Audrey Gardiner remembers happy days at Wills, despite the often repetitive work.

The Stemming Room was where stems were removed from tobacco leaves. Audrey and her colleagues would throw 'Joeys' (piles of leftover leaves) at each other for fun, 'until the forewoman caught you!

Dorothy Hamlin also fondly recalls the banter and mischief of the factory floor. She worked at Wills from the age of fourteen until she left in 1983. 'We were on the back of a machine supposed to be filling it up with cigarettes, instead of that we were writing out a song called "Chatanooga Choo Choo". I nearly had the sack because a charge hand came up behind us.'

Norman Hills remembers that marriages between workers were common, but 'office staff were not encouraged to mix too freely with factory people and even meeting them in the corridor was frowned on.'

Many workers came from the close knit communities surrounding the factories and even counted family members among their colleagues. Dave Palmer, who worked at Wills recalls, 'it was a family company and not only did my father and mother work for them, but I had uncles that worked for the company as well. In fact my aunt was a nurse at Wills at one stage.' The company set up a range of clubs and sports facilities for its staff. 'I recall my father saying that they actually used to run lunchtime education sessions. Now that's a company that is very forward looking'.