Clocking In

Project Officer, Sally Jones, learns about Shippam’s factory life through oral history interviews with former staff

It’s mid-afternoon in Shippam’s busy East Walls factory in Chichester. Large industrial fans are turning, but it’s hot and the smell of cooking hangs in the air. Thousands of glass jars whizz round metal tracks, like a continuous train snaking its way along with a furious clack, clack, clack. The noise of the machinery is loud, but above it you can hear the women on the canning line singing. It’s Friday and someone has just launched into a rendition of ‘Show Me the Way to Go Home.’ Other voices start to join in. Sometimes the men in the nearby ‘knocking out’ room sing back in response.

I’ve never stepped inside the Shippam’s factory, but having listened to the recollections of people who did, I almost feel as though I have a sense of the sights, sounds, and smells that formed the fabric of life within its walls.

A Shippam's employee with counter and shelves stocked with jars and tins of produce, c.1960s

Recording their oral history testimonies as part of the wider Shippam’s Project at The Novium Museum has been a wonderful experience. Together with Rachel (Collections and Exhibitions Officer) and Amy (Collections Officer), I’ve interviewed former members of staff, associates, directors, and Mr Jim Shippam himself - the last member of the family to run the company. We tried to capture voices across as many different roles and time periods as possible, reaching back to 1944 and one of the first women to work for the company. It’s been an absolute privilege to hear their memories first-hand.

It's very difficult to pick highlights from such a rewarding project, but I’ve particularly enjoyed learning about the camaraderie between staff, the kindness (and idiosyncrasies!) of the individuals who worked there, and the daily routines that were once so commonplace but have now slipped into the realms of history.

We set out to document the workings of a factory and along the way discovered stories of the people at the heart of it.

Morag Hayler in front of her view from the Shippam's laboratory where she worked, 2022. Morag was employed by Shippam's from 1985 - 2021 and was interviewed as part of the oral history project.

I’ve also loved hearing about the ingenious use of wishbones, the perks and pitfalls of life in a food factory, and the ‘Shippam’s Shuffle’ - but you’ll have to come along to the exhibition to learn more about these!

The information that we’ve gathered will be used in several ways. It will add voice and identity to the Shippam’s exhibition, and I’m excited to bring objects in the collection to life by interweaving first-hand reminiscences. Beyond that, I believe it is vital to collect and preserve these stories for the future. Shippam’s was a Chichester business of both local and national significance, and I’m delighted to have contributed something towards its historical record.

On a much more personal level, I can no longer walk beneath the Shippam’s clock in East Street, without hearing echoes of bygone lives behind the factory walls.

Christopher Butler standing on the steps of the main entrance to Shippam's East Walls Factory, 2002. Christopher was employed by Shippam's from 1975 - 2019 and was interviewed as part of the oral history project.