​Ivy Gunter worked in timber supply during WWII in the Forest of Dean, in what would later become the Women’s Timber Corps. But before that economic opportunities for women in the Forest of Dean were more limited, and for many, like Ivy, it meant 'going into service' as a young teenager, sometimes a long way from home.   

Bob Bassett left Parkend School and started work at New Fancy colliery. His first job was above ground on the shaker getting rid of stone and dirt from amongst the coal. Later he worked underground. His father and brother were ostlers at New Fancy and here Bob describes helping with the horses at the pit above and below ground.  

James Orpin was born and grew up at Crump Meadow Gypsy camp near Cinderford. Here he remembers what it was like going to Bilson School in the town. 

Pam Stratford passed the entrance exam for Lydney Grammar School. Here she remembers some of the teachers at the school, and the other schools in the area for those who couldn't go to the Grammar. 

Esmond Tovey was born in 1924. His first job was at Lydney Tinplate Works and he was there during much of World War 2. Here he explains how he got the job.  

On leaving school at 14yrs of age William Baldwin briefly worked for a local builder before taking up an apprenticeship at Watts. Here he describes his wages and part of his job charging accumulators (batteries) for householders without mains electricity. 

After leaving school Charlie Penn's first job was on a farm working seven days a week. He decided to look for work in mining instead so went to Arthur & Edward Colliery (known as Waterloo) to ask for a job.  

Family connections could be a useful route into work for school-leavers. Fred Pensom was not enjoying his first job but then his brother came home with some good news about an apprenticeship.. 

Rosa Taylor was the youngest child in her family. Her mother was disabled after an accident and Rosa was required to help her mother after she left school.

The first job for a school-leaver might involve tedious work. Cyril Miles was desperate to get to work underground at Waterloo colliery, but his plan was scuppered, temporarily, by a change in the law.

James Bevan describes the education on offer at Cinderford's Mining and Technical College (MinTec), and the sorts of employment its students went into after completing their qualifications. 

Sheila Llewellyn's family moved to Cinderford when she was a girl. She went to a small private school in the town until she was sent to Bilson Primary School. Here she describes just passing the entrance exam for grammar school ​and how that coincided with it becoming maintained by the state and no longer accepting fee paying pupils. 

The experience of leaving the Forest had a traumatic effect on Sheila and her friend when they went to teacher training college in Birmingham. 

Germany was ruined by the Second World War and in the Soviet occupied east, a young Margaret Phelps was humiliated by having no elastic in her knickers and decided she would be better placed to become a tailor’s apprentice. She used her tailoring skills when she came to work at Remploy in the Forest of Dean. Here she also talks about making uniforms for Russian officers who paid her with ‘Mahorka’, (tobacco) that she gave to her father.

Many parents felt that job security lay in a good apprenticeship and a job for life that would follow. At the suggestion of his father Nigel Isaac embarked on an apprenticeship at Armstrong Sidley, but the factory closed after twelve months. For Nigel this gave him the chance to follow a career of his choosing.

Valerie Matthews was educated at a small primary school in Ruardean and she found the move to a large secondary school a shock. She found after-school work at a bakery shop and here she describes how the characters who came to the shop helped make it a good place to work. She remembers one customer who asked for a very peculiar sort of tea...