Britain's What's On Event Guide
Working Lives in the past
Heritage Open Day: Mop Fairs were once the traditional way to advertise and engage domestic servants and were common in market towns like Hadleigh. There were customs and practices that enabled those looking for work to indicate their particular skills and trades. Costumed presentations of working lives in the past, recounting stories of local people, who explain both the rigours and pleasantries of the occupations they undertook as domestic servants. How and when jobs for men and women were publicised at Mop Fairs. Personal recommendations and references were essential. The invention of the sewing machine presented an alternative for women as home workers or joining the mass produced clothing factories as machinists. Among the stories Alice Lawrence will tell you about working as one of the women in the corset factory in her home town of Hadleigh. Also Florence Goymour, a young housemaid at Toppesfield Hall in 1901.
Sunday 13 September
St. Marys church, Church Walk, Hadleigh, Ipswich, Suffolk IP7 5ED
Sun 13 Sep:1.00pm to 1.45pm repeated at 2.00pm to 2.45pm; Free Entry.
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