SOUNDS

Click the play button below to hear Martin share his memories of what life was like working as a fisherman on the docks.

Martin was a fisherman on Grimsby Docks for many years, coming from a long line of fishermen and a family which has been connected to the docks throughout history, describing himself as there’s ‘salt water in my veins’. As a child, he attended grammar school and was a very bright student who was skilled in technical drawing and history. Nevertheless, his family bond to the fishing industry eventually pulled him out to sea.

As a young man, he initially worked on the tugs in Immingham, but he felt something was missing. ‘A call of the sea’ he describes. Martin reminisces his early memories of the docks long before he became a fisherman: meeting his father at the lock gates to greet him following his latest fishing excursion. He discusses the gruelling experiences of being at sea, and the work completed back at home in between fishing trips. Being passed on board the ship as a young boy, and the strong smells of fish and diesel in the air. He goes on to describe the atmosphere of the docks: the laughter and chatter, the camaraderie. Drunken workers on payday evenings joining one another in unison.

Martin highlights the deep connections born from Grimsby docks, and notes that these were better days. He shares his opinions of life as a fisherman, and stereotypes which have been held against them. He recounts many experiences of the atmosphere within the fishing industry, and his oral history demonstrates where communities in Grimsby were built from.

Click the play button below to hear Pat share her memories of visiting the docks as a child.

Pat’s father, known as ‘Young Mick ’, on docks, was a trawler-skipper in Grimsby during the mid to late 20th century, working for companies such as Robinsons and Sleights. In her oral history, Pat reminisces her experiences as a young child visiting the docks with her mother on a Friday afternoon to collect the wages. She recounts in vivid detail her memory of the office which she would visit, likening it to something out of a Dicken’s novel. Pat also remembers the time her father took her to the fish market early one morning: the floor painted with metal trays filled to the brim with fish; the auctioneer balancing on the edges of each tray to quickly travel from one area to another.

Pat highlights the constantly hectic atmosphere on the docks, every square meter covered by the ‘wildness’ of people, trucks, bicycles. Her vibrant recollections provide beautiful insight to the nature of community connections, togetherness and pride in Grimsby for its fishing industry. Pat shares memories of looking through her father’s sea bag and digging to the bottom to find a special treat! But with good memories, she also shares some troubling ones as the family members of a fisherman. Her vibrant recollections and memories help the docks come to life, highlighting where the strong sense of community bled into the rest of the town.

Click the play button below to hear Philip share his memories of his time spent working as an engineer on the trawlers.

Philip was an installation engineer and repairman for marine electronics and electrical equipment on the trawlers at Grimsby Docks in the mid-late 20th century. He describes his job as filled with heavy mornings, long days, and very heavy-duty work! In his oral history, Philip discuses the day-to-day of his job, including some stories of carrying heavy duty batteries which he calls ‘heavy beasts’ up tall ladders, and working inside at Marconi Marine. Amongst his hard work, he remembers always taking time to visit the Jubilee Café for a cuppa and chatter every day!

Philip describes the atmosphere on the docks. The noises, the sights, the crowds of people, and of course fish everywhere. He talks of the weekends where people would visit the docks for a bit of shopping, and he would see everyone he knew. Much alike being part of a big family, no matter your trade or profession. He highlights his sadness to the decline of the fishing industry, and loss of the ‘thriving community of hard workers’ on the docks.

Towards the end of his oral history, Philip shares a memory of a story about him which was published in the Marconi Mariner Magazine, when he managed to save a dog who had fallen into the dock. He reads out a passage from the article, highlighting the inside joke of his bravery being worth a Cadbury Dairy Milk award!

Click the play button below to hear about Alans time spent working on the docks when it was a hive of activity.

Alan was an engineer on the docks who studied at night school whilst completing his apprenticeship on the docks from a young age. He was ambitious to be an engineer his entire life, and when it came to the time, he left school he describes himself as ‘buzzing’ for his first day of work where he went over the iron bridge down to the docks. He states it was like ‘taking one step out of brooms bay, no sound anything. Then taking one foot further and looking around you was a hive of chaotic movement!’.

Throughout Alans oral history, he highlights the energy of the docks, remembering it as a ‘hive of activity’. He recounts his memories being sat in the cafes where the rooms were filled with a thick bluey-grey fog from cigar and pipe smoke whilst people laughed and chattered drinking endless cups of tea.

Community was a key memory of the docks in Alan’s eyes: everyone was part of one big family, filled with smaller groups of families and very little drama between any other worker. He highlights the discipline and strength of those who worked on the docks in it’s most active period and shares his opinion that the younger generations should learn from this, engaging more with one another; activity, fun and spirit.

Click the play button below to hear Jane share her family history in the fishing industry.

Jane, former deputy leader and mayor of NE Lincs, shares her family history in the fishing industry dating all the way back to the 19th century when her family first arrived in Grimsby after relocating from Norfolk. Many of her family members and extended family had worked on the docks over time in many different trades, and Jane herself landed her first job at fifteen years of age in the offices for Ross Foods, after her mother jokingly exclaiming ‘is factory work not good enough for you!’. Jane saw the docks as her family workplace, which had a significant impact on her decision to begin there.

Jane describes the busy nature of the docks, with lorries and fish waggons constantly coming and going, and cyclists everywhere. She recounts her memories of being brought up on fish, saying ‘Chips from the garden and fish from the docks!’. She gives insight to how it feels to be back on the docks, and the importance of people learning what it was like working in the fishing industry in its most prosperous time.

Click the play button below to hear Ken remember his time spent as an apprentice boilermaker on Grimsby Docks.

