Courtesy of Scottish Screen Archive

The Singer Sewing Machine Factory at Clydebank was a huge plant that undertook each stage of its manufacturing process in-house, from the moulding of raw pig iron to the packaging of the finished item, with carpentry shops to build cabinets and printing departments to produce instruction leaflets. Singers in the 1930's employed over 7500 men and 3500 women, it had 57 departments, it covered a floor space of 2.5 million square feet and no fewer than 11 trades were represented. It was the largest factory of its kind in the world and, with the shipbuilding industry (John Brown's shipyard), it was the major employer in the town. The demise of both industries in the 1970s ushered in a period of economic decline and unemployment in Clydebank.

In the extract we see shots of the large workforce entering the works. Note how fashion, particularly headgear, clearly denoted class. Virtually all the working men wear flat caps, while the managerial staff wear bowlers. We are given a glimpse of some of the employees at work on one the many assembly lines.

Kenneth Broom

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