6 Birth of an empire; Ch 5 work starts in earnest

6 Birth of an Empire Ch 5: Work begins in earnest

20 August 2020

14:41

Gail

Gail Woke up on the Monday wondering has she done right, it was alright her handing in her notice, but what about the other girls? If it didn't work out, would they take orders, she didn't want to get nasty with them like Mr Wilson at J&B's. She was his equal now in the J&B empire

She had to find a space for her office some shelves, a filing cabinet, some box files, lever arch files; she would ask Percival to find her a space.

She set out to find Percival, this time as an employee, a supervisor, would be manager with no one to supervise as yet

"Uncle Percival. Err Mr Percival, Mr Ward

"Now which an I to be, What are you seeking, How can I help"

" I am back here working for the mill"

"So I understand. So Miss Worth, what would you like? Somewhere to work, I presume"

"Yes that would be nice, do you have any where, just now a table will do I am looking after customer orders and sales, as in have been sent out, or ready for despatch. I am expecting two girls next week and possibly more as we expand the business. Do you have anywhere"

"There is space on the top floor of the main building, It would require a bit of work to give you a secure office space, The mending ladies are up there now. There are windows overlooking the town and roof lights, the menders require a north light to match the colours. For now you can use the boardroom, you have a table and chairs, I will sort out the upper room as and when. Is that all Miss Worth"

"That will do for now, all I need now is some box files, lever arch files and a filing cabinet and some whit foolscap card, pencils, ruler and such stuff"

"Stationary can be put on the account at The Batley News Printers and Stationary shop, I will send round an introduction card for you, with the account number, select what you need, they will deliver, ask Mrs Beatrix for her ledgers"

"Thank you, I will go and make a list, then take a walk there"

"Give your list to Robert, he will see to it"

"I want to see what I am getting and to sort out colours of box files, I will take him with me, they will know him"

'She thought, Suppliers, people we purchase things from, another list of names"

She began to make a list: Box files; lever arch files: both in: Black, red, green and blue: filing cabinet; foolscap folders any colour they come in packs of ten, pencils, pens/nib holders, spare nibs, desk ink wells, bottle of black ink. Paper clips, finger stalls, foolscap card. Hole puncher, stapler, box of staples. Marker pens

"She went to see Robert "Robert, Please could you come with me to the stationers tomorrow, in the morning if possible, you know the people there and the way, to see I don't get lost on the way. Mr Percival says they will deliver the order"

"Yes, Miss Worth, have you any time in mind"

"Any time Robert, As far as Miss Worth goes, Miss Gail or just plain Gail will be acceptable by me, just to suit the occasion"

"Thank you Gail I do understand, Oh congratulations on the new position. I will let you know when it is best to go"

Black for employees personal basic details, Red for customer orders, Green for goods dispatched, Blue for the mills own purchases and suppliers. Shelves to put the box files and lever arch files on, A storage cabinet for the small items, put it on the list for later, with the filing cabinet. Once she had a permanent office things like that could be bought and delivered straight to their home

Robert caught her early next morning "Can we go about ten o'clock Miss Gail. Then we can be back before the mail, that comes around lunch time"

"Yes Robert ten o'clock is fine. Oh and you can drop the miss if you like unless others are there, it sounds like you are an under servant, your status would put you as the butler, the top man.

"Ten o'clock, it is then Gail"

It was a fifteen minute walk along Bradford Road past the taxi rank, with three taxis awaiting customers, the drivers, sitting outside their hut with mugs of tea: they crossed the road by the small theater; up Hick Lane into the town center. The stationers shop was on the corner at the start of Main Street.

The shop assistant came from the back when he heard the door bell ring.

"Good morning Mr Green, how mat we help you today?

"Good morning George, This is Miss Gail Worth, our new office manager, she has a list of items for delivery to Stubley's"

Gail handed over her shopping list "Here is my list, I have another copy, It should do for a beginning, and get us off the ground, Have you any idea how soon would it be delivered, just so I can plan my time"

G "All being well some time this afternoon miss, or tomorrow morning at the latest"

"Thank you George, do you need a signature or anything"

"No I have your order, well your paper, Mr Green will sign when it is delivered"

"Sorry about the paper work; you will be the first company on my suppliers list, once the materials arrive"

"You should see the paperwork / scribbled notes we get miss, Thank you for your order and have a good day"

Frank came into the boardroom "I have some parcels for you Gail, they are in the lobby"

"Thank you Frank can you bring them in please"

"They are your parcels"

"Yes Frank and it is your job to fetch and carry, I am the office manager and have lots of work to do; planning things, and when you bring me the parcels I can get on with further planning. You may be my brother and older than me, bur here you are here for me to give you legitimate orders, so will you please bring my parcels here for me, so that I can check that everything has been delivered,. Thank you Frank"

Frank brought the parcels grumbling at each one as he left it "That's the last one"

"Thank you Frank. Oh and when anyone else is present please call me Miss Worth, if it is just my work girls Miss Gail will be alright"

"Umph, give her a bit of authority"

"Someday soon Frank you will expect people to call you as Mr Worth, or Mr Frank; dad will be Mr Worth, remember when they do what it was like to be the under dog , and how you treat others"

"Hm Ok, I understand"

She checked the parcels leaving Frank free to return to their office. Now to design the lay out of the forms they were going to use.

