awful, she said, signing on the dole, until she got another job.

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