" Saturday jobs", did you have one? And what about your chidren/ grandchildren?

My daughter got herself a job in the local chippy when aged 13. I was not pleased, especially as I had to collect her at 11pm and she was mopping the floor. She refused to give up her job, and went on to work in a bakery on Saturdays. She did well at school and went on to Uni. I think she is just like her dad who always had part time jobs when he was a teenager.

I had a job at a greetings card shop for which, when I started, I was paid the princely sum of a pound a day. I remember my then boyfriend asking me how much I earnt and when I told him he fell off his chair laughing as he was earning £12.50 a day at Unilever doing something in the office. However, it only firmed my determination to do something further in life as I was doing A levels to become a teacher, which I duly did.

I did not let me own children have a Saturday job as I said they had to put the hours into their school work to do as well as they could to give them a leg up in life. My daughter worked! My son didn't! No surprise there. But they are both working and paying their taxes now so all's well.

A pound was not so miserable a sum in 1973. You could buy a top in Chelsea Girl or three Penguin Classics. Most of my money went on books.

Unspent my teenage years in Norfolk. Worked weekends and holidays on the farms picking what ever was in season. Loved it. Got picked up early in the morning by a farm truck and finished at about two when we had made enough money and then walked home rather than wait for the truck

I worked in the Boots "Fancy Goods Department" [applied to C&A which sounded more fun, and was more money, but they had no vacancies].
I used to give about a third to my Mum.

I also worked as the pianist on Brighton Seafront children's playground for two summers [aged 16 and 17] and got Sundays off and any day it rained.
I cannot remember it raining more than half a dozen times over those summers [1972 and 73]!

For putting out the benches and deckchairs, taking the money for the deckchairs, and playing the music for anything each child or 'Uncle Jack' [the compere] decided to sing, I was given £2 an afternoon. I often used to walk the four miles each way to save on bus fares.

My two children [now 23 and 25] both tried to get Saturday jobs, but couldn't find anything. Even the jobs with an awful reputation were fully staffed!

It was near-impossible to get them [unpaid] job experience, as required at GCSE level...
In the end one managed to do 10 Saturdays in a Music Shop - rather than a straight fortnight - and the other persuaded the local library to take him on. Later on they both, of their own choice, did voluntary work.

I had a number of jobs from the age of 13, fruit and veg shop, greasy spoons, then the new wimpy bar with things we had never heard of, yes burgers which you te without cutlery. I left school 2 weeks after my 15 th birthday and started work in London in the civil service where I was taught to type to the William tell overture...very fast.. Which all we girls had to keep in time with on an imperial 58 typewriter. I earned £4.50p per week and out of that had to pay for my season ticket up to London, £1.50. The sMe amount to mum for my keep. Mum made me save £1 a week too which left me with 50p for myself for tights makeup clothes and going out. Clothes were very expensive then too, so very different these days.
My girls also had Saturday jobs in shops or pub kitchens usually Saturday's. I think it's important that they learned the value of money. Although I encouraged them to actively save like my um did me, they never took it on board and though now fully grown, they never have got that particular good habit unfortunately.

My first Saturday job was at Woolworths in Leamington Spa. I was 15, and worked on the biscuit counter. From there I moved to the Cadena Cafe on The Parade, working in the shop selling cakes and grinding coffee beans! A bonus of the job was the iced bun we were allowed coffee during the break. (I wasn't allowed coffee at home!) wanting to work more hours during the school holidays I moved to Burgis & Colboune higher up the parade where I became part of the office staff, working in sales dissection and operating the PBX switchboard. My, did I get in a muddle with connecting the callers to the right person! It took a while, but I succeeded in the end. I stayed there for over two years. This was a job which stood me in good stead fir the rest of my working life, graduating to Senior Administration of a multi international company. I retired at 61, and now enjoy retirement.

I always encouraged my four sons to find work on a Saturday and during school holidays. It provides a feeling of self worth. I notice that encouragement being given to the grandchildren too!

Mine was in a hairdressing salon and both of my daughter's had Saturday jobs I know from my younger relatives it isn't as easy to come by Saturday jobs now as red tape ( health and safety rules insurance etc) makes it difficult for them to find employers to take them on.

