When I think back to the middle 50s and how many locals left to find employment "over the Scheugh " I sometimes find it amazing that norniron has any population left at all and why so many people left. Was the wages that much better or the living standard? Dabbler, Ted etc I await your reply.
donald

Donald, I'm only guessing but the war was just finished a short time. I imagine people wanted to make a better life somewhere else. I suppose there weren't the same prospects here in those days. I don't know the answer but those are my thoughts. The 50s were an austere time, even I remember that.

Hi Pat and Donald,

In the late 40s early 50s, the likes of Shorts,H.& W and Mackies hired all ex-service men, my own dad was hired by Shorts, and that was because of his service. For me personally,the 50s was the best decade by far, I spent my entire teens starting Jan 4th 1950. I don't think the music of that era will ever be forgotten, by my age group anyway.....Hey hey, Rock around the Clock.

Beano

Beano , Ann
When I arrived here in the 70s listening to the older men whom I worked with after WW11 there was employment for all as the bombed out Vaterland had to be rebuilt and replaced. There was a demand for everything as the population needed cars, furniture and all types of household commodities. With so many war dead they had to look elsewhere for labour and encouraged Italians to come here. Munich, being the nearest City to Italy was naturally an attractive area for Emigrants as they could travel home often. Large firms often sent their Personal Managers along to recruit more Italians. When the economy recovered there many went home again and they were replaced by Turks and Greeks.
donald

Donald
At eighteen in 1954, I was a disillusioned wee mill worker. I was on very low wages, and looking for adventure. A Lurgan fellow worker had already crossed the water, and when he wrote telling me of his naughty exploits with English girls, I couldn't wait to join him. I hadn't allowed for my lack of inches, a hindrance with the opposite sex, and my lack of a respectable CV, a hindrance to getting a job with a decent wage. It was a year or two before my perseverance paid, in both senses. I can look back now, as an old man, with something approaching pride, being ensconced in a nice wee bungalow in idyllic surroundings, with a bob or two saved. I knew nothing of economics or politics in my young days. I have no desire to blame or criticize anyone. I did my best.

Dabbler you did well. Your parents would be proud of you.

I remember reading or hearing about someone who once remarked. " It is not normal that a Country exports its most valued product = Young educated healthy people"!

donald

Hi Donald,Looking back on those days I have no regrets in 1954 I ended up in Leighton Buzzard and got a job in Vauxhall which I hated, firstly as a 19 year old you weren't paid the full rate an to pay for digs and a few pounds home then the fair from Leighton Buzzard there wasn't much left to play with consequently myself and a mate from Kildare jacked in got a job with a firm called Moorcroft Construction Company ( MCC) and new digs in Luton a Hostel actually were The Airport is today , then it was just a private airfield used by a couple of plane makers and this is were we got a job constructing a large concrete bank built to contain the blast of a rocket that was being perfected then,a great time great money, great summer, single ,and at that period Luton was a boom town as Vauxhall was building a new Press shop which was costing something like 45 million I think it was the biggest contract since the war and the American Army had a base outside Luton an London at the weekends of course all good things come to an end and we ended with the same company up back in vauxhalls were they were installing Automation a new word then and our task was to dig the founds for these machines which involved 12 hour night shifts as time was of the essence but not having time to spend I was able to save a few pounds and after a year or so I came home again New Crombie new suit the return of the prodigal! Donald in case I am spammed I am going to end this episode but I did return as I'm afraid the savings went out quicker than they came in but I did get a few quid together and returned,Regards Ted

Ted
I remember some Lisburners returning after a few weeks working in London (we said then they went over to see the time!)and speaking with such a pronounced put-on London accent if you did not know you would swear they had been born in London. Even some of those who were in the TA and went over to Salisbury at the "Twelfth" for training purposes returned after 2 weeks terribly Englified!
donald

Ann. I could reply to any of these posts, especially about Vauxhall, where I spent nearly ten years, but I can tell that you recognize my need for reassurance. Thank you.I'm pretty sure my parents would have thought, "Our wee Joe done well." And that thought expands my chest - and smoke gets in my eyes.

Dabbler, I'm a sensitive soul; sometimes it's a blessing, other times a blight. However, I have a knack of being able to determine if someone is being genuine or not. I can sniff out a phoney a mile off.

Ann, you have the advantage over me. I usually accept people at face value till I land in the proverbial xxxx.

Dabbler I'm never far wrong. It.s uncanny but It's just something inbuilt. I can gel or otherwise with someone on an initial meeting.