Money on't Table - Grit, Work and Family Pride

Book excerpt: Their parents worked as miners and lace workers, but by the mid-twentieth century new opportunities beckoned for the children of the Midlands. 'Walking up Quarry Street, Albert felt a huge surge of pride. His first pay packet. He'd earned it all himself. His heart nearly burst out of his chest as he placed the money on the kitchen table in front of his mother. She picked it up, smiled briefly, and then said, "It's not a lot, but it'll do."' Derek, Betty, Albert, Pauline, Doreen and Bob came from families where every penny counted. Education meant sacrifice, and even children had to help their family through illness, poverty and disaster. Leaving school as young as thirteen, they went to work at the Great British companies Boots, Players and Raleigh. Their new lives took them from cigarette packing, sewing machine piecework and selling rubber 'prophylactics' to places their parents could not have dreamt of - fitting lingerie, working on the Queen Mary and even becoming a director at Boots. Following the loves and losses of six young men and women, Money on't Table is the true story of building new lives and a new Britain.