The memories of Cynthia Kite (nee Smith)

Working Life
It was 1950 and Cynthia was 15 years old. She was introduced to Aspro by her sister Evelyn and started work in the mailroom on Buckingham Avenue, where most young girls commenced working life. It was common for families, especially the females, to work at Aspros. During her first year she was taught how to type, as well as opening, sorting and delivering the post to all the departments. Cynthia found it interesting and a quick way to get to know everybody. It was a long day with an 8am start and finishing at 5.30pm.

Cynthia eventually moved to the accounts department of about 5 women, through the encouragement of Evelyn who had previously worked there. Pat Graham was the manager in charge and lived in Stoke Poges. They did the wages, sales and purchase ledger, typing cheques and using National Cash Register machines (NCR). Aspros canteen had continued its high quality standards, run at that time by Stan Haines and Cynthia recalls the NCR engineer always planning his visit at lunch times to get a free meal. A man named Freddy Knope, who was in charge of the mailroom would accompany Cynthia to the bank on the Trading Estate, to collect the cash for the wages.

Cynthia met her future husband, Tony Kite, at a works Cricket Club event, he too was working in the accounts department.
Aspro proved to be an equal opportunities company by employing a telephonist, called Les, who was totally blind. He received special training by St. Dunstons, for Aspro’s very antiquated telephone system. When someone rang in a disk would descend, Les would feel this and then plug into a socket. Cynthia and her friend, Marion, would be the lunchtime relief. Les recognised everyone’s voices and when attending the dances would say ‘Is that Cynthia’, followed with a cuddle, which he enjoyed with all the young girls. He was a popular man and Les’s wife, who worked in the factory, was quite tolerant and happy. When Aspro updated the system consisting of lights, obviously Les could no longer operate. However they redeployed him to the typing pool surrounded by females, so he was even more in his element.

Time keeping was monitored closely and when Cynthia and her colleagues arrived in the morning they would have to pass Mrs Newman. If you happened to be late, she would give you a form to complete. Tony Kite was always late and would create the ‘silliest of excuses’, eg caught in traffic in Eton High Street. Although it was one way over the bridge and it did get congested, but Tony always started his journey late, so he was never going to combat. The form was little, but Tony was able to write a short story front and back. Tony had his own car, whereas Cynthia relied on the bus. Mrs Newman would say ‘You’re always late, Tony, not like your girlfriend, who’s always early’. It was not just for work, Tony many times kept Cynthia waiting for a date and her mother was always quick to remark.

During Cynthia’s time, she moved to the new site on the Bath Road. She had thought it would be quite chaotic, however the organisation and precision was fantastic. On the Friday, all the office staff were asked to label all their belongings and on Monday morning they arrived to find everything in its place.
After 12 years of working at Aspro, Cynthia left as she was pregnant with their first child. She hadn’t enjoyed knitting and remembers one of the girls making a shawl for the baby.

Social Events
Cynthia recalls pantomimes, Xmas and New Year dances, sports competitions, individual office parties and block bookings for London shows. On one occasion they saw Bob Hope at the Palladium and one of the staff got ‘tiddly’, and proceeded to fall asleep and provide a musical accompaniment of snoring loudly. At the dances, the focus remained on actually dancing with a proper band playing. Before Cynthia worked at Aspro she was attending these events as Evelyn would sell programmes and bring home tickets.

Cynthia remembers:
Middleton Burn, was a conjuror and when on stage, he appeared immaculate donning a white suit with bow-tie. In the office, working in statistics, his dress code was somewhat different and wore large horn-rimmed spectacles. He was always rubbing his hands, possibly keeping them supple for his magic tricks. His wife, Kathleen, although not working for Aspro, would appear as principal boy on stage.
There were summer cricket matches with teams from the factory and office staff. There was a certain amount of rivalry between the 2, however all remained friendly. Albert Hayhurst, the grounds man would take time out to coach the ladies, who were allowed to bowl underarm. Albert was a professional cricket player and played for Warwickshire. The main Aspro cricket team consisted of a majority of Bucks county players with only about 3 company employees. The pitch was in excellent condition, fit enough for the Slough team to play on.

Summer outings were a plenty and on one occasion Cynthia recollects going to Bournemouth for the day. Everyone would meet at Slough train station and this included employees from other Slough factories. The men took easily to drinking beer at the beginning of the trip and the rattling of bottles could be heard in many corridors. Unfortunately the British weather was miserable and the focus remained on eating and drinking. A photo appeared in the regular Aspro newsletter with the caption of ‘Is everyone happy – obviously not’.

Another time, 1958, they went to Torquay. All the girls were able to sit with the married male engineers, exchanging innocent, light-hearted banter and fun. They decided to visit Babbacombe by bus and happily forgot about the time. It was late and instead of a return by bus they took a boat round the bay. Cynthia sat in the back and got absolutely soaked. There followed a very long walk or rather desperate running, to catch the train home.

At lunchtime one could play table tennis. Tony Kite, Cynthia’s husband, and his friend Ted Foreman, proved to be fine players. They found Cynthia not to be as good and couldn’t resist having a laugh at her efforts. Also there was a piano and Dave Alderman would tinkle the ivories whilst people sat and ate their lunch.

Interviewee: Cynthia Kite
Interviewer: Renate
Editor: Renate

January 2006