Yes I had a Saturday job in the Wattle Tea Rooms in Henley near the river - Mrs Dudley ran it. My friend was doing Sundays and she got me the job. Set teas were 2/6d - slice of home made cake, one scone, butter (I had to make the butter pats with 2 wooden things) strawberry jam, and a pot of tea. I was paid 2/6d per hour for a 3 hour stint - so relied on tips to take me up to 10shillings!! I think I was about 14 years old and worked there for 2 summers until I left school and went to college. The cakes were a plain victoria sandwich , chocolate ditto, and her speciality - a chocolate swirl cake (mixture of the two) There was no dishwasher - so my task at the end of the afternoon was to wash and dry the crockery. I was fed a free tea - and sometimes took home spare scones as Mrs D made them fresh each morning.

The tea room was in a lovely old cottage and owner lived above. If I needed the loo, I had to climb a very rickety staircase to her bathroom upstairs. Needless to say both Mrs D and the tea room have long gone - now turned into a very chic house.

Gosh - that was 56 years ago...........

My son did a paper round in the village where we lived. He was desperate to earn some money but hated doing it. He used his bike - and when it developed a puncture (which it seemed to do rather often) he would grab mine and race off.

My daughter helped out after school in a local architect's office - photocopying drawings and generally being a dogs body. I seem to remember that the job didn't last very long - whether her decision or theirs I can't remember.

ahh - those were the days - I think I miss them...............

I forgot to say my DS had a Saturday job at a very 'posh' clothes store. He started with them the week after he turned sixteen. They put him on a zero hours contract while he was away at University, and he worked full time hours there every time he was home on holiday. He worked part time for them again whilst he was doing his Masters, and they allowed him to choose his own hours, which was a great arrangement for him.
He also got a very good staff discount on clothes and shoes from the company which enabled him to buy suits, shirts, coats and shoes (Church's) which he is still using for work now.
All in all it was a very lucrative arrangement for both parties. He did some modelling for the company, both catwalk and photographic, and chose to have clothes in payment for that, so he has a huge 'formal' wardrobe, which cost him very little indeed. Now all he has to do is avoid gaining weight!

I worked in C&A Modes at 15- remember them?? Very cheap ( & probably nasty) clothes.
The worst bit was having to spray the communal changing rooms with air freshener in the summer. It really stank on a hot day!

My sons worked in a local Old People's home giving out & collecting tea trays & then spending time talking, reading to & playing cards etc with the residents . I think it taught them a lot- they enjoyed it.

I worked at the 'big Georgian house' down the road. I played with the kids including tennis and swimming. I entertained the French girls (my age) who arrived each summer. I loaded the dishwasher before most people had heard of one and served tea to their Victorian Granny at 4pm. I got ten shillings a day.

I didn't have a Saturday job, but I was my older sister's office junior in school holidays in the mid Seventies. I used my £2 for 3 days wages to buy some of my own clothes, although all I could afford were sale prices, usually.
Clothes were so expensive then, relatively speaking, weren't they?
I remember buying myself a pair of burnt orange Oxford bags, a pair of black velvet knickerbockers, a pair of white denim flared jeans with cream string macrame style inserts over the denim on the outer leg seam and an odd yellow-green knitted short sleeve top that predated the holey 'grunge' look by twenty years.
My son was a paper boy 7 days a week, and worked on a farm in the school holidays from the age of 13. My daughter worked as a babysitter/nanny then a cleaner and waitress from the age of 14.
My grand-daughter and grandson are almost 15 and 13, both have paper rounds. I can remember that one entrepreneur - it may have been Chris Evans - always asks if potential employees had a job before the age of 16. Those who didn't are unlikely to be employed.

I worked in a local hardware shop that sold gifts too. I loved it, can't remember what the wages were tho. Then moved on to good old Woollies. I was put on the sweet counter because I passed their maths test and then went on to the checkouts. It was when decimalisation came in, so was a great experience. I was given time off for playing hockey and netball for the school and then got holiday money owed, when I left. Couldn't believe that working just on a Saturday entitled me to holiday pay!
All my children had a once a week paper round and then all had a Saturday job.

Forgot that I also did strawberry and black currant picking too. That was good money if you worked hard.

