Linda Breeze

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I left school in the summer of ‘72’ at the grand old age of 14, to the tune of Alice Cooper’s ‘School’s Out’. Well we were the last, ever, to be able to leave then! at the end of the fourth form (as it was).

From then on everyone had to go on to do GCE’s & CSE’s. Dewi Rowlands used to say to me “What will you do if you leave now?” and I’d always say “Work in Woolworths!” By the end of the summer I’d ended up doing exactly that and stuck it for a week. I was bored, my main areas were cottons & pumps, and I got told off for entertaining my friends on the record counter! By Friday night I was down at Mr Wakeley’s house, Principal of the Montgomeryshire College of Education, the ‘Tech’, begging to be enrolled the following week when term started. I was in! Had a great year doing catering and secretarial, combined. Got a few qualifications, the typing eventually came in handy, but the real world was beckoning. Work! I had the opportunity to become a GPO telephonist, my Dad worked in the Post Office downstairs, so for the next 2 years I was an operator, “number please?” I remember in the early days on the switchboard, before STD, getting a request to connect a call to Cockshutt. I got the giggles, as you do when you’re 16 and easily amused, and promptly got told off by the supervisor. It was very strict, you even had to ask permission to go to the toilet, only 1 person was allowed out of the room at one time.

After 3 years, I went back to work at the telephone exchange. They were desperate for operators and I had the experience. That was back in 1978. 29 years later I’m still working for the company, now BT, and have experienced many jobs within it. I transferred to the engineering side in 1985 and have worked as the following: fault receptionist, one man installer, exchange construction, other exchange work (faults), delivering and picking up faulty equipment from exchanges around Wales and borders and am now working in an office, still in the telephone exchange in Newtown.

More recently I started going with my Mum & Dad, usually Jan / Feb, and so far we’ve been to Australia twice, Canada, China, Goa, California, Las Vegas and Florida.

We have a good laugh together. Last year in MGM Studios we queued up for a ride, not knowing what it entailed, but were up for a laugh. Well, as soon as the restraints came down over our heads and locked us in the seats we knew we were in for some ride. We gently chugged around the corner and, to the music of Aerosmith, were propelled at great speed through the door into blackness (I had my eyes shut most of the time). It was a corkscrew type indoor rollercoaster. It was so funny! And judging by the photos taken as you come to the end, we actually enjoyed it because we were all laughing.

I also enjoy the theatre. With Iona (Webster), Anne (Davies) and Jan (Molloy) from our school year, I go to watch the plays put on by Newtown Amateur Dramatics Society. They put on 3 plays a year and are very entertaining!! Anne and I also like going to see the dramas/plays at Theatre Hafren. Mind you we like the glass or 2 of wine before and during the interval. We’ve seen some excellent productions and some very bad ones too! We went along to see ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ which is supposed to be a very good story but I’ll never know. It was that bad I had to stifle giggles all the way through the first half and couldn’t go back for the second, it was awful. The first inkling it was odd, came right at the beginning, when all the actors were lolling about on the stage in pyjamas as though they were in a psychiatric hospital which suddenly changed into 15th century Italy. What was that all about? One evening we even went to a talk about the Enigma machine and were surprised how much we enjoyed it.  We also like to go to Birmingham, mainly, to concerts. Diana Ross, Four Tops & Temptations, Gladys Knight, The Monkees, Rod Stewart, David Essex, David Cassidy, Bay City Rollers and The Osmonds. Looking at that list they’re all from way back then… ooh must get a life!

That’s it so far............... the story goes on, for a while longer I hope