Jim Duncan
Jim belongs to: The Doxford Engine Friends Association
Jim was born in Sunderland in 1943. He followed his father into Doxford's. He began his apprenticeship in December 1959.
Jim was interviewed by Kylea Little on 24 January 2006. The interview took place at the Interviewee's living room and lasted 1 hour, 16 minutes and 2 seconds.
Politics and Doxford's
"I always remember a Gordon Badger, who was the MP for Sunderland at the time, coming"
I always remember a Gordon Badger, who was the MP for Sunderland at the time, coming and literally standing giving speeches, and the shop steward, who was a Communist, the shop steward who was a member of the Boiler Maker’s Union stood up and Mr Badger made one fatal mistake; he called everybody ‘brothers’, and this shop steward stood up and said, “Mr Badger, before you go any further, are you a member of the Trade Union Movement?” and Gordon Badger said, “no,” he said, “then don’t ever call us brothers again. Until you are a member, don’t call us brothers. And while I’m standing on my feet, you’ve asked one question in the House of Commons in the last four years. If I had built one ship in the last four years, there’d be Hell on. What is going wrong?” and Gordon Badger said, “well, I’m in this committee and that committee, and I’ve written this letter and that letter,” and in the, in the end, basically, he just got shot down, and this was the Labour man, and the Communist was having a go at him.
And I always remember saying to the, to an old bloke, “he’s not going to get in, is he?”, “oh”, he said, “he’ll get in alright.” He said, “he’s better than the Conservatives.”
We had the Conservative come next week and they just hammered him. They really did, they just didn’t give him a leg to stand on. Everything he said was wrong, so Mr Badger got in, even though he only asked one question in the last four years.
Jim has 14 memories in the memorynet:
Jim's memories with a Relationships theme:
Les Morris- Politics and Doxford's
Jim's other memories:
- Starting at Doxford's
- The Doxford master plan
- Working in the Tool Room
- Training the apprentices and the closure of Doxford's
- Value of Doxford apprenticeship
- The apprentice strike
- Leaving Doxford's
The Doxford Ship Yard- Aerial view of the Doxford Works and the River Wear
- A ship being launched
- A Doxford engine
- Model of a Doxford engine
This memory has these themes:
Relationships | Work
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