She took a few blank cards and punched holes to suit the lever-arch files

Drawing light lines on one of the cards she divided the space

The first one she filled in was 'Batley News: Stationers' 'we may require one for the paper for news she thought Customer Number BAT001, underneath the address and the contact name George 'I must ask Robert for his second name'

Followed by another copy one for the order and the second for delivery and payment

These were now filled in the blue file 'We must get some order books, for each department with order numbers, ask Beatrix'

Another file for Mr Issacs the tailor Customer No ISS001 item to enter 2 bales of Shoddy one dark green one dark blue FOC (Free of Charge) for coats to be made Another for Mr Issacs to charges for making the coats

Monday morning Gail woke; would the girls come? Or had they had second thoughts, working on a new venture, for this new young girl, was she all talk, If they didn't turn up she would have to go and advertise, in the paper.

Seven o'clock she was in the board room as the main factory workers came in, the lobby was busy and noisy, with good mornings; Had a good weekend? How's the missus? Oh my head! All the chatter of a Monday morning.

They had been told seven thirty.

Robert came to the boardroom door "Two young ladies for you Miss Worth"

"Thank you Robert send them in please"

The two girls came sheepishly in and looked around the room "He called you Miss Worth. Are we the only ones?

"Yes! As office manager they call me Miss Worth, or Miss Gail, just like the office in J&B's; Oh Mrs Stubley is the General manager here as well, when we are just, You can call me Gail its better if its anyone else Miss Worth is better. You are my only office workers for now, I hope it will grow"

The door opened a man came in. Gail recognized him Mr Joshua Stubley, he didn't recognize Gail

"May I help you sir?

"I heard some talking, and looked in to investigate"

"I am Miss Worth the office manager, these are two new employees"

"Ah Miss Worth, ah Gail, as yes now I recognize you I am Joshua Stubley"

"Sorry Mr Stubley I didn't recognize you. This is Gwen and Josie. Gwen and Josie this is Mr Joshua Stubley, He will be salesman number one on the record cards. Mr Stubley, is away for most of the time selling our products, Oh Mr Stubley we now have all people who deal with the public wearing made to measure clothing made for our own fabric, they are measured and made by Mr Issacs a tailor in Taylor Street, you may have noticed Mr Green, Robert the doorman, he is wearing a military style country jacket; you could just call in to see Mr Issacs, choose your fabric, he will take you measurements and make what you wish, if he doesn't have the colours of your choice you could see Mr Worth he can arrange for Mr Issacs to receive some materials"

"Thank You Gail. Yes it would look much better, and make it easier to have a suit made to measure in our own products. Yes I did notice Robert's jacket. I will leave you in peace to get Gwen and Josie installed. Good day to you ladies, I hope you enjoy working here; I will see you later Gail, Beatrix, err Mrs Stubley, has told me off you and J&B's"

"Was that the big boss? It was wasn't it?

"Yes, I didn't expect to see him, he goes all over the world. I have some samples of the cards I intend to use. We will have to draw the lines on each one as we need to, The customer number will consist of three letters from the firms name and a number related to the position when it was added to the file.

Three firms for example: Carlisle; Crosthwaite and Cartwright will get numbers CAR001: CRO002: and CAR003 they would go in the file as CAR001; CAR003 and CRO002. We will make 26 files for each letter of the alphabet and for now use index markers to separate letters., then as the file fills, expand use more files, I suggest we work on one file each New orders in green folder, red for the orders which have been dispatched, The blue book is for orders from us to other firms, I will take that for now.

I have the day ledgers here where the orders and dispatches have been entered in already the firms have no customer number and in some cases no address registered. Sort out which you are going to work on and I don't mind you swapping over, any problems just say, it could be something I hadn't thought of"

"Before you get working how about a cup of tea, we have no canteen, the department organize their own system, would one of you like to go and see Robert call him Mr Robert"

Josey Left to see Robert "Mr Robert is sending Frank in with it"

Frank came in with a wooden cup carrier "Here you are sis your tea"

"I have told you Frank here at work I am not your sis I am Miss Worth to you, and these ladies are Miss Gwen and Miss Josie to you"

Josie "Shall we send him to J&B's where he will have to learn some manners"

G "No I think J&B's would be too strict for him, he is too used to going out over the fells with a dog, J&B's could never train him"

Joshua Stubley called in the boardroom later "Can I have a word somewhere Gail?

