My working life started at Selby shipyard, Cochrane And Sons Ltd, I worked there for about six months, But I found that only the sons of trades men, would get a apprenticeships, in the good trades, This practice was well flawed, as the lad may not have had the learning ability to do the job, The rest of the tradesmen, would help other trades out, if they were waiting for a job to do In their trade. That is why I handed in my notice, and started work at Rostrons & Sons, paper makers, I knew that I was not going to get a trade that I wanted, after working for Rostrons for about three months, I was going home for my dinner, I would pass S W Swifts yard, and offices, Out of the yard rode Mickey Ross, we were at school together. He shouted to me they are setting on apprentices, and I have just got an Apprentice Joiners Job, as he disappeared down Millgate. So I road into Swifts yard, there was a small window in a door of the Offices, I knocked on the little window, it had a sign saying Ring the bell for attention, So I rang the bell and a man came to the window in the door, he pulled the small window back, and asked me what I wanted, I said that I was told that you were setting on Apprentice Joiners, he then said they had all gone, but he had an Apprentice Bricklayers job going, and I could have that if I was interested, I said yes please, not knowing what they did, only my father had always said; get a trade if you can, he asked me to fill in a form, And sign it, and he told me that I could start on Monday morning, At 7:30am, my wages would be two pounds fifty shillings a week, I was getting five pound a week At Rostrons, it would be two pound fifty shillings less a week, but I would have a trade at The end of the apprenticeship. On the following Monday morning, I was in Swifts yard at 7:20am, I informed the yard foreman, that I was a new apprentice bricklayer; he said ,get on that wagon over there, I had to climb up the back, and over the side into the back of the wagon, there was about Twelve men sat on the floor, and one asked, are you one of us, I replied yes, not knowing What he meant, I later found out that they were all Irish men, and were asking if I was a Catholic, Swifts employed a lot of Catholics, and I was going to the pipe track, with Harry Tags gang. Harry was a top Gangers; he lived at the bottom of Richard Street, on the right hand side, Next to Selby towns football ground, I lived at 22 Scott Road, on the corner of Richard Street, he was thought highly of by the Swift brothers, he ran a section of the pipe track, That Swifts were constructing; all were Irish men, except for most of the men that operated The diggers, most were English and Ernie Foster, the Bricklayer, he did any brick work that Was needed, his first words to me were, I am the kiddie, I later found out that he thought He was the best Bricklayer going; I can see him after fifty years, cutting a pipe, With no sand packed inside, That is how pipes were cut, before Pipe Cutters were invented, Or the Still Saw. He would have a big beam on his face, when the pipe split along the line He had made using his Brick Hammer, he would say ,I am the kiddie, and I did not learn a lot, But I was only a young lad, and just being among all the plant and drivers, was enough to Keep my brain occupied. There was Len on the big Bulldozer; it was one of Swifts top pieces of plant, costing many Thousands of pounds, and Len was one of Swifts top plant drivers, he was a really nice person, And would help anyone. To be trusted with plant, a man would have to start looking after the small plant, and work His way up, until he could be trusted with a range of heavy plant. It in its self was an apprenticeship; they had to keep their peace of plant, clean and fully Greased, and treat it with respect. I came across Len Mathews years later, he had not changed, and still the happy most help full man you could wish to meet.