Alice: [00:00:02] I’ve had various jobs, but I always was interested in dressmaking, and then about about 40 years ago, I did my City and Guilds, which led to getting me quite a number of jobs, one being the Century Theatre where I was wardrobe maintenance, in which case I had to keep a track on all the plays and have the necessary costumes ready for that particular day.
Interviewer: [00:00:30] So just going back then, and how did it sort of come about, this interest in dressmaking and…
Alice: [00:00:36] Oh, well, I was always interested at school. I was always good at needlework. And and as I say, I thought I’d better myself by doing my City and Guilds, which I did. And I just got the first part, which was all I needed to know. I put in zips in and doing buttonholes and things that were rather complicated, you know, erm, as I say, primarily at the Century Theatre, it was maintenance of the costumes, washing them and having them dry and pressed up ready for the next show. So I was always looking at the programme. Plus I was married, of course, with three children as well. I had to combine that with my housework and, um, and then they started to provide their own wardrobe maintenance, you know, brought their own in. And so I went on to be a volunteer from that. And, well, I helped out for holidays when Sheila, who was Sheila Collier, I think they called her then and she did the wardrobe. She was wardrobe mistress, you know, so she did what I had done before.