ROF Stories:
The No. 11 Club

As a result of the war, John Sampson left Newport School of Art before completing his studies. In December 1941, he began work in the Drawing Office at the Number 11 Royal Ordnance Factory in Newport.
This is his story.

Early days, May 1942

"Having passed proficiency tests at the Government Training Centre, Len, my good friend of Art School days, and I were accepted to a five-year trade apprenticeship as toolmakers at Number Eleven.

The Factory intake for May comprised six lads from various backgrounds. Later, after a lecture on safe working practice, shop floor discipline, time keeping, attendance to night school and shift working, we were split up and given over to the foremen who were to be our mentors for the duration.

The Foreman

Reg was to be my foreman, his section responsibility ‘Small Mech’, to which I was to be attached until late 1945. Reg proved to be strict but fair, a big man, over six feet in height, a chain smoker with a no-nonsense approach to the low life apprentice. He was part of the mobile work force, on loan from the Nottingham Ordnance with a very strong Midlands accent, difficult to follow in conversation, often compounded by the constant fog of cigarette smoke and ash blown in one’s face.

As the months, then years, passed we were to become firm friends and he was a great help in understanding machine shop practices. By chance we had ‘digs’ on opposite sides of the same street and our landladies were close friends.

After the war

Long after the war, our paths crossed again. We became residents of houses a stone’s throw away from each other. We would often meet in the mornings at the local bus stop, with his well-remembered Midlands accent greeting from apprenticeship days – “Sam, Sam, what are you up to now?”

We would both laugh and reminisce about the past. Reg still blasted away on his cigs, but standing up wind would keep you free of smoke and ash for that morning. We were both Starter Members of the ‘Number Eleven’ Club, meeting once a year with other ex-‘ROFers’."

- John Sampson
December 2004

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