In this section you will find stories of working lives of people who share the same employer or have a shared experience.
Water Mills Marshes.
Life and Work on the Broads
1920-2020.
Published October 2020
Almost 100 stories were recorded for this Heritage Lottery funded project, as part of the larger Water, Mills and Marshes project https://watermillsandmarshes.org.uk/.
There are tales of life and childhood on the marshes; stories of work and boating on the waterways; restoration of mills, and stories of the great variety of work and activities taking place on the marshes including conservation initiatives. It concludes with a glimpse into a possible future for the Broads.
The book is available from good bookshops and from Bittern Books https://bitternbooks.co.uk/product/water-mills-and-marshes/?bbaf=wise .
See the Water, Mills & Marshes archive and News.
Norfolk crafts
Colman's of Norwich: former employees
Working lives of former Colman employees
Under our Heritage Lottery Funded project – R
ecording the stories of former Colman employees we collected many interesting stories about this internationally known Norwich business – now owned by Unilever – the earliest being the tale of a young teenager who worked there in 1935. Our book entitled Colman’s of Norwich: Stories of Former Employees 1935-1995 is available from bookshops or direct from us, price £12, including postage.
Hear more about it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyspG242ufw
Corton House Norwich
Doughty's Hospital Norwich
Magdalen Gates Norwich
Gressenhall Beech House
Milk Marketing Board
Working in the Health Services 1946-2003
This volume contains stories told to WISEArchive’s volunteers over the period 2008 to 2013 by men and women who worked in the UK health sector during the twentieth century. Some of them were already at work before the start of the NHS, some entered relatively late in their working lives. They adapted to changing times as working conditions, attitudes to patients, knowledge and expectations evolved over the decades. They were not averse to change and took the opportunities as they arose to change jobs and retrain as their careers developed. They accepted the long hours and more physical work required of them compared to today; they talk about poor food and rationing and describe some desperate living conditions, especially in the cities following the war.Contact us to purchase a copy (£7 including p&p)
Mile Cross Residents
Jarrolds: former employees
In 2006 WISEArchive collected stories from former employees of Jarrold of Norwich. The common theme is expressed by Tony when he says, ‘Politeness, civility and helpfulness was the main motto, and that’s how it was’.