The Sugar Girls

I love living in London and I’ve always loved learning more about the history of the place. We try to get and about as much as we can as we’re keen for the children to appreciate all that London has to offer. We don’t get to the East End very often but we have visited the old Royal Docks a couple of times to watch the planes come and go from City Airport. When you’re out that way you can’t miss the gigantic tin of golden syrup adorning the corner of one of the buildings making up the huge complex of Tate & Lyle’s refinery.

Tate & Lyle was formed in 1921 from a merger of two rival sugar refiners, Henry Tate & Sons and Abram Lyle & Sons. Their London factories employed thousands of men and women at two sites in Plaistow and Silvertown which were known as the Sugar Mile. Factory jobs were highly sought after as Tate & Lyle were the best employers in the East End. As well as the best rates of pay, employees were awarded bonuses, and had use of a surgery, dentist, chiropodist and eye doctor on site. Their lives after shift were also catered for with annual beano’s to seaside resorts, a convalescent home, a purpose-built social club as well as a sports ground at Manor Way, which was used by company sports teams, and for the annual company sports day.

Over the weekend I devoured a copy of The Sugar Girls by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi. It was just the kind of book I love to get lost in – a generous mix of social history, real lives set against the backdrop of the East End and women’s history. The book is based on the stories of four female factory workers, known as Sugar Girls, and follows their lives from their first day at the factory, their jobs, social lives and lives outside the factory which was often extremely hard. I enjoyed reading about the women’s experiences as it was so far removed from my own of living and working in London.

The book is an easy read and great for those who love women’s history, or want to know more about the East End during some of the most important events of the 1940-1960s, such as the Second World War, the effect of the great smog of 1952 or devestating East Coast floods of 1953 on the East End community.

The only thing missing for me was photographs of the women, the buildings and landmarks mentioned. Fortunately there’s an accompanying website where photographs of Ethel, Gladys, Lilian and Joan can be found, as well as  lots of additional information.