March 1957
FIRM PROVIDES RECREATION ROOM
A
view over Pontefract from the six-foot high windows in a lounge which
looks like a space travel terminal is only one of the modern features of
the new recreation rooms for employees at the Monkhill works of W.R.
Wilkinson and Co., Ltd., liquorice confectionery manufacturers, of
Pontefract. They were opened yesterday week by Miss Miriam Watson, a
forewomen, of Back Street, who retired the same day, after 48 years
service with the firm. When she cut a red tape across the entrance,
about 200 members of the staff surged in to explore the rooms, and test
the facilities provided. Miss Watson received a chair from the staff and
a cheque from the directors, Mr. G. Marshall and Mr. A. Cooke.
Miss
Watson began working there in 1909 and she started at 8am and finished
at 8pm. "We did not have 48 hour weeks then and there was no ‘music
while you work’ in those days", she said. Her first job was
stalking coconut mushrooms and in 1918 she was promoted to the position
of forewomen. Later she was put in charge of the cream department,
making allsorts. She recalls the time the girls received a half-day’s
holiday for the race meeting at Pontefract so that they could take
caskets of liquorice cakes to sell to the crowds. Miss Watson, whose
quiet humour has made her popular with her staff, thinks the recreation
rooms are "amazing".
Her
description refers to the modern spirit of the décor. The lounge /
reading room is large and airy, with tables and studio chairs for
comfort and the five-foot French windows open onto a rooftop balcony for
summer sunbathing. A plaque above the door says ‘Miriams Room’. One
can sit back and contemplate the paintings on the contemporary-style
walls or gaze across to Willow Park in the distance. "It’s just
like an hotel in the clouds or an airways terminal", one girl
murmured.
In
the main room there are two table tennis tables, a dart board, easy
chairs, a record player, and latest records. The girls were soon rock
‘n rolling to "See you later alligator". The firm’s
painters and joiners helped to decorate the various rooms.
"An
extension was built on top of the cream dept", explained the
departmental manager, Mr. C.E. Baxter. "Although we have had a
canteen for years, the staff who stay at lunch time have found there is
nothing to do after leaving the canteen. Now they will be able to relax
instead of standing about outside, getting cold", he added. Mr.
Baxter, himself an amateur painter, has added two of his paintings to
the decoration.
[
1957 Index ]
