Oral History collection: Mrs Elaine Harris (née Turner) (born 26 Jun. 1916, Swansea; grew up in Morriston, housewife) interviewed by Mrs Pamela Platt about Describes what the lower Swansea Valley was like (industries, etc.), home life, schooldays, Second World War, marriage, children.

Track 1. [00:00:01] Personal Details: Elaine Harris, aged 87, b Swansea 26/6/16, lived in Morriston, d of Steelworks engineering blacksmith. [00:02:57] Personal Details: 1 brother, 4 sisters. [00:03:25] Utilities: Electric; tap shared between 2 houses, all water had to be boiled. [00:04:24] Housing: House description. [00:04:56] Poverty: Won scholarship to Grammar; father out of work entire time. [00:05:50] Personal Details: House was semi-rural. [00:07:29] Recreation: Children's games. [00:08:51] Industry: Swansea Valley full of industry. [00:09:06] Industry: Pollution. [00:10:23] Housing: Terracing, pre-1914, "miles". [00:11:00] Society: Household labour divisions. [00:12:32] Food: Families kept chickens, grew veg - use of field. [00:14:06] Unions: Craft unions controlled work. [00:15:56] Education: Taught sewing, knitting, cookery at school. [00:16 30] Education: English, maths, French, Geography, History for CWB. [00:17:04] Poverty: Stigma of free meals at school. [00:18:00] Education: Discipline strict, frightful Head, uniforms. [00:19:24] Education: Left at 17post-CWB, lost a year through medical problems. [00:20:47] Education: If no scholarship, c £8 per quarter(?) per child, so next three sisters left. [00:21:25] Swansea: "Lovely town" pre-bombing. [00:24:30] Leisure: Parents only ever had one holiday, post-WW2. [00:26:27] Work: "Office work" post-school; no pay as trainee nurse. [00:28:37] Personal Details: Account of courtship. [00:29:36] Leisure: Chapels use as social hubs. [00:30:29] Leisure: 6d/9d cinema entry. [00:31:38] Wages: 10s [50p] pw first wages, 9d stamp deduction (1933). [00:31:52] Work: Hours: 9-6 Mon-Fri, and Sat ams. [00:32:21] Work: Overtime: 6-9pm, extra shilling. [00:36:38] Childbirth: Social customs, childbirth. [00:40:02] Transport: Long walks to and from work. [00:41:52] War: War memories - sirens, bombing (sister survived Coventry and Swansea raids), bombed out of Swansea flat. [00:46:31] Housing: Pre-fab housing, post-war, Swansea Valley.. Track 2. [00:00:01] Personal Details: Continuation of DD Z 616-14,Elaine Harris, aged 87, b Swansea 26/6/16. [00:00:52] War: Husband David in RAF, fitter, Weston-Super Mare, Cotswolds. [00:03:51] Work: Elaine: Prudential Agent, itinerant, 1942. [00:06:15] Housing: Pre-fabs: high opinion. [00:08:28] Housing: "Key workers" priority. [00:09:11] Poverty: Accounts of relative poverty/wealth, diet, clothes. [00:12:29] Clothing: Father repaired shoes at home, with last. [00:13:14] Commerce: Itinerant food pedlars (watercress, laverbread, cockles). [00:15:15] Diet: Laverbread, fish from pedlars. [00:17:00] Commerce: Gypsy & rag & bone men. [00:18:00] Commerce: Deliveries (Co-op). [00:18:40] War: Rationing, supplies, shops. [00:20:46] Commerce: Old Swansea Market. [00:22:50] Sanitation: Outside toilets, until c 1927-28, when mains connection made in houses. [00:23:53] Sanitation: No mains in Gower until post-WW2. [00:24:45] Pollution: Heavy industry, Swansea Vale, cleared post-war [site of Enterprise Zone], moved to Port Talbot. [00:26:44] Health: Impact of coalmining, health & environment. [00:30:40] Transport: Swansea: hills, so few bikes, motorised bikes saved business (subjects had Raleigh dealership)