This audio recording is raw, unedited material of an interview with Mrs Hurst (born 1911) speaking about her life experiences in the first half of the 20th century. Due to the raw nature of the recording, there are some interruptions and a few abrupt endings mid-sentence. However, the recording is clear and may be useful within a historical and socially relevant context.

She begins by speaking about her schooldays; taking the Eleven Plus exam, attending grammar school and the teachers who taught her. She then speaks about looking for work and the tests she took to prove her ability, working for eight shillings a week in a shop, at the cash desk. She mentions particularly the Lampson Paragon system, the switchboard, the clocking on system and learning how to work the Burrows calculating machine.

She speaks about moving on to a telephone operator job, working for twelve shillings and sixpence a week initially, doing the banking and eventually leaving work to get married at age 22. The tradition of women not working after marriage at the time is discussed. It is explained that her father and brother were invited to go and live with the interviewee and her husband, as her mother had died that year. Therefore, she was extremely busy with housekeeping, some specifics of which are described.

She speaks about having her son and the schools he attended, going on to discuss women working during the war and the opportunities that became available. She is prompted by the interviewer to compare women’s lives at the time and things such as divorce, contraception, unmarried mothers and men’s attitudes to those at the time of recording (the mid 1980s).

The interview concludes with the speaker discussing how the second world war changed women’s outlook on life, how puberty was/wasn’t explained to young people and medical provision at the time. This audio recording last 46 minutes and 07 seconds.

The original recording is held at the East Midlands Oral History Archive , (EMOHA ref. 753, LO/0121/072).