Sheffields clockers in.

Did you ever have to clock in.?

You will know what I mean if I was say ,"has tha been quarted agen".

Clocking in was the first thing that proper Sheffielders of a certain age faced on their first day at work in the fifty's through to more recent times.

You would get on your bus at maybe 7am in a morning snap bag slung ont shoulder , gobo or swarf oil ont boots and sleep int eye.

Maybe a bus connection later you would arrive at building site (me) or steel works only to find that you are two minutes late .

On big building sites the bloke in cabin window hole would asK you your clock no and you would shout 203 or 544 etc, and then the little snide would sneer "that quarterd".

That meant that after an hour or more through rain ,snow , smog and wind your 2 mins arrival after eight o clock had cost thi two bob .

"You four eyed twit" (somut like that ) would be your reply as you trudged through the mud to start a eight or nine hour shift until you then had to start the whole rigmarole again and quew up to clock out.

Now if you where at the end of that line then it could be five past the hour when you escaped the site but!!! did they give thi thi two bob back , did they buggery , it was bad luck and if tha dunt like then pee of some where else to work.

Once when working for a firm called Acroyd and Ackers we had to catch the lorry on King Street in a morning at 7.30 , this meant perhaps twenty blokes stood on the back of an old Bedford open back truck in all weathers on the way to Dore or Totley where all the posh people where still in bed listing to radio four to see how the share price was was day.

If one bloke in our King Street hell hole was late and the lorry driver waited a few mins then that meant that he had to drive like Sterling Moss to get us to

to Dore by eight and !!!! guess what the clock in man would shout the dreaded words ,"that QARRRTEDD.

My father-in-law was a union convener at one of the big steelworks in Sheffield and clocking in was one of his bugbears. He said if working staff had to clock in why didn't office staff. Had to agree with him, although I'm not sure if office staff at other workplaces had to.

I was office staff at British Acheson but we had to clock in. We used to get works bus at the bottom of Claywheels Lane so if we were late we blamed the bus!

I was office staff at British Acheson but we had to clock in. We used to get works bus at the bottom of Claywheels Lane so if we were late we blamed the bus!

I once got run ore with a Cortina at the bottom of Burgoyne road while on my way to work on the Kelvin flats.

I jumped up in the air and ended up on the car bonnet looking straight into the drivers eyes, he fainted and the car run into Balls dentist front wall.

The bloke came round and started playing hell with me as his Cortina was dinted so I telled him to pith of and drive slower and then limped of to work where I was quartered .

When the forman asked why I was limping and late I telled him I had been r un or, he said that was the worse excuse for being late he had ever heard:(

Still clocking in but its a swipe card now.

Did you ever have to clock in.?

You will know what I mean if I was say ,"has tha been quarted agen".

 

Clocking in was the first thing that proper Sheffielders of a certain age faced on their first day at work in the fifty's through to more recent times.

 

You would get on your bus at maybe 7am in a morning snap bag slung ont shoulder , gobo or swarf oil ont boots and sleep int eye.

Maybe a bus connection later you would arrive at building site (me) or steel works only to find that you are two minutes late .

 

On big building sites the bloke in cabin window hole would asK you your clock no and you would shout 203 or 544 etc, and then the little snide would sneer "that quarterd".

That meant that after an hour or more through rain ,snow , smog and wind your 2 mins arrival after eight o clock had cost thi two bob .

 

"You four eyed twit" (somut like that ) would be your reply as you trudged through the mud to start a eight or nine hour shift until you then had to start the whole rigmarole again and quew up to clock out.

 

Now if you where at the end of that line then it could be five past the hour when you escaped the site but!!! did they give thi thi two bob back , did they buggery , it was bad luck and if tha dunt like then pee of some where else to work.

 

Once when working for a firm called Acroyd and Ackers we had to catch the lorry on King Street in a morning at 7.30 , this meant perhaps twenty blokes stood on the back of an old Bedford open back truck in all weathers on the way to Dore or Totley where all the posh people where still in bed listing to radio four to see how the share price was was day.

 

If one bloke in our King Street hell hole was late and the lorry driver waited a few mins then that meant that he had to drive like Sterling Moss to get us to

to Dore by eight and !!!! guess what the clock in man would shout the dreaded words ,"that QARRRTEDD.

Might that building firm have been 'Ackroyd and Abbott' ?

Might that building firm have been 'Ackroyd and Abbott' ?

Well called them Ackers and Ackers

The one at Kelvin flats build was the PWD. Sheffield own building dept.

A department that built some of the most iconic buildings in this City and saved the rate payers millions of pounds .

I've got an old clocking in clock in working order in my porch.

ha ha.could have some fun with that. making people clock in and out.

ha ha.could have some fun with that. making people clock in and out.

Never worked with the kids

Never worked with the kids

hiya,i started work at laycocks archer rd june 1964 3 shifts,they at the time worked nights afternoons mornings, they had some queer rules at that time,2 mins late then quarterede, 3 times late in same week a big rubber stamp after twice to see section forman before starting, lunch time clock out and in if you went off site as they used to say, but the one we all hated clock in even if you were just playing cards at lunch break, no-one could work the last one out,this was on all shifts.

just remembered another one this was 1953, robsons tool makers down maRY ST now this was a step backwards in time,the only electric machine was a pillar drill on a small bench, all others worked off a steam engine there were belts everywhere, but the clocking in machine was in a circular drum with a POINTER to press your number in for the arrival time and lunch went fro78m 1200 noon to `12 33.

We used to have to clock in until we put paperclips in the slot. After having it repaired 5 times they took it out never to be seen again