9th JULY 1951 was the day that I left school and commenced a five year apprenticeship as a butcher
it was also my 14th birthday and to leave school I had to get permission from the education dept as you weren’t allowed to leave mid term with out it
Had spent 6 months working after school and my boss Mr Walker had offered me the work and also applied for the permit , was getting a pound a week and as an apprentice a whopping to me then three pounds ten shillings for 5 day 40 hr week , overtime rates weren't heard of and amounted to an extra 4 hrs, but mum got her meat at half price.
Prior to leaving school I had picked up a fair bit of things , one lesson I learnt the hard way was when I was asked to put the electric jug on and make a cup of tea , no worries I noticed the jug had no top , as it was the first time I had ever used one thought nothing of it , well I had tested hot water before by putting my finger in which I did into the jug , its one memory that will never leave me, the wham bang really shocked me and the boss called me a few choice names , but next day we had a new jug.
Like all new apprentices you get to do all the cleaning for starters , in those days sawdust was used on the floors , so it was another chore for me to rake the floor every night , I didn't mind doing the customers side there was dropped coins there occasionally. There were 4 big brine tanks in the fridge , another job I couldn't get out of was getting the corn beef out when needed and boy the hands and arms got very cold dipping in and out , another lesson learnt , never place real cold hands in warm water as it stings and only makes it worse. the little things you learn as you go certainly makes things easier.
Each Monday morning was trim and bone out time which made good practice on how to use a knife , 1 never cut towards you 2 knife must always be sharp which prevents using force and knife jumping into your hand , used a lot of band aids learning that one , the trims were used for sausages and another job for me, mincing, adding ingredients, mixing by hand in big tub , placing sausage meat in hand filler , and filling out the skins linking and hanging up on hook . After all that
wash up with hot hot water from the old wood copper, then the boss would come out and pick all the mistakes I made in the cleaning , like not washing under the benches or behind them , the worm in the mincer not clean enough and the back still has mince that hasn't been cleaned.
Cleaning shop windows and washing the footpath with a hose was another daily chore , scrubbing cutting boards , washing the tiled walls as well as helping to put the meat back in fridge, all these things just for starters kept me busy , an hour for lunch with a 15 minute break at 10am , knocking off WHEN all was done .