Fun and laughter for the girls who sewed while Frank Sinatra sang

THOUSANDS of military uniforms were produced for His Majesty’s Forces by the girls of Edgards’ Whitehaven factory – and sometimes those saucy single sewing machinists would pop a secret note into the breast pocket of a jacket, hoping for a reply from some dashing young serviceman who might find it.

Sometimes they got lucky!

It was all part of the fun of working at Edgards, a family business where a happy atmosphere prevailed.

In its heyday it employed around 500 women, and a handful of men who were more than happy to be so well outnumbered!

A machinist wasn’t a true member of the sewing sisterhood until she had suffered the agony of a sewing machine needle through a finger or thumb. It was an occupational hazard and you tried not to let it happen too often for it meant a date with the pliers.

Ouch! Some initiation.

Among the male employees was one Frank Lewthwaite, who had joined H. Edgard & Sons (London) Ltd in 1945, starting in the cutting room and then moving on to the mechanics shop where his boss, Mr Wilson Sellers, was in charge of maintenance throughout the factory.

Frank was to remain with the firms for 35 years, retiring in 1979.

He recalls how in its early years the business operated out of Catherine Mill, formerly known as Barracks Mill, once home to the Whitehaven militia.

The Barracks Mill operation was on three floors and a chute was used to send garments down to the pressing room below. Though it was frowned upon, some girls used it as a short-cut to the toilets! But if you got caught having a sneaky ciggy in the toilets you were clocked out and sent home to think about it – not the thought that smoking might have been damaging your health but because you had been absent from your machine on company time!

Edgards was a London firm, started in Chelsea in 1850, and run by a London family, brothers David, Leo and Derek Edgard, and later Alf, and sister Daphne.

Because it was key to War Office operations, the firm had been moved out of the capital in 1940 because it was being bombarded by the Blitz. They were civil and military tailors manufacturing “Garments of Distinction’’, including riding habits.

More than one million uniforms for the forces were made by Edgards and some can still be found today, offered for sale on the internet as collectors’ items.

Military uniforms for both men and women were made for the Army, the RAF, the Marines (some for the USA), for military bandsmen and for Royal Yacht personnel.

After a seven-year stint at Barracks Mill, the Edgards operation moved, in 1947, to new premises: the vacated Romney Pram Factory in Preston Street (the site now occupied by Netto). The war had ended and the production of demob suits was now in full flow, though the production of military wear still continued.

Music filled the industrious air at Edgards with radio programmes such as Music While You Work, Workers’ Playtime and Housewives’ Choice regularly broadcast. And the machinists often brought in their own favourite records to be played over the Tannoy system – Mario Lanza, Bing Crosby, the Ink Spots, Sinatra and, later, numbers by Elvis and the Beatles.

It was the people who made the place tick, and Frank remembers with affection some of the characters and key workers who made their mark, such as Laurie Fatt (cutting room manager), Harry Ross (cutting room), Eve Ross (personnel manager), Mr Gold the tailor, known as Old Gold, and his daughter Mildred who worked in the office.

And there were the old Cockneys, Dick Hunt, the porter, and Mrs Hunt who looked after the toilets; Mr Wiseman, the machinist supervisor, and Harry Newmark, production supervisor. Marion Stephenson was hand-sewing and passing supervisor for many years, Marjorie Walker (née Fox) was wages clerk, canteen cook Hilda McGuiness and her three daughters Patsy, Pauline and Frances, who married Bill McAlone, one of Whitehaven RL’s greats.

“We had some excellent European workers too, from Poland and Italy. There were some brilliant tailors such as Tony Armellino and his brother Salvadori,’’ says Frank.

S EVERAL romances blossomed during the years at Edgards and the wedding bells would be ringing. There would be a collection for the happy couple and somebody would be despatched to Harry S Taylor’s to purchase an appropriate gift.

There was also a staff swimming club, convened on Friday nights at the Whitehaven Baths on Duke Street.

Besides their business interests Leo and Dave Edgard had two race horses, Leo-da and Lemon Dip. “Frank Chapman from despatch would drive Mr Leo to various race courses. And I remember in 1952 he brought world-champion table tennis players to town for events. Johnny Leach and Richard Bergman played exhibition matches at the Oddfellows Hall and Kells Welfare.

“Nick Brannon, a pattern maker, still has a small metal table-tennis bat that Richard Bergman used at the Oddfellows. Local table tennis stars were invited to play Bergman. They could stand but he would sit on a chair to field the strokes and would give them a few points start.’’

Derek Edgard, who was to marry machinist Winifred Chambers, was a director of Workington Reds and was also keen on the greyhound track. “He was a pipe smoker and when I was going down to Whittles ironmongers to buy zinc plate for pattern markers I would be asked to call at Barr’s tobacconists on Lowther Street for a tin of Tam-o-Shanter.’’

At one time Edgards had four shops, mainly providing a dry-cleaning service, but also selling women’s clothing. The stores were at King Street and Lowther Street in Whitehaven with one in Workington and another at Castle Street, Carlisle.

In 1970 a second factory was opened at Clifton, Workington, and employed more than 100 workers. Then in 1973 the firm was taken over by Francis Summer Holdings Ltd and another chapter began.

For Frank Lewthwaite, who retired in the late 1970s, Edgards had been a good place to work. “Great lasting friendships were formed over three generations. It was a family factory and a pleasure to have worked there. I miss it.’’