From
a land where petrol is 1/8d a gallon and sea bathing a chief recreation
comes Mr. William J. Middleton, formerly of Sunny Bank, Knottingley.
Although it is not two years since he went to Trinidad, where he is works
manager of a glass factory, he renews with a shock his acquaintance with
rationing and prices in this country.
There
is food and fruit in abundance where he is, and working conditions are not
quite what might be imagined in a glass trade in a semi-tropical land.
There is much less of a contrast for the men coming away from the furnaces
into the colder air and at the same time the trade winds keep the
atmosphere fairly fresh. With the exception of Mr. Middleton, the general
manager, and maintenance engineer and the electrician, the personnel of
the factory are drawn from the island. Mr. Middleton’s former colleagues
will be interested to hear that the factory uses the Monish bottle-making
machines, well known locally.
Mr.
Middleton has been around quite a lot since he left his employment at
Bagley’s Knottingley, some years ago. He worked for two firms in London;
then with four other men, operated a glass works at Bishop’s Stortford.
When he began in the West Indies he did not forget the days when he played
for Bagley’s Recreation football and cricket teams. Almost every kind of
sport known in this country is played on the island including Rugby Union.
Mr. Middleton soon had a works team of West Indians playing ‘soccer’
and they won the district cup. He has not touched cricket yet but there
seems to be no need of coaching in that sport. "They seem to be born
with a bat in their hands out there," he says.
Mr.
Middleton followed another Knottingley man, Mr. David Skelton, who is now
working at Mombasa, to the works at Trinidad. His father died recently,
but his mother still lives at Knottingley.