"Yes, lets see if Roberts office is free"

"What happened at J&B's Gail"

"They set me off to do what I have left these girls to do. They brought a whole weeks worth of documents in, I didn't get them all done, I had filed the completed ones as I did them, I had a pile still awaiting attention, there was no secure place to put them, so I placed the ledger on top for security. Mr Wilson aske why I had done that. I said it would be better if they were filed daily, are you telling me my job you upstart I will have you sacked, so I had a word with Mrs Stubley, Beatrix; and was moved here. I am using a system I designed myself, and customer numbers to make it easier to find a record" She explained her system

"Can I see this system for my self"

Yes come on in and see how the girls are getting on"

"How are things girls? She asked

"It is a bit slow having to make your own forms, do you think we could have some printed"

JS "We have no printing facilities have we? I will look into that for you. You may have to loose a lady Gail"

G "Or take another lady on and we all learn how to use the printer"

JS "You have no intention to let go of your empire have you"

G "No I want to build both the firm and my empire as you call it. I would like to become an accountant like my sister Elizabeth"

JS "I like that someone with ambition, you will have to go to night school; you have to work for a recognized accountancy firm to become fully qualified, I can see what can be done when it comes around"

"Was that the top boss then. He seems alright, and that lad you laid into, who is he? He called you sis"

"Yes he is my bro and two years older, he has to move around to learn about the whole lot, like dad and uncle Percy do"

"Uncle Percy? Do all your family work here then"

"No dad, mum (she doesn't work) Frank and me. Mr Percival and aunt Alice and cousin Angela, 'Angela from the dyers' they call her here; Uncle Percy was the local blacksmith And she was always known as Percy's lass, and doesn't want to be called Miss Ward, just plain Angela"

"So you all packed up and moved down here then/ what did you do with the farm"

"Oh my other brother took it over and run it with my sis Elizabeth and gran and granddad. Gran and Angela's gran now do the cooking for both families, granddad helps on the farm, he takes Elizabeth's dogs out with him, he walks about ten miles every day"

"What did Percival do"

"Percival was the blacksmith, his son John has taken that over, he is a big strong guy"

"Have you a boy friend here?

"No! I don't want a permanent relationship just a friend"

"Would you come out with us sometime say to a dance"

"Wouldn't say no, but I don't dance, may be a bit later on"

Joshua came in a few days later "I have solved the printer problem. I have found a friend of a friend, who is an artist she makes and sells cards for special occasions, individually hand made; she also prints leaflets and fliers. She has her own small printing press, but now she has no where to work from. I have suggested that she moves in with you, when you get a proper place to work. She will print anything we like, all we have to do is pay for the materials, She is not on our payroll, also she does not pay us any rent. What do you think/ would it work?

"So she just want a space in our office to work from, and will pay for it by doing our printing. It should work"

"Oh and something else. Sometimes I have a problem of finding a clients account, my system is a bit like that in J&B's.

Do you think you could sort it into your system? Would you mind"

"What about it girls? Should be help the boss? Or leave him to meddle through?

"lets help him / we expect a pressie at Chrissie?

"OK, thanks I will drop in the files I am not requiring on my next trip; they are in files by country, France will be my next trip away. For the next few weeks I am in the UK. I will tell Mr Percival to hurry up making your office usable"

Gwen worked on Mr Stubleys client file there was over two hundred accounts; What she did to save time was to reallocate each account with a new number, to save time and the cards used for the main mill records also to keep all the paper work as original. Mr Stubley came to collect the new edited version the following Monday, as he called to hand over the weeks orders.

He quickly looked through, then had a search for a few clients. "Oh yes this is much quicker and easier to find who I want now. Can I drop some more in for you to do. I am showing this to Beatrix tonight; you can expect her to call in tomorrow, thanks ladies"

Beatrix dropped in as Joshua had said. In a stern voice she said "Miss Worth! My husband has shown me how you altered his client files"

G "You don't like how we have arranged them?

B "Silly girl. Yes I do like it. They are so much easier to sort through. I am now thinking how we can update all the J&B files, that is without upsetting Mr Wilson too much.

G "Well why not say it is a new method you were shown at a business meeting, I mean it isn't so far from the truth is it? Also say that it has been introduced and tested here on your instructions"

B "You are a schemer, I have been told about your ambitions, are you after my job on the accounts?

G "No I don't want to kick you out, but you are so busy now, you will be requiring help, as the orders grow, the number of accounts and the sums involved will increase, we could have teams working on a small range of accounts each"

B "You have foresight young lady, Yes this office should, grow far larger the J&B's ever will. (She realized there were two other girls listening) Are these you new employees? I seem to recognize their faces from somewhere"

Josie "Yes Mrs Stubley, we escaped from J&B's. That is Gwen and me I am Josie"

B "Escaped? Do you mean that was like a prison?

J "No Mrs Stubley, not a prison, but I do like working here so much better, Miss Gail, keeps us working, but we can exchange jobs if we wish, that meane if one of us is off, the other can take over with no problem, also there is always something happening here, Gail, That is Miss Gail, keeps us working, but does allow a few moments to chatter, then gets us back to work, it breaks up the time and makes it more pleasant, just few word to you colleagues, doesn't really need a big whip 'Stop chatting ladies' like we used to get. Mrs Stubley may I ask? We know nothing about what they do or how the make the fabric, would it be possible to have a guided tour, so we can see what the other people do?

