Kendal Oral History Group aims to compile a picture of earlier times through the recorded memories of the Area’s older residents. Percy Duff was born in 1922 and was interviewed in 1996

MY FIRST job was in the Town Hall as an office boy and my employer was Mr Alfred Wainwright.

Everything had to be absolutely right and he did not like any additions in pencil.

All the additions would be done in your head in those days. There were no machines. You never went in to him with anything in pencil. He would say “Have you no faith in your ability to add?”

I remember getting the first calculating machine, which was quite a complicated thing. Mr Wainwright wouldn’t have anything to do with it.

The initials for our professional organisation were M.T. and A which stood for ‘Institute of Municipal Treasurers and Accountants'. Mr Wainwright said “When it becomes the Institute of Mechanical Treasurers and Accountants I’m quitting.”

I specialised in housing and used to be responsible for looking after housing.

It was a major job. There was all the slum clearance. One family we moved on Fellside were rather dirty and the Public Health Inspector took all the male members of the family to the baths in Allhallows Lane and the District Nurse took the female members and they were all scrubbed and washed.

Mr Camm and I (he used to take me along) went down White Lion Yard – Yard 44 Stricklandgate 9near where WHSmiths are now).There was a common lodging house at the entrance and down the bottom there were several cottages.

When we were making arrangements to demolish these cottages, we went along with the keys for the properties the family was moving into – this particular family were going to Kirkbarrow.

When we got to this house there were two chaps in the house and they had a horse in the living room with them. And they said to Mr Camm, “Well what are we going to do with the horse?”

Well I won’t tell you his reply and I don’t know what happened to the horse.

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