Over the last ten years, total production at the factory has doubled, from 40,000 tons annually to 80,000, but times are still tough, thanks to the recession, the cost of raw materials like wheat and flour going up all the time and also the intense competition in the biscuit world, from rivals such as Fox’s biscuits. But Angela was convinced the future was bright, that the Carr’s factory was the best in the United Biscuits group, that production would keep going up.
As well as the Carlisle factory, United Biscuits has six sites today in the UK, with another six around the world, notably in Holland, France, Belgium and Ireland. Their best-known brands include McVitie’s, Carr’s, Jacob’s, Penguin, Jaffa Cakes and Mini Cheddars. They also make cakes, and have done so for many royal weddings, including Prince William’s. United Biscuits are the biggest biscuit manufacturers in the UK – and probably the second biggest in the world (exact ownership of some of the American companies is hard to pin down). Overall, they employ 6,700 staff, 5,000 of them in the UK
It is remarkable that production on the Carlisle site, while not employing as many as it did in the heyday of the Carr family back in the 1920s and 1930s when the staff reached 3,000, has managed to survive and compete and increase during these last three decades when so many biscuit factories, and much of British industry itself, has suffered from competition from the East and elsewhere. At the Carr’s factory, they like to think it is because they are producing a premium product and running an efficient, modern factory.
Angela had recently introduced a modern version of the old time annual outing, which disappeared after the war. Ann would approve. In February, the factory closes for a day and all the workers – shift by shift, i.e., three hundred or so at a time – go off in coaches from the front gates to a restaurant, the White Heather Hotel, about ten miles away, out in the country. It is technically an employee briefing, not strictly a jolly, and in the morning they get regaled with the state of the factory, objects and achievements, are encouraged to work hard and keep up production, but they do get to enjoy a free two-course meal and in the afternoon have some sort of entertainment or a quiz.
They also have introduced a staff magazine, McViews, but alas it is nowhere new as handsome, comprehensive, informative and fun-filled as the old Topper Off. I picked up a copy, just four pages, and it appeared not to have any personal contributions from staff but was filled with management speak on things like compliance training and hitting key targets.
It is unfair to romanticise the good old days when the Carr family was in charge, having that personal touch, being nice to the workers, putting welfare before profits, in theory anyway. It was far more dangerous, uncomfortable and back-breaking than it is today.
As I came away, pleased to get off my clinging, cloying uniform and clunking shoes and let my moustache have some fresh air, I had to admit that the factory as a whole was nowhere as hot and noisy as I had expected. It was more spacious, with high, airy ceilings, no crowding or clutter or nasty-looking objects lying around. The working conditions are as comfortable as can be expected.
For most of the women, despite the odd robot, the actual work is just as repetitive and physically wearing as it has ever been. How could people like Ivy, and all the Ivies before her, and all the workers who have ever worked on factory production lines in our long and glorious industrial history, have survived doing such jobs, hour after hour, day after day, for up to forty-five years? Necessity is the answer.
I could now fully understand why Ivy had painted such a glowing picture of sitting in that country cottage that day when she was visiting a sick colleague – and thinking how lucky she was. Compared with life back on the factory floor, she was indeed in heaven.
The thing about factory floor jobs is that there is no escape. White-collar workers can find some way of skiving, wandering off round the building with bits of paper, or higher up they can go to meetings, conferences, enjoy jollies, freebies, hotels, visits abroad. On the production line, you are stuck, trapped, just another cog in the process.
Installing more robots in all departments will presumably come one day, which will turn our biscuit girls into historical figures, living lives we can no longer comprehend or believe, so it is worthwhile to record and acknowledge them now, should they turn out to be the last of their breed.
But they won’t be, not quite, not in the immediate future. United Biscuits, or whoever controls the Carr’s factory in the next few years, are unlikely to be able to afford or justify the investment of robots on all the production lines. Not if the present economic climate continues.
One of the interesting and rather touching things about our six biscuit girls is that they all felt they had enjoyed their time at Carr’s, especially working with other women, and did not really blame the factory for any aches, pains or illness some of them later suffered.
All six of them did keep on working until a retirement age, survived until they were able to take their pension, and mostly they managed to enjoy some well-deserved comfort in their retirement years.
As I write now, in June 2014, Dulcie has sadly just died. Let’s hope the others have more years to come, able to think back fondly, perhaps even with pride, to the long years they gave to Carr’s and to what they consider to have been happy but hard-working lives.
Acknowledgements
Books
There is still no standard book on the general history of biscuits, which is surprising, considering their importance in our social and economic history, so anyone hungry for biscuit information has to track down histories of individual companies, some of which were published privately and consequently hard to find, or books on the history of the Quakers, which usually have a section on biscuits.
I relied heavily for the history of Carr’s on the truly excellent and entirely wonderful book by Margaret Forster, Rich Desserts and Captain’s Thin: A Family and Their Times, 1831–1931, published by Chatto & Windus, 1998.
Also valuable was: A Fell Fine Baker: The Story of United Biscuits by James S. Adam, published privately by Hutchinson Benham, 1974; and The Quaker Enterprise in Biscuits by David Burns Windsor, Muller, 1980.
I read innumerable books about the history of Carlisle and found the best for my purposes included Carlisle: An Illustrated History by D.R. Perriam, Bookcase, 1992; Carlisle by Sidney Towill, Phillimore and Co, 1991; Industry in Carlisle, written and published by A.D. George, 1994; Old Towns and Cities: Carlisle by Kenneth Smith, Dalesman, 1970.
