Barbara worked in Clerical Accounts prior to her marriage 1949, was a housewife and mother for 14 years, then again worked in Clerical Accounts of all types from 1963-90, including working with the public and working for a local newspaper.

Summary of Interview

Domestic Technology

Cleaning and washing facilities generally, underwent many technological changes in this period. In the first years of her marriage she had no automatic washing machine and washed clothes manually. Seeing as it was just after the war, materials for housing and machinery were scarce and people had to make do with what they had. Eventually Mrs. Settle and her husband found a house and most of the furniture they brought in was second hand. It wasn't until 1955 that they were able to afford a washing machine. Before the washing machine, she used to wash clothes in what was called a gas boiler, that was built into the house itself. It was about the size of a dustbin and was quite round in shape, it wasn't especially noisy but it did get very hot and steamy. The actual process of washing took about a day if you include drying out etc. and Mrs. Settle said she washed clothes usually every day.

The first automatic washing machine she had was a fairly large, upright machine with an electric ringer on the top. The second was a 'twin-turbo' which she kept until 1985. The whole process of washing became much easier and she wasn't baffled by it at all.

Cooking has also changed quite significantly for Mrs. Settle over the years. Initially she had a gas cooker which could also be used as a work surface when folded down - this was very advantageous because in those days kitchens were much smaller and work surfaces were at a premium. She found it quite hard to adapt to a new electric cooker which she had when she married for the second time and at first had quite a few problems in trying to adjust. The big problem she has experienced with electric cookers is that it is difficult to regulate temperature in the same way you can with gas but generally she has adapted well and has been using electric ever since. They are also "safer, cleaner and more efficient" she says.

She also has a non-computerised microwave which took a bit of getting used to at first, especially after the scare stories about radiation etc.

The introduction of a fridge was also a much welcomed piece of modern technology for Mrs. Settle. Before the fridge, she had to keep food cool in the pantry by storing goods in cold water. Whilst the advancement in domestic technology has not left Mrs. Settle feeling in any way redundant- in the sense that her skills are no longer needed-it has left her feeling a little sad. "A great deal of satisfaction can be derived from housework", she says, and advancing technology has perhaps lessened the pride that can come from it.

Technology in the workplace

Mrs. Settle experienced the whole changing process in the way in which we record pieces of information from hand-written methods, to ledgers and ultimately to computers. A ledger was essentially a document booklet completed each day keeping a continuous record of finances. It was written not with the biros that we might use today, but in old fashioned ink. The greater use of accounting machines greatly affected Barbara's job. Of all the people on the staff, she was the one chosen for the task of going off to be trained on how to use this new device. It saw the movement away from hand-written books to manually printed cards which kept a record of customer's accounts. Generally it was a very positive advancement although it was very frustrating when it broke down and to a degree removed the sense of pride that existed when employees used to take care to neatly hand-write accounting books. They cost about £2000 and were about 2ft long with a bar at the back which had to be manually adjusted to contain all the clients' cards.

As a journalist she noticed many changes again mostly in accounting. Her first husband did not have a car and as a journalist she would travel to work by bus. Generally she believed that attitudes towards her as a female worker have improved although she was never really in a work environment dominated by men and so it is perhaps difficult for her to say. Initially she was paid in cash for her services as an accountant and when she retired in 1990 she was paid directly into her bank account and so she, like so many of her generation have undergone significant change in this area. She did not actually have a bank account until quite later on in her career when she was obliged to open one or else she wouldn't be paid! She feels sad in some ways about this change because the satisfaction of handling 'real cash' can never truly be substituted. She does not have a bank credit card, although she does have a cheque card. She does not like cash machines and this is one of her reasons for not having a card. She dislikes the way it is so impersonal.

As a worker for a large furnishing company, she remembers the day computers first started to drift into the office. They were stored in a special computer room away from the office - the paper work was done by them and then taken to computer 'experts' and programmed in. The way she describes them suggests that they really were a mystery to her and her colleagues and the way they were 'guarded' suggests how importantly they were viewed. As an accountant she disliked having to use computers. She was always very precise and certain about doing the sums and did not want to place too much trust in this new machine. Significantly it was the development of computers that practically forced her out of a job - although seeing as she was near retirement age anyway she simply retired. "I resented it from day one" she says about computers. Computers have changed people's attitudes so much according to Mrs. Settle - people have great trust in computers - but there is a danger that this is putting too much faith in a piece of machinery and not remembering to check manually. ".

She feels resentful that she has to keep up with modern technology for the sake of mere survival and that the government really hasn't done enough to inform her generation about large technological changes that have had big impacts on people's lives. Courses that are available tend to be too expensive for many elderly people to afford and for intelligent, proud, people, she argues, to have something so big in the world be a mystery in effect, is most worrying. Her attitude can be summed up in one line: "I am not adverse to computers, I just want to know more about them".

Contribute your memories

Return to Holmbush Court