B "So you like working here, that's good. I wont pass on your remarks about J&B's to them, but I may look into what you said. As far as a guided tour: I have no idea myself what it is like now, I shall have a word with Mr Worth the production manager, and arrange a time. Anything else ladies. No. Well you can tell Miss Gail, you are obviously not afraid of her. (to Gail) you arrange with Ebenezer and let me know"

Christine

Beatrix asked Gail for a private word

"I am having problems with Christine she is nineteen and a handful, she has had everything she wanted. Now she has been kicked out of university for not doing the work, she just wont listen; do you think you could do anything with her, any thing, whatever, give her the nastiest job you can find, treat her like the other girls, as far as you are concerned now she is not my daughter"

G "Well; I have no nasty jobs; only a boring one that my girls don't like doing, but hey do it; soon I hope it will be gone if the printing machine works (Beatrix broke in So Joshua got the printer, and a girl to go with it) Yes she brought her machine in last week, it was a good deal she works for no wage, but she doesn't pay any rent. If Christine gives any problems I will ask in Fibre Preparations for her to sort the soiled and coloured wool out; that is before it has been washed; She will get dirty and greasy, that is 'I think' the worst job on site, Then she could put the batch though the washer and get wet, soaking in fact"

B "Can I bring her in tomorrow morning at seven o'clock with the other workers; if she is going to get smelly she can walk home like all the other workers, if she doesn't change that is where she will end up. Her student allowance has been stopped and her allowance, so all she has will be what she earns"

G "I will warn the girls, but they have been through the mill, so to speak, and wont give her any free rope, or the wool sorting it will be, bring her in"

Back in the office "There is a new girl starting tomorrow, I have to warn you, she is the daughter of a good friend, but she is toffee nosed, I want no problems from her. I want you to sit on her > Any problems she goes to sort the coloured and soiled, 's****y' bits out"

"Oh Miss Gail! You can be so common, that isn't like you"

G "You think babies nappies are bad; What comes out of a cows backside is wetter, smellier and comes a bucket full at once"

"You say that as id you know"

G " I have smelled it seen it pour out by the bucket

full and had to clean it up"

"Oh gosh and you look so well mannered and timid, you are oh so polite, you would never think"

G "Dont judge a sausage by its skin, they don't tie a rope round a baby's arms to pull them out do they/ they do with animals"

Christine turned up at seven fifteen, she was brought up to the office by Frank "A lass seeking you Miss Worth, Mr Green said to bring her up" So they had been warned or was Frank just showing her who was boss.

Christine was wearing what could only be described as a party dress, pink with a pale blue sash round the waist tied with a huge bow on her left hip, the ribbon ends reaching to her knee.

"You will be Christine?

"Miss Christine, My mother is your boss I am Miss Christine"

"You young lady are the new girl and will be treated as such, When you work for me, I am Miss Worth to you, You will do as I say and take orders from Any girl working here, you are the bottom of the pile, and make sure we dont kick you out to an even worse place"

"Gwen can you show this girl how to draw up the record cards please"
"Yes Miss Worth" Gwen and Gail caught each others eyes reading an unsaid agreement.

Gail let them work for one hour "How are you getting on?

"She is not getting on she has made a mess out of every card"

"Oh let me see. Gwen! You go for a break. Oh I had a message from fiber preparation. I think you had better go and see what they want, first; It could be to do with that new order, that came in this morning"
"Yes Miss Gail, I will go now"

They had a jig made where the card was placed in the jig then a frame on top, They drew round the inside of the frame; so that they had a perfectly positioned rectangle on the card. Every card Christine had done was out of line, some had part of the outline missing

"This is a waste of card, there is not one usable card in this lot, a ten year old would have done better. I will have your pay deducted for the wasted card, plus a thirty minute deduction for being late this morning, at some firms you would have been locked out, pity we don’t have that rule here, I am transferring you to another department where, the work is not as strict. Josie can you take this girl to Mr Herbert and see if he has anything suitable for her"

Josie found Mr Herbert “This is a new girl Christine; Miss Gail has ent her to work with you”

"That Miss Gail looks so prim and proper, she wouldn't dare come down here herself"

"You would be surprised by our Miss Gail she comes from a farming family and told us about here and said worse comes out of a cows backside and in buckets full, and she has had to clean it up, there's more to her than you would think. She says you cant judge a sausage by its skin.

