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The transcript is an interview with Dorothy O'Reilley as transcribed by Microsoft Word and summarised by ChatGPT and subject to errors.
Personal Background
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Name: Dorothy O’Reilley
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Birth: Around 1921–1924, in King Street.
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Family:
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Father: a stonemason who also worked on grave memorials (“rubber bottom thumbs down”).
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Mother: worked part-time, balancing employment with raising a large family.
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Childhood & Local Memories
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Schooling: Attended St. Joseph’s School (though details are vague).
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Grants Tower & Grounds:
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Describes swing boats near the Tower, powered by pulling ropes.
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Recalled a farm nearby that sold ice cream, pop, and sweets—a treat for working-class families.
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Entry into the Tower cost one penny, where visitors could see family relics and portraits.
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She remembered Jacob’s Ladder, a steep set of steps leading through the park.
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The Tower was eventually closed during wartime as bombers used it for navigation.
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Community life:
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Evacuees from London stayed in the area during WWII.
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Fond of “Grants Bottom” (a local area) before it became built up.
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Working Life
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Early Work:
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Started work at 14, doing 12-hour shifts, often “watching the clock.”
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Worked briefly in a weaving mill making cotton cloth and towels.
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Box Works:
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Produced wooden beer bottle crates and baker’s trays.
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Work involved wiring and stapling crates, which was physically demanding.
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Other Jobs:
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Short stint in a chocolate factory, which she disliked.
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Worked in Letchworth in a finishing school.
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Later conscripted into wartime service—wanted to join the Navy, but was instead placed as a domestic worker in hospitals (under threat of prison if she refused). She ran away twice from these postings.
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Later Employment:
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Worked at the telephone exchange.
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After marriage, returned to work at various places, including weaving again.
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Wartime Experiences
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Conscription: Pressured into hospital domestic service during WWII, though reluctant.
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Travel: Remembered train journeys to Liverpool and encounters with friendly policemen.
Religion & Social Life
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Strong Catholic upbringing:
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Sundays spent at church, Sunday school, and benediction.
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Local pubs and shops played a role in community life.
Reflections
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Nostalgic for the past, often comparing hard work and community spirit of her youth with the modern world (“they don’t know what work is today”).
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Regretted how areas became more built up and lost their open character.
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Some details were hazy due to memory lapses, but strong recollections centered on family life, work, wartime changes, and local landmarks.
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