Alice Ingham – A Life in Pitsmoor

In the fast and hectic pace of the 21st century, most of us will move house, change neighbourhoods, jobs and even schools several times during our lifetimes. Alice Ingham, a Pitsmoor resident for almost ninety years, has a very different story to tell. Not only has she lived almost all her life on the same street in Pitsmoor, but she went to only one school and worked for only one firm. Not many of us can boast of such a strong connection to one place.

Alice was born in 1916 into a terraced house on Fox Street, her parents having moved there as soon as they were married. She was the oldest of three children and they grew up together playing on the street or further down the hill in a big field “with a castle on top”.

Between the ages of five and fourteen, Alice went to the local school at Pye Bank. “There was only the one school at that time but just after I left, a new school, Burngreave Secondary Modern, opened and my brother and sister went there. But I didn’t have that chance.” Instead she was sent by the Labour Exchange to work at the Bachelor’s factory behind the Wicker. That was the beginning of a long stint of over 40 years, interrupted only by the Second World War.

“I started on piece work, going through sacks of dried peas and picking out the bad ones. You were paid by the weight of the discarded ones but you had to earn eight shillings’ worth each week, otherwise they took it off next week’s wages! And it was a ten-hour shift each day, although I did manage to get home for lunch,” said Alice. “By the time I was 21, I had become a supervisor and then Bachelor’s started a canning factory at Wadsley Bridge. So I moved on to work there, still for the same firm, mind you.”

Then came the war years, interrupting both her home life and her job. “During the Blitz, our house was damaged in a bombing raid. We were about to sit down to meat and potato pie for our tea one night when the sirens sounded and we had to go into the shelter in the garden. When we came out the following morning, everything was still on the tea table but covered in soot. But there were plenty around us who had been killed in the bombing.” The family moved over to Gleadless temporarily, coming back a few months later to a house a few doors up on the same street. During this time Alice had not been able to get to work but, as soon as she was back in Pitsmoor, she resumed her working routine for another thirty years. “After fifteen years’ service, I got a gold watch and after forty, they gave me a bedroom suite. Even now that I’m a pensioner, they send me vouchers for Christmas and my birthday. They were good to me!”

At almost ninety, Alice is still deeply attached to Pitsmoor. When asked why she had never moved away, she said, “It’s always been quiet and clean here, people are friendly and you can walk to town. I’ve never wanted to leave.”

by Nikky Wilson

If you would like to read more about Alice’s life and the stories of other women, call into Burngreave Library and ask for a free copy of ‘Shadows Lie Behind’ by Kate Thomas.