A man whose record of service exceeds 20 years, and a woman who started away back when the rubber factory was opened, form the senior members of this week's family. They are Sid Adams (left), of upper stock, who delivers uppers sewn at Lea Bridge to workshops in the leather factory, and his wife Helen, who helps with the controlling on the sewing section of Dept 423.
These two Bata veterans have two younger relatives working in the despatch department - Yvonne, their daughter, and Michael Manning, who although only two years older than Yvonne, is her uncle.

Love of dancing has been handed down from mother to daughter, because Yvonne, who is 15, and stamps boxes before they are despatched from the factory, told Bata Record that she would dance every night if it were possible. She is a member of the Monday night Dance Club and goes to other dances - but not old time dances. She prefers the modern style.
Described by stock-keeper George Couldridge as a steady and reliable worker, Yvonne has done more than one job in the despatch department during the year she has been at East Tilbury.

"In those days I worked part-time."
"When Sid joined the Army, I returned to the rubber factory, to my old job of binding. Everyone received a thorough training that was always a watchword of British Bata - and we were all eager to become as proficient as possible.
“There were no buses to take workers to and from the factory, and no East Tilbury station. Many had to use Low Street station - a none-too-short or comfortable walk, especially in the winter and hundreds used a bicycle. Before I was married, I cycled to and from my home at Corringham. After that, Sid and I came to work, and went home after it on a tandem - we were both very keen cyclists.
“I have been in the leather factory for about four years, stitching, checking and controlling. It is congenial work, in a cheerful atmosphere. British Bata gives young people as good an opportunity of getting on in life as to be found anywhere. That is why I am pleased that my daughter and young brother came here.”
Helen assists at the controlling table in Dept 423. She used to be an expert dancer, her keenness to be on a bicycle buy day being matched only by her keenness to be on a dance floor at night.

Helen Adams (right) was one of the original workers in the rubber factory, and is now one of the few "Part-timers" in the leather factory, having worked at East Tilbury, with a break for a few years after her marriage, ever since. She began as a binder on wellingtons, canvas shoes, and other footwear, and later left the factory to become attendant at Bata swimming pool.
"For two days a week, during the war, I collected rents from houses on Bata Estate," she said, "and I remember when the company generously reduced the rents of houses occupied by wives of workers who were serving in the Forces.
"When I started, the rubber factory had only a few workers, compared with the present amount, but production soon increased, improvements were made, and more and more workers engaged.

Older workers will also remember Helen's sister, Elizabeth Manning, who used to work in the rubber factory, and was "Miss Britannia" during Warship Week way back in the war days.
Like most long service workers, Sid remembers days when production and business at East Tilbury were carried on in far less space, on a far smaller scale, than now. "There were two little buildings and one entrance," he told Bata Record.
He started work in the chemical mixing room, which was then combined with the stockroom. "There, I mixed rubber compounds for the rubber factory, which had not long been opened," he said, " and prepared and weighed the chemicals. We were all keen and enthusiastic - as most Bata workers are now - the difference being that neither space nor facilities, let alone man - and woman - power, were on present-day level.
"All workers, even foremen and some managers, were learning the job in those days, and the present supreme standard of Bata craftsmanship is due largely to their determination to understand and realise the Company's methods and system.
"Some of us worked very late to get jobs finished in the best possible way - I worked all night on one occasion, and I remember going to Mr Kutik's house to get a pass-out at 11.30 on another night."
After working for three years in the mixing room, Sid went to despatch, where he checked shoes for shops against invoices, and loaded the lorries. He had help, but personnel was much smaller than it is now, just as production and output was. But everythig was growing fast.
Next, he went to the receiving room, which was on the top floor of the leather factory, incoming merchanise being unloaded in the yard and taken up by lift.
"I eventually became foreman of the mixing room," said Sid, continuing his story, "and when Bill Allott, who had succeeded me after I had been transferred, was called up at the beginning of the war as a reservist, I went back there.
"I myself went into an anti-tank regiment in 1942, and was wounded in Normandy when I got in the way of some shrapnel from a mortar-bomb. After a brief period in England, I went back into service. I had my left leg blown off when a Bren-gun carrier I was in passed over a mine. They gave me permanent leave after that.
"On my return to East Tilbury in April, 1946, I went to paper stock, which was combined with upper stock. Production increased so rapidly, however that the latter was soon separated,. I look after leather uppers which are cut out in the leather factory and sent to Southend for sewing. When they come back completed, they are stored in the stockroom, from which I deliver them to workshops according to a daily plan."
There is little, if any, evidence of Sid's "tin leg" as he describes it, when he is delivering trolley-loads of uppers, and doing his other active work, every day.
At home, on Bata Estate, he does his own house decorating, and works hard in the garden. Older workers will remember him as founder and leading spirit of the Bata Cycling Club, which was popular for three or four years before the war. He wrote cycling notes in Bata Record under the nom-de-plume of "Fixed Wheel", and, with his wife, was for several years a keen dancer.
"I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone" was his concise opinion of British Bata.

She started in the checking section, where she checked shoes as they were assigned to the various shops. Then she went into the despatch office, and entered numbers of pairs as they were sent out. Next, she worked in the stamping bay stamping boxes of regular shoes with price and identification stamps. She now does the same to boxes of “B” pairs, on the floor above.
“All the work in the despatch department is interesting,” said Yvonne, “There are so many things to be done to ensure that shoes are sent away properly boxed, and in such enormous quantities every day. I like working here very much.”
She came straight from Hassenbrook School.

Her uncle, Michael Manning, who is not yet 18, and looks more like her brother, works in the hosiery compound. He came to East Tilbury last January because he wanted a job with prospects which her thought were lacking in the works canteen at West Thurrock where he worked previously. He began storing stocks of shoes, but was soon transferred to his present job of getting stationery, ink, leather for repairs, and other sundries ready for despatch to shops.
“I am glad I took my sister’s advice to come to British Bata,” he said. “Like my niece, I think work in the despatch department is particularly interesting.”
A keen angler, Michael fishes in a private lake at Corringham, and has been on four outings with the Bata Angling Society, of which he is a keen member. At none of these outings has he caught any fish. But he has done better in fresh water, his biggest catch being a two p ound carp.
“It must feel strange to have an uncle only about two years older than yourself,” ventured Bata Record to Yvonne, who was nearby.
“It is a bit funny,” she replied, “but I do not call him “uncle”. We get on very well together, and just use our Christian names.”