Stories Of Steel -My Snappin

Description

Les Hogg was a steelworker. A furnace-man at the John Summers & Sons works in Shotton, Flintshire.

In this clip, from an extended interview, Les tells of his joining the Summers business as a "junior-op" -the ubiquitous calling which gave lads fresh from secondary-modern schools a taste of the various tasks and responsibilities at "heavy-end" of making and rolling steel. Les stayed the course and as his experience and skills evolved, he grew into a job and a workplace he cherished.

This clip was captured as the session was winding-up, Les tells of the ritual of the "snappin". This was the snack, prepared by the woman at home and carried by every manual worker, to be eaten on-the-job, during the mid-shift break.

Every steelworker remembered his "snappin". Not always fondly.

Sorry about the cameraman/interviewer's barely stifled reaction to the end of Les's tale.

Recorded with the kind assistance of Meryn & Roy Baskett