New oral histories from the workers of the Bathgate Truck & Tractor Factory 1961-1986 on Scran
A collection of new audio clips are now available on Scran as part of Bathgate Once More, a project to record and preserve the history of the BMC/Leyland Truck and Tractor Factory which came to West Lothian in 1961 and closed in 1986.
In this new material, former workers remember the plant coming to the area, the jobs that they did, the social life at the plant, trades union activity and the closure of the plant. Each clip comes with a transcription.
Click here to view all the audio clips
Or you can listen to clips thematically:
- 1) The Coming of the Factory to Bathgate
- 2) The Jobs We Did
- 3) Training and Apprenticeships
- 4) Working Conditions
- 5) The Leyland was a Community
- 6) The Trades Unions
- 7) Bathgate No More
- 8) Looking Back
Bathgate Once More was led by the Workers' Educational Association with the support and involvement of the Bennie Museum, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, the Simpson Primary School, the STUC Archives, West Lothian Local History Library and West Lothian Trades Council. As well as digital material on Scran, full oral histories, written contributions, photographs and documents gathered through the project will be preserved in the West Lothian Local History Library.