"I wouldn't have thought that of her to look at her. Aye I'll make sure the lass gets mucky, posh frock an'all. Will she be here tomorrow then"

"That's up to her, she's out on her ear if she doesn't, just make sure she get all s****y up and soaked, she is going to have a walk home I heard her mother say she isn't sitting in her carriage, she has to be like other factory girls. I must get back"

Herbert now turned his attention to Christine "So this ist'new lass then, (to Christine) see this basket, its full of fleece awaiting washing, take hands full and pull it apart, when you find any dark or dirty fibres, throw them into this basket, its full of bits waiting to be washed and used for blankets. Right lass see how ye fair"

"I am Miss Christine I will have you know"

"Not here lass, no airs and graces. I am Mr Herbert. You are the lass. So that's what I call you Lass and nothing else"

Christine got her hands dirty her face and her beautiful dress was now covered in black smudges where she had wiped her hands, her ringlets were hanging in rats tails, getting in her mouth and eyes, now blackened with brushing the hair strands away. Herbert forgot to tell her it was lunch time. At six o'clock he sent her off to clock out and walk home

!Time to go home lass, dont be late in the morning. Seven o'clock sharp if your late you get your money docked. Oh aye and wear some more suitable clothes tomorrow

It was almost half past seven when she arrived home

Beatrix heard he enter "Where have you been? Oh my goodness what has happened to you?

C "I was working with this girl Gwen they called her, they said I had dome everything wrong and they were going to take it out of my pay. Then the sent me to work with this nasty man. he called me lass, I want to be called Miss Christine like that Gail is called Miss Worth, I had to pick dirty bits out of the wool, fleece they said it was. I had to throw the dirty bits into a big basket. It was awful bits got in my hair and in my eyes. Please dont make me go there again mummy; Please dont"

B "Sorry but now you are on their staff, it is now up to you. You must make your peace with Miss Gail, She is the office supervisor< also her parents are founders of the firm, we have the money they have the skills and expertise. So they are equals. Their is another girl Angela, her father is the chief engineer, he keeps the machinery working, his daughter works in the dyeing department, she isn't called miss

You are going in tomorrow for seven o'clock and you will have to walk there, you can try to get Miss Worth to take you back, otherwise you will be back in fibre preparations, yes that would be best, Ask Mr Herbert if you could have something else. Oh and put on some more suitable clothes, your party dress is in the dustbin.

She reported to Herbert next morning on time "Good morning Mr Herbert"

"Good morning Chris isn't it"

"Yes Chris will do; would it be possible to have a different job, but still working here, is it possible"

"I will do that job, or someone else will, there are quite a few jobs here. Washing the fibres; passing them though combing and carding, the rewashing them after dyeing; mixing colours, they are mostly dusty, but not like yesterdays, that is the worst job of all. its inside, so we do it when its raining or snowing; Go and see Miss Worth and tell her where you are working' she is a nice lady to know"

Going out with the girls

"Do you want to come with us tonight? Theirs a dance at >>>>> My brother will be with us I think you will like him, he is an apprentice mechanic at Ramsdens; he is called Alan he is eighteen"

"Can I bring Angela from dyeing, Oh and how about Chris - Christine, she is to be one of us now"

During the night Alan inched closer to Gail, until they were rubbing shoulders, he put his arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze

G "Do you mind I am not looking to be squeezed"

Angela "She's not looking for a tup"

Alan "What's a tup"

G "A male sheep, we inspect tups before we buy them, they have to meet our standard"

Alan "How do you mean inspect them?

Angela "Have I to inspect him for you?

G "Yes go ahead, this I must see a blacksmith inspecting a tup"

Check his eyes - yes bright and clear; Teeth could do with a good clean; Chest, well not sure, it will do; Back, mm could be a bit stronger; Arms, well a bit more exercise; Legs, they will do, just his tackle.

Alan "What tackle?

Angela "Should we show him and give him a trial?

G "You two hold his arms, don’t let him loose"

Chris "I can undo his pants, pull them down Gail"

Angela "He has a nice tight, full bag, just feel it"

Chris "His sausage looks tempting, it feels hard and ready for some action; come and feel girls"

Gail "I have seen better on a tup"

They all had feel and a stroke before they let him go

Alan "You rotten lot, undressing me and playing with my bits"

Gwen "That's what happens when you try to take advantage of a lady, especially when she doesn't want it, your tackle looks nice to me bro"

Alan "You would have a good look"

Gwen "And a good feel, what is it eight inches, if you weren't my bro I would be tempted to have a better feel, and a longer stroke; it would be nice to see it spurt"

Josie asked do we make anything suitable for women to wear, I mean in colours for ladies?

No women could wear some of the country colours and the straight jackets. My sis Elizabeth has an outfit she goes to country shows in, A jacket like Robert wears most of the time, with a skirt, both in a country colours; a check shirt, with a cravat at the neck; and brogue shoes; all topped with a flat cap to match, John Angela's brother gave her a walking stick he bought at one of the fairs. Very much the country lady. What we want is some cloth in pastel colours, some samples of clothing, we could wear them. We would also need a sales lady, someone like Chris. I wouldn't want to go round to firms selling stuff. See if we can get Angela to agree, they do the colour matching.

Angela and Helen, both agreed. They worked on some colours and shades. The blue with flecks, was lightened but main and flecks. The main colour also had an all over tint (Blue with a pink over tone)

They had small samples dyed. Gail had arranged for Mary's Spinning wheel to be sent down; The sample yarn was spun as knitting wool and square samples were knitted.

Approval for a large sample batch to be made The artist was called upon to sketch a short jacket. Jackie brought in her mothers, hand powered sewing machine, to make some garments. The artist had a camera from which she could produce Daguerreotype pictures.

