That evening a lot of my year at school went to celebrate the end of the exams at one of the local pubs, the Fountain I think. I left early because my shift at Nabisco started at 10 pm! My dad, who was the convenor for the engineering union, had got me a job there. Somehow I stayed awake until 6 a.m. the following morning when the shift ended.
A remarkable first day of work. However, my feat was as nothing compared to the regular work schedule of Mohamed Safan (who I got to know as a fellow worker at Nabisco). He spent all day studying at college and then all night working alongside me at Nabisco. And he did it continuously.
These photos were posted on Facebook by someone called Robert Cross on January 20, 2018. I think Nabisco was demolished at about that time.
My father got the place listed when he was leader of Welwyn Hatfield Council, but when I spoke to him about the demolition he didn't seem upset that the place had been bulldozed.
As well as Nabisco I worked at British Lead Mills (that was a mistake) and Vulcathene Glynwed. It wasn't difficult to get work in those days, though the Post Office wouldn't take me. They were looking for career postmen.
In 1972 or 1973 I got a job at the Welwyn Times thanks to an advert for a junior journalist my dad spotted in the paper. I started work on January 1, 1973, the first time this day had ever been a Bank Holiday in England (journalists worked Bank Holidays) and the day when the Welwyn Times went (completely against the trend) from Photo Offset to Hot Metal because it was sold by a company that was very forward thinking to one that just liked making money.
The Welwyn Times was quite famous for being an early adopter of the new print technology, but in those days (the 1950s?) it was difficult to print big runs so it was really only suitable for small newspapers. By the time Eddie Shah set up Today things had changed.
Jonathan Brind