Quilt of friendship unites former workers of Portadown factory Mayfair

Although the factory on the Garvaghy Road closed in 1979, it still holds great memories for many former employees and so the Mayfair Revival Club was formed in 2019.

The cross-community club of former textile workers, from aged 60 to more than 80, have rekindled old friendships, made new ones and shared skills and experiences.

Throughout the past two years, with the help of cash from the Big Lottery Fund, they have been creating a beautiful photographic quilt which depicts memories of factory life. The quilt is to be framed and hung permanently in the Mayfair Enterprise Centre on the Garvaghy Road.

Originally established at Mill Avenue in Portadown, the Mayfair manufacturing company once employed almost 1,000 people at its various sites in Portadown, Gilford, Keady, Belfast as well as Brixton in London.

The old Mayfair factory was closed around 1979 as globalisation of labour intensive industries began to take hold. Then, around 300 workers, mostly women, lost their jobs.

Philomena Gallagher, a former Community Development Officer for Age Concern NI, with the help of Brendan MacCionnaith, Director of the Mayfair Enterprise Centre, applied for funding from the PEACE V programme to reunite former workers of the factory to reminisce about their time there.

When that project finished, those who were involved in the group decided to continue meeting and they formed their own group The Mayfair Revival Club.

“Some of these women hadn’t met each other in over 40 years. They were talking about the ladies as well as men’s football teams in the Mayfair. They remembered a trip to Manchester United’s football ground many years ago also,” said Philomena.

“Even though they worked hard in the factory there was a great social life around it then.

“On a Friday at dinner time there was about 800 employees piling out onto the Garvaghy Road heading into town. The girls would have been heading in to buy their mini skirts and make up and to get their hair done for the weekend as they would have been going out to dances on Friday and Saturday night. You could just imagine the excitment.”

When they decided to create the quilt they appealed for photos of the factory and workers at that time. There was a tremendous response, even from as far as Australia.

With the photos, the group put their stitching skills to great use and started to make a quilt. With funding from the Big Lottery, they were able to pay for a room to rent in the Mayfair Enterprise Centre as well as for materials for the quilt.

The group’s treasurer, Melvyn Simpson, was one of the engineers who fixed the machines in the Mayfair. If a machine broke down, you held up a flag and he came along and fixed it. Philomena said: “He was able to access machines for us such as sewing machines, cutting machines etc. The ladies went to charity shops and picked up material and binding.

“It was going really well and then we were hit by Covid,” said Philomena.

She explained that when they were permitted, they took turns going in alone to work on the quilt, week about, or two would go in using social distancing across the room. One of the men would have repaired the machines if anything broke down. “They worked together as a great team,” said Philomena.

One of the spin-offs that they weren’t expecting was the reaction from local school children when they heard about factory life. “They were blown away. They couldn’t believe that you had to clock in to work in the morning to let people know you were there. You had to put your hand up to ask to use the bathroom. You had to clock out at 5pm. They asked lots of questions including why workers had to clock in and out,”

She said the children were bewildered that when they discovered workers would maybe earn around £3 per week and gave £2 of that to their mother for their keep. “They asked, ‘why would you give your mummy money?”

The members spoke about how when women got married they couldn’t work in the factory but they got ‘piece’ work to do at home to earn money. The faster you worked the more money you earned.

The owners were said to have been very good to the workforce, hosting great Christmas parties and gifts for the workers’ children.

Now the group are considering writing a cookery book full of economic recipes. They also have a walking group, meeting each week for a walk and a cuppa. And they have their own Whatsapp group which was invaluable to them throughout lockdown.

The quilt will be framed and hung on the wall permanently in the Mayfair Enterprise Centre. There is a book to explain what the quilt is all about. For example, square one of the quilt is Sam McGready who owned the rose farm near the Mayfair factory.

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