A consignment came for Percival from the forge. It contained a walking machine for Gail's birthday. Percival assembled and tested it. He kept it hidden from sight until her birthday. Then took it up to her office.

She couldn't wait to try it, hitching her skirts up. She put one leg over and sat on the seat. Her skirts were restricting movement; she took off her skirts "Oo Miss Gail" from the girls; That was better, what I need now is a pair of trousers, about two or three yards of the Dark Blue Country fabric should make a pair of bloomers.

J&B's

"Gail I want you to come to J&B's with me; I am not happy with the way they are recording orders and sales, they do not appear to be the same as yours"
"Yes Mrs Beatrix, I will just have a word with the girls, so they don't send out a search party"

David was waiting in the yard with the carriage ready; when they were settled in their seats Beatrix gave the order

"J&B's David if you please"

"Right away Mrs Stubley"

Outside the J&B's emporium, David jumped down from his seat to open the door and help the ladies to alight

"Shall I wait here Mrs Stubley?

"Yes David that would be fine"

Inside they had a walk around the store; Beatrix taking mental notes as she went round, little things which required attention later; A sales girl was called over "The collar and front of this blouse looks soiled, change it immediately"

"Yes Mrs Stubley"

In the office Mr Wilson met them "Good morning Mrs Stubley"

Good morning Wilson I have brought Gail to look at your books"

"Right Mrs Stubley" "This way Gail, so you want to look at our books"

"Yes Joe, she just want me to see how you keep them"

"I am Mr Wilson to you Gail, remember I am the office manager"

"Oh yes I know you are the office manager here, I am office manager in the mill, so I am Miss Worth to you, If you want to be formal, now the books, 'if you please!"

Gail opened the books the customer numbers were using a different system to the one Gail had designed

"These customer numbers have been incorrectly assigned; They are not as the system requires"

"They are correct, Miss Worth; Mrs Stubley got it from a business meeting"

"I know full well where Mrs Stubley got them from Mr Wilson, I was present at the time; I will have to take all your records and have them amended to fit in with my system, and those now in use by our sales people"

"Your system? Who do you think you are?

"Yes Mr Wilson, My system I devised it, our sales people use this system, we want both establishments to use the same system, to make it easier for Mrs Stubley and the auditors to understand, oh didn't you know one of my relations is an accountant and another is a solicitor? We often have business discussions about the latest trends, new developments and improvements, If communications were better I would have all the accounts in one place, Oh I have twice your staff now Gwen and Josie are now office supervisors; Your books if you please; Or even if you are not pleased, Joe. Once these are in the same order we can exchange workers should we need to, say one of us gets a sudden surge in work, or for illness, one of the ladies becomes pregnant and goes off work for a short time"

The books were brought "I will work on these over the weekend, Miss Gwen and Miss Josie will give me a hand; they will be returned as soon as we have completed our work. Thank you Joe for your assistance, could you call Mrs Stubley. Oh and someone to carry these books out for me"

"Right away; Miss Worth"

On the way back to Batley Beatrix asked "How did Mr Wilson take it?

"He was not at all pleased when I said If he wished to call me by my first name I could use his first name, or that he had made the customer numbers wrong, and was going to alter them this weekend; I will be using the boardroom"

"Don't spoil your weekend"

"That is how farmers work, every day there is something requiring attention. I will get Gwen of Josie to help, can David hold the carriage by the side door, while I get help to unload please"

Frank came to help

Back in the office

"Gwen; Josie; could one of you give me a hand" She told them what was required

"Luckily they are alphabetic, they just require to be rearranged, Oh and if you do come across Mr Wilson you both have to be called miss whatever your name is not just Gwen or Josie I told him you were supervisors not just plain workers, well you are heading that way, now we have more in the office"

"Thanks, Do we get a rise?

"Sadly no, we are on the top floor already"

"You and your jokes"

“Give it a little time, Oh then you can spend some time in JB’s as Joe’s equal, to help them out, may be”

Gwen and Josie, shared the work; one in the boardroom with Gail the other in the office

Gail worked on the records over the weekend. They were ready to send back on Monday

Beatrix called in to see if they could be returned

"Yes I worked on them over the weekend. It was too wet to go walking, you take one of the girls, either of them would relish being able to let Mr Wilson know they had moved up in the world, and expected to be called miss"

It was Josie who volunteered

"Good morning Mr Wilson"

"Oh if it isn't Jackie"

"Miss Jackie if you don't mind Mr Wilson, we are at the same level now> could you send someone to collect some books from Mrs Beatrix's carriage please"

"Have they been done already? It took a full week to do them"

"Easy when you know what you are doing and get on with it, we are too busy to play around"

"Thank you Mr Wilson, all our records are now compatible, we can do staff exchanges now, perhaps your buyers should also have their files updated now, like Mr Syubley"

The Visitor

A carriage pulled up outside the main door. The driver quickly jumped down to assist his passenger to alight "could you wait here for me please George? I may be a little while. I think the doorman is called Robert, if you should wish to meet him."

