Well, I actually wanted to be an electrician; that always appealed to me. I'd been a practical sort of boy and I'd helped a chap who used to live opposite us, who was an electrician and I used to help him at weekends as a schoolboy, and so I wanted to be an electrician. I […]

David was fascinated by architecture at a very early age and after technical school and art college worked in architectural practices in Norwich and Surrey. He formed his own architectural practice in 1976 and had a long career working on many award-winning projects.  Later he worked as consultant architect and part-time lecturer on the history […]

The contributor was interviewed with her sister, who worked for a time with her at Boulton & Paul's and who occasionally took part in the interview. I left school at 15. I left school on a Friday, and on the Monday I started work and trained to be an upholsterer. I went and I had […]

Not having been of exceptional academic ability I was at the age of 14, like many others at secondary modern and elementary schools, told to pack up my books and go to work, My efforts were sorely needed to help win the war. It wasn't going too well at the time. I had had a […]

Unusually for a "Construction" story, this tale is about blowing things up! P. (born in 1930) began his work for a local haulier maintaining their lorries but soon became their explosives specialist and was in great demand throughout the area for any work involving blowing things up!  Read about working with divers, demolishing chimneys in a small […]

After National Service, C worked as a carpenter’s improver in Thetford “We used to do different jobs around the town and if we wanted any materials we used to have to push a handcart round the town.” He worked in building and carpentry in the Thetford area during the London overspill years of the 1960s […]

Starting Work My first job was carpenter’s apprentice. I started work at 14 years old. I started with another boy and our first job between us was to look after glue pots. That was our first job ever. Everything was glued together in those days, rather than some of the fixings they have now. That’s […]

I was born at Beeston Hall Cottages, near West Runton in between Sheringham and Cromer. I was the eldest son of Bertram and Gladys Cole. The cottages were called Beeston Hall cottages as they are only a few hundred yards from what is now Beeston Hall school. About 1940 a bomb was dropped in the […]

I served an apprenticeship as an electrician with A.Pank & Son Ltd, St Giles Street, Norwich. In the early part of April 1942 I did fire watching duty on the roof of Garlands, London Street, Norwich. During the first German raids Orford Place, the Haymarket and other parts of Norwich were severely bombed. Later in […]

Part One. In this lively account, our contributor describes his life as a builder. He began work as a shop assistant cum funeral helper, but soon turned his hand to all kinds of carpentry and  building work and ran his own building firm. Most of his work was on historic cottages, church buildings, historic halls, […]