Guide to Carlisle was published by Carr’s in 1902, ostensibly a guide to the city, but contains interesting illustrations and material about the Carr’s factory. Carr’s also published a useful booklet ‘The Story of Carr’s Biscuits’ in 1951.
Jolly amusing to read was Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down by Nicey and Wifey, Time Warner, 2004, and very informative was Biscuit Tins by Tracy Dolphin, Shire Library, 2011.
People
I would like to thank Stephen White, local studies librarian at the Carlisle Library for all his help digging out references and cuttings and books, and particularly for making available all the copies of the Topper Off, the Carr’s staff magazine which ran between 1928 and 1964.
Also helpful was Edwin Rutherford, social history curator, at Tullie House – particularly for the opportunity to listen to and read – for most have been transcribed – their oral history collection. Both the Eric Wallace memoirs (Chapter 2) and Miss Raven’s (Chapter 10) came from this source.
A thank you to Nigel Slater for support, food historian Ivan Day for advice and Angela Gibbs, Jane Davie and Ian Beattie of the present-day management of McVitie’s biscuit factory in Carlisle for their time and help.
Ann Mullholland’s assistance was invaluable – introducing me to the Carr’s pensioners’ club and enabling me to meet our heroines.
But most of all, obviously, how could the book have been done without them, so a huge thanks to Ivy, Dulcie, Dorothy, Jean, Ann and Barbara.
Appendix 1
Carr’s Bis
cuits 1860s
A list of Carr’s biscuits available during the 1860s and later. Many of the names, reflecting the fashions, social, economic and political times, have long gone, but some of the names are still recognisable today.
Abbotsford
Abernethy
African
Albert
Albion
Almond
" Bread
" Drop
" Finger
" Ring
American Crackers
Anneau
Artic
Arrowroot Cakes
" Plain
" Thin
" Rich
Balmoral
Bath
Beaufort
Boudoir
Boulevard
Bouquet
Britannia
Brunswick
Butter
Button Nuts
Cabin
Café
Captains, thin
Cashmere
Castle
Celebrities
Ceylon
Charm
Charivari
Cheapside
Cheese
Chocolate Drops
Citizen
Clarence
Cocoa Nut
" Finger
College
Colonial
Combination or people’s mixed (25 variety)
Cornflour
Coronet
Costume
Cracknell
" Cup
" Dessert
" Fancy
Cream Crackers
Croquet
Croquette
Demi Lune
Digestive
Eclaire
Eclipse
Epine
European Mixed
Fingers, plain
Gala
Garibaldi
Gem
Gem, iced
Gingerbread, superior finger
Ginger Buttons
Ginger Nuts
" " Finger
Glace
Grantham
Heraldic
Hominy
Honey Cakes
Ice Creams
Iced Rings
Iced Rout
Imperial Fruit
International
Java
Kennel
Kent
Kindergarten
Leger
Lemon
" Drops
" Fingers
" Nuts
" Rings
Lunch
Lunch, small
Macaroons
Madeira
Marguerite
Marie
Menagerie
Metropolitan Mixed
Midget
Mignon
Milk
Milk Crackers
Minaret
Minerva
Mixed (25 varieties)
Mixed Nuts
Naples
Nic Nac
Noblesse, or cherry
macaroon
Nursery
Orange Drops
" Fingers
" Squares
Oriental
Osborne
Oswego Cakes
Oxford
Oyster Crackers
Pain D’Amandes, or almond bread
Parkin
People’s Mixed (25 varieties)
Picnic
Pocket
Popular
Prince of Wales
Queen’s Drops
Ratafias
Regent
Rice Cakes
Rich Dessert (20 varieties)
" Seed
Riviera
Rose
Royal
Rusks
" Finger
Savoy
School
Scotch Oaten
Scrolls
Shells
Shrewsbury
Small Change
Smyrna
Social
Soda
Sponge Rusks
Star
Stella
" Plain
Sugar Wafers
Surrey
Table
Target
Tea
Town
Urania
Victoria Drops
" Nuts
" Finger
Walnuts
Water
Wheaten
Wreath
Appendix 2
Carr’s Biscuits 2014
Carr’s of Carlisle is now part of United Biscuits and the factory is officially known as McVitie’s, but the Carr’s name continues locally and appears on some packaging.
United Biscuits is the biggest biscuit manufacturer in the UK. They have seven factories – in Carlisle, Hayes in London, Halifax, Wigston in Leicestershire, Tollcross in Glasgow, Aintree in Liverpool and Stockport, Manchester.
Their main brand names, several of which go back to the early nineteenth century, still appear on many of their biscuits and on the packaging. Apart from Carr’s, they include Jacobs, McVitie’s, Crawford. Most of the factories produce a wide range of biscuits, many making ‘own brand’ for the supermarkets.
This is a list of the biscuits currently being produced by the Carlisle factory – not all carry the Carr’s name on the packaging, though the savoury ones do, such as the Carr’s Table Water biscuits.
Assortments
Bourbon Creams
Cheese Melts
Coconut Rings
Cookies including Boasters, Hobnobs and Tasties
Custard Creams
Digestives
Flatbreads
Fruit Shortcake
Ginger Lemon Crèmes
Ginger Nuts
Gold Bars
High Bake Water
Minipacks
Morning Coffee
Nice
Oyster Crackers
Rich Tea Finger
Shortcake
Shorties
Small Table Water Biscuits, including sesame, garlic and herb and black pepper
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Hunter Davies, Biscuit Girls