"Thank you sir"

The gentle man resplendent in a fine cut country suit in a mid grey with a dark red and dark blue overall check pattern, highly polished brown brogue shoes, topped with a soft hat to match his suit

"Good morning you must be Robert, I have heard so much about"

"Yes sir I am Robert, how may I help you sir"

" I am Titus Salt of Saltaire, I was just passing and thought I would pay my respects to your employers if I may"

"You mean you are Sir Titus Salt sir?

"Sorry Robert yes one and the same, you are quick on the uptake Mr Robert, were you in the military by any chance?

"Yes! Sir Titus, I was RSM in the Coldstream Guards, now retired"

"No wonder I have heard about you; nothing wrong; only how pleasant and polite you are"

"I am sorry sir Mr Joshua Stubley is mostly out on business; Mrs Stubley has another business in Dewsbury and is mostly there;

Mr Percival Ward and Mr Ebenezer Worth, are also both out looking at some new equipment; Miss Gail Worth, our office manager would be able to see you sir and possibly Miss Angela Ward and Miss Christine Stubley, they all work here sir. Would you like me to take you to see Miss Worth, I can send the boy to bring the other two to you, in Miss Worth's office; She is the main office manager, and one could say she runs the firm by herself?

"Yes if you don't mind escorting me to Miss Worth"

"Four flights of stairs Sir Titus"

"That will be quite alright, I keep fit and a few stairs wont harm, Oh and cut out the 'sir' for now"

R "A visitor for you Miss Gail, Sir Titus Salt of Saltaire; Sir Titus; Miss Gail Worth; I have sent the office boy to bring Miss Angela and Miss Christine for you"

G "How may I help Sir Titus, All the others are out, We, when the others arrive, are the only ones available just now, in fact all of today, we all have jobs in the mill, so the girls will be in their work clothes especially Christine, she works in the fibre cleaning and preparation. She is another story"

TS "I was just passing and thought I would pay my respects, my fault if people are out when I call unexpected. I have heard about your firms different approach, shall we say more friendly"

Titus was watching the office girls working

"Like these girls, they just keep on working, are they used to your discussing things in front of them, do you not have a private office?

"No sir so far I have not found the need; I work here alongside them, basically we are doing the same work; should I be called away, Gwen or Josie could take over, in fact we swap jobs around so that we don’t get bored, if you look we have tea cup by our ledgers, we have no canteen, they can make a drink any time, would you like a cup of tea Titus, It is alright to use your first name I hope; I am Gail"

The door opened to Angela

"Ah1 this is 'Angela from dyeing' as she prefers to be called, Angela Ward she is studying colour chemistry, her boss and supervisor are the course tutors"

TS "Very handy, do you get special attention?

A "No sir there are only two of us anyway; it is through the local Mechanics Institute, the other student is a boy from a local firm, all that they do is dye other peoples yarn; we dye only our own and we test the shade is correct, also we can make up colours or shades to order, we have just made a colour range suited to women's wear"

TS "You said we?

A "Yes sir Josie came up with the idea of a woman's range we that is Gwen, Josie, both here, Christine, Gail and me and my supervisor Helen. Got together and arranged some shades Christine and an artist drew up some clothes. We got permission the make a test run. The clothe samples have now been made and should be in a local shop in a few days, Christine is acting as our representative"

TS "And you got it agreed"

A "Well they could have been out voted at a shareholders meeting; Gail, Christine, their brothers and me are also shareholders oh and our two mothers, but we could work on them, they did approve any way, Why was everything aimed at men, that was Josies question

Christine came in, she was wearing an engineers blue boiler suit "Sorry if I am late I was putting some greasy fibres into the washer"

G "Come in Christine, Miss Christine Stubley, Titus. Meet Sir Titus Salt, he had called in for a chat. Christine gave up studying at university so she could join us. Dont sit down, Josie give Chris some paper to covert he chair before she sits on it"

C "Well I thought it better to join in this new venture at the beginning, than study sociology. Live it rather than read it"

TS "And what do you think of working for a living Christine?

C "I like it. They set me off to pick out all the coloured and soiled fibers, I got covered in the worst stuff you could ever think of my new dress was ruined, but it taught me a lesson. Now I work in Fiber Preparations, every thing from raw fleece to dyeing the washed fibers and yarn, that part is Angela's job. Gail keeps saying we are going to have a trip round and see what happens from raw fleece to finished cloth"

TS "Now that sounds an interesting trip for you, office girls being shown how everything fits together, mostly you are working in isolation, you do your bit, with no idea of where your bit fits in"

G "I am sure Sir Titus didn't come just to meet with us girls, did you Titus?

TS "Well no! I came to talk about further education and our present basic school standards. But his has been very interesting, Three young girls. Seemingly running an enterprise the size of this, and quite well, I may say.

A "When I joined the dye-house, that was the first question. Can you do arithmetic, evidently some are unable to add two numbers together, also, Mrs Beatrix, has said they cannot read or add up, she was, as been thinking of a school on premises, say one afternoon a week, as she says they have to pay for school, and they are often short of money.