Ken has a long history of family who worked on the docks, as well as for the British Royal Navy throughout the first and second World Wars. He himself served as an apprentice boilermaker on Grimsby Docks, then went on to work at the Royal Dock as JS Doig, a local ship builder, to then return to the fish docks and finish his apprenticeship with the Ross Group Engineering before eventually travelling abroad in new career pursuits. He remembers wanting to follow in his fathers’ footsteps and become a fisherman, but his mother ‘put her foot down’ and said ‘no, you’re not going fishing!’.

When asked what his typical days on the docks were like, Ken recounts how busy it was everywhere. Around six-hundred trawlers were sailing out of Grimsby. He claims the docks was always ‘packed’ and the atmosphere was like a small town. Ken describes that there were banks, cafes, multiple industries and shops. ‘It was absolutely buzzing’. All the fishermen would walk off the docks at the end of the day into freeman street and spend all their money in the pub. Ken explains that the highlight of the docks were the people, and that he could not remember ever having a single argument with anyone. Everybody was friendly, across all trades and professions. Ken remembers many different people of different skills learning from one another, and the workforce being fully engaged.

Click the play button below to hear how mother and daughter both worked on the docks cleaning gill nets.

Jeanette and Lisa, mother and daughter, both worked on the docks during its most prosperous and active period. Jeanette highlights that they both have an extensive family history of dock workers over time, such as lumpers, fishermen, lorry drivers and dockers. Whilst both did not originally have ambitions in their youth to work on the docks, they both were soon ‘roped’ in due to their family connections. Both women worked cleaning gill nets, which was tough work. They go on to describe this in greater detail, and their day-to day tasks working on the docks. They both describe the cold temperatures they struggled through, and the strong smells of rotten fish, and stings from Jellyfish that had gotten caught in the nets!

Whilst some of the work was tiresome, cold, and tough, the duo speak of some of their fondest memories such as when Jeanettes Husband bringing the family a Chocolate Orange home as a special treat! The crowds of people pouring into the pubs on freeman street at the end of the week. Jeanette makes an important point on the sacrifice that many men made working on the docks, leaving their families alone and working in dangerous conditions to support them the best they could. Lisa highlights the importance of people remembering and learning how truly hard people on the docks worked, and how hard work sometimes pays off, and sometimes doesn’t, but that should never change your commitment to trying your best like those on the docks did.

Towards the end of their oral histories, Jeanette and Lisa share their most comical memories both which include live lobsters!

Click the play button below to listen to Carolyns memories of her father’s intensive labour on the docks.

Jeanette and Lisa, mother and daughter, both worked on the docks during its most prosperous and active period. Jeanette highlights that they both have an extensive family history of dock workers over time, such as lumpers, fishermen, lorry drivers and dockers. Whilst both did not originally have ambitions in their youth to work on the docks, they both were soon ‘roped’ in due to their family connections. Both women worked cleaning gill nets, which was tough work. They go on to describe this in greater detail, and their day-to day tasks working on the docks. They both describe the cold temperatures they struggled through, and the strong smells of rotten fish, and stings from Jellyfish that had gotten caught in the nets!

Whilst some of the work was tiresome, cold, and tough, the duo speak of some of their fondest memories such as when Jeanettes Husband bringing the family a Chocolate Orange home as a special treat! The crowds of people pouring into the pubs on freeman street at the end of the week. Jeanette makes an important point on the sacrifice that many men made working on the docks, leaving their families alone and working in dangerous conditions to support them the best they could. Lisa highlights the importance of people remembering and learning how truly hard people on the docks worked, and how hard work sometimes pays off, and sometimes doesn’t, but that should never change your commitment to trying your best like those on the docks did.

Towards the end of their oral histories, Jeanette and Lisa share their most comical memories both which include live lobsters!

Click the play button below to hear Gordan give an insight to the lives of children on the docks in the mid-late twentieth century.

Gordan’s stepfather was a fisherman on Grimsby Docks between the 1950s and 1980s, having relocated from Fleetwood in 1956. He also lived with a lodger in his childhood who was also a fisherman who regularly looked after him whilst his father was at sea and mother was working, and his first full-time job before going to teacher training was working in a cold store on the docks. Gordan recounts his earliest memory of the docks, highlighting the clattering of the clogs of marching lumpers, and nervously walking across the slippery surface of the pontoon. He remembers standing on deck of a trawler watching workers going about their usual business, when the ship started to move and terrified him.

He remembers joining his mother to collect his father from the lock-gates after returning from sea, knowing that when his father had summoned his company that meant there would be bond with goods that only the fishermen were entitled to! Gordan has many stories to share in his oral history which provide excellent insight to the lives of children on the docks in the mid-late twentieth century. He also shares some stories of when him and his colleagues messed about and pranked one-another, including strapping him to a forklift truck, decorating him in magic marker and driving him through the icehouse!

Click the play button below to hear Angela recount her time working as a secretary on the docks.

Angela worked as a secretary on the docks for British United Trawlers, dealing with all correspondents and general office work. She also has a long family history of fishermen from Grimsby until the decline of the fishing industry. Angela states that to this day, working on the docks was one of the best jobs she ever had, and that this was because the docks was like entering ‘a different world’. She remembers it as a ‘friendly’ and kind place to be, with lots of joking, and camaraderie.

Angela tells the story of where she was when Queen Elizabeth II visited Grimsby Docks in 1977 for the Jubilee, and recounts a memory of a large flood in 1978 down Grimsby Road that created significant damage. She highlights how beautiful and well-designed the buildings were down the docks and hopes younger generations will learn more about the docks history so that they understand the depth of memory and community which is attached to it.