Working in the 1950s

Rene Smith was an ex-weaver who worked at Armley Mills in the 1950s. She started working at the mill in August 1941 when she was just 14 years old.  This was Rene's first job.

Rene agreed to return to the mill to allow the pupils from St. Barts to interview her.  This enabled them to get a first person account of what life was life for the workers at Armley Mills in the 1950s.

The children devised a set of interview questions to pose to Rene, in order to find out what it was like to work at Armley Mills.

The children asked questions on number of different subjects, but the video clip attached to this page shows Rene's responces to questions posed to her about her working life in the mill. Video clips of Rene's answers to questions on subjects such as entertainment, hobbies, fashion , family life and food can be seen in the other learning journey's in this series.