G "Short of money, part is when they lock them out if they are one minute late, they lose a full days pay, Our rules are they are docked a quarter of an hours pay, we get their output for the day, its simple economics. Oh and we do not run the full business; Percival Mr Ward does all the mechanics, Dad; 'Mr Worth', is in charge of production, Angela and Christine are just workers, for now: I am just an office girl like Gwen And Josie, my brother and Christine's are both sort of odd job men, they work in turn with Robert, who you met on the door; and part time on the factory floor. Wherever they are required"

TS "I can see you don't need any persuading to join in my fight for a better education system. Would it be alright for me to pay another call, when would be best, do you think?

G "Most mornings I think, oh except Mondays. If we know when you want to come we can have a meeting in the board room, with refreshments laid on, shall we say about eleven o'clock, with a sandwich, working lunch, You could meet with the elders and call us in should you need any of us. Just write and tell us your best day, I am sure we can make proper arrangements for you.

TS "Thank you, Gail and ladies for you hospitality and an interesting meeting. I will do just that, Then if possible arrange for a few other like minded people to another meeting. Thank you again ladies, until we meet again"

G "I will walk down with you to your carriage Titus"

At the main door Gail put her head in the doorman's office

"I have to tell Robert that our visitor is leaving, an unwritten rule we have, then if we have to evacuate we know who we are looking for"

"Sir Titus is leaving Robert"

Robert came out "I hope you have had a successful meeting Sir Titus"

TS "Very successful and an enlightening one thank you Robert" "Do you know Gail seeing how you three girls pull together pleases me, To see you young one working like you do, and how you manage to work alongside and in charge of your friends like that, most people forget their friendship when the become their bosses, I will be in touch"

The driver closed the door. Sir Titus gave a wave as the carriage drove away

Back upstairs in the office Angela and Christine were still waiting, taking the chance to have a chat

C "I think he was impressed with the way we run things, at least that we were able to take over when those he really would have seen were absent.

You are right there Christine and you in your greasy boiler suit, shows you do some of the mucky work, Ooo and just to think of the posh girl in her party frock, what a change

"Yes and she is happier than she has ever been, life now has a purpose"

"You never thought that you would be working here and happy to do so, as you walked home all mucky, hair in rata tails, party frock ruined; But I'm pleased to say you fought back, and showed us what you were made of"

It was two weeks later: A letter came from Sir Titus Salt 'Following my meeting with Miss Gail Worth and the other ladies Misses Stubley and Ward.

I would like to arrange a further meeting with members of your management.

One subject being education; both primary and further education >>>>>

Could we say Wednesday >>>>> 10.00 am

Beatrix wrote to confirm the meeting and time in the boardroom. She then informed Mary and Alice; requesting for them to provide a few sandwiches, with a selection of fillings, suitably labeled. Drinks? Arrange for tea and soft drinks. I understand Sir Titus is strictly tea total.

She expected Joshua to be away, he was already booked up, with hotels and transport arranged

Sir Titus Salt, Percival, Ebenezer, Herself, Angela, Christine, Gail. Seven people

Mary asked had anyone a large enough tea pot

The answer was no. So Percival was asked to source and purchase a gas tea urn.

The entrance was given a special clean. Robert chose his favorite brown jacket with black trousers, all neatly pressed.

Christine was persuaded to wear a Burgundy skirt, with a blouse from 'Cool in Cotton' and a Burgundy waist coat (Skirt and waistcoat from her wardrobe of work wear as sales representative). The other two girls also wore skirts and blouses from the range, making sure they were different, Gail choosing a herring bone twill weave in Light tan and dark brown, with a waistcoat in light tan over an embroidered with blouse from Cool in Cotton; while Angela chose a skirt with waistcoat to match from the standard range in pale blue.

Gail watched the road from Roberts office window, overlooking the road outside. As Sir Titus's carriage pulled up they went out to meet him, just as the driver had opened to door.

G "Good morning, Sir Titus"

ST "Good morning Miss Gail"

G "We are in the board room. Robert will see to your driver and carriage, they will take it through into the factory yard"

Gail then led the way through into the boardroom, where the others were awaiting.

G "Good morning every body. Sir Titus Salt;" then proceeded to introduce each person individually; when it came to Angela and Christine" Sir Titus said "We have met previously, and may I say you both look charming today in your best clothes; especially you Christine in a fine outfit, a great improvement on your boiler suit"

C "Thank you Sir Titus, this is my sales representatives outfit, but unfortunately I still have to put in time on the factory floor"

G "Please be seated everyone; Sir Titus would you care to sit here, between Beatrix and Percival"

Percival welcomed Sir Titus to the meeting

ST "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I have had quite a few remarks about this new 'upstart firm" on my travels; all to the good I must say. My meeting with Miss Gail and her colleagues confirmed all the good comments. What I wish to discuss is the state of the education system, or rather the lack of it, also the provision for further education through the Mechanics Institutions.