Monday, Jun 22, 2026 at 08:12
I left school at the age of 15 1/2 and went into a Pastrycook apprenticeship. 150 lbs (68 kgs) bags of flour, 112 lbs (51 kgs) bags of salt, 70 lbs (32 kgs) bags of sugar, 20 lbs (9 kgs) boxes of margarine . I was barely 5’ tall (152.4 cm), and weighed around 7
stone, (98 lbs). After 12 months, I was 5’4” tall (164.6 cm), and weighed around 9
stone (126 kgs). This was in the late 1960’s, and whilst we used machines to mix our dough, all the ingredients had to be carried by hand. Bags of salt were the worst to carry, as due to the moisture in the air, it became an almost solid mass, and was difficult to get a grip on the bag. After 4 years I had completed my apprenticeship, but not long after, and due to specific circumstances, I left the trade.
Whilst these days, modern large bakeries use bulk ingredients and a lot of automation, the small bakery/cake
shop, still do a lot of things by hand.
Macca.
FollowupID:
931127