Never had a Saturday job, but, as a trainee teacher, worked in schools at beginnings and ends of terms, college broke up earlier. £2.00 a day and great experience. I often think I learned more from this than the course.

DD's worked as chambermaids, lots of hotels round here. DD1 worked in a lovely care home when she was a medical student and really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed working in the local garden centre on Saturdays from age 16. Learnt a little bit about plants although unfortunately the experience didn't turn me into an expert gardener! Had friends who also worked there so it was all very sociable, but it was good to get out into the real world. Two elder DSs had varying jobs, Sainsburys, M and S, labouring and office work in sixth form and Uni holidays. Youngest DS never did! Think it has got more difficult for teenagers to get easy flexible p/t work to be fair which is a shame.

I never had a Saturday job as I left school at 15. I was 15 in November, left school in December and went straight to work in London on 1st January (no holiday then). My aunt worked in a chemist and I used to go with her and help out sometimes.

I worked as a Saturday girl in Woolworths in Carlisle. We were paid 19s 6d, and when we go a pay rise it went up to £1.0.1d. I worked on loose sweets, it was the best counter to work on. Occasionally I had to work on bar lines, biscuits (upstairs) and greetings cards. I loved my time there, the other girls were a great bunch to work with.

I worked in a dress shop from about age 14 but best of all I earned 41p an hour waitressing in 1971. It was a summer job and I loved it because I was at the seaside. What I didn't like was the split shifts and long walks to/from work. I also didn't like it that the pay was still at the 41p mark many years later as there were plenty of young people in rural Wales looking for holiday jobs!

All of my 5 children had p/t jobs alongside GSCEs, A'Levels and University. Paper round, shopwork, cafe, restaurant, Dominoes Pizza delivery, IT support and secretarial work.

I worked in a sub post office every Saturday at age 14 years this was in 1959, one side of the shop was confectionary, papers and cigarettes. My boss was Mrs Seal and she did the post office part and I was behind the sweet counter. I was paid 12/6p but she made me save some of it and she opened me a post office savings account. I suppose she thought it was a good idea.

jaspersgran's fruit picking has just reminded me that I had a Saturday/holiday job when I was 7 or 8 as well in the early 1960s - picking rose hips for the people who made rose hip syrup. We'd all drag our bagsful into the school hall and pour them onto the massive weighing scales, and we were paid so much a pound. The local farmers used to employ children that age to pick potatoes as well - I only lasted one day at that, it was back-breaking!

My DC all worked at local pubs, washing up, waitressing, behind the bar according to their ages. And at Subway - one day a friend of ours walked in to find all three in a line behind the counter, serving tongs in hand. He thought we'd bought into it

Daughter number 2 had a Saturday job as a cleaner in local holiday homes.

I had a Saturday job from the age of 14 in a paint and wallpaper shop - £1 a day and I sometimes worked there in school holidays. I got a 33% discount on purchases and I picked up decorating skills (I'm still a mean hand at painting and wallpapering).

I had two years on the Christmas post. Summer holiday jobs were (1) a ward maid in a private mental hospital - this paid for an overland camping trip to Morocco (2) a ward maid in a state mental hospital - paid for 4 weeks hitchhiking around Italy (3) delivering leaflets for a carpet firm (4) in a nursery disbudding chrysanthemums/planting out lettuces - three of us friends worked there - this paid for a 6th form study cruise in the Med. Our hands went green from the disbudding and we had to wash them in a mixture of Ajax and bleach every night to get them clean!

I worked in the local sweet shop for three evenings while I was in the sixth form and was paid 3/6 a session. It put me off sweets for life, but not chocolate! I also worked at M&S one Christmas for two weeks and was mortified when I was put on Men's underwear!
Once I had got my degree, I was able to do some supply teaching in local primary and infants schools, prior to doing my teaching diploma, which was fun, more lucrative and I was able to make contributions towards my future teacher's pension.
Our daughter worked every summer holiday from the age of 13or14. She always worked at the Oxford College where my husband worked
until he retired, at first, just going in to make hot chocolate for the students on the summer foreign students course, then gradually progressing to being a monitor and taking them on trips, meeting them at the airport etc. She finished up, after she got her degree, by teaching history of art to American students on the Summer English course, which was very lucrative.