Patrick Durnin & Willie Deery
From Factory Floor to Dance Floor presents a unique account of how the emotionally charged school-leaving girls in Derry became wage-earning factory girls with a strong sense of loyalty and responsibility to the maintenance of the family home.
Life on the factory floor between the 1940s and the 1960s resembled that of a close-knit community. It provided for the social, emotional and economic needs of the women who sang as they worked during the day, danced and dated at night, and discussed all the ‘bars’ in the parlours after the weekends. For them, the factory floor and dance floor were firmly intertwined.
In relating the story, the authors have combined a large collection of photos from the girls with their honest, personal reminiscences to give a buttonhole peep into the life of the shirt-factory workers.
This informative and fascinating insight offers an affectionate celebration of the spirit of the women and young girls who sewed and sang, laughed and cried, in all Derry’s shirt factories down the decades.
