Voices of Consett - Sadie (The Bra Lady)

My name is Sadie Ayton. I was actually born in Stanhope when my mam was visiting my grandparents, although we lived in Consett at the time. I was also married and raised a daughter in Consett.

I have had my roots in Consett throughout my life. When I was younger, we used to live in Moorside but after I was married, we moved in with my grandmother for a while in Castleside. I was actually married at Castleside Church and we bought a Consett Iron Company house, before shortly moving to a newer house in Delves Lane.

I worked in the Steelworks after I left school although not straight away. At first, I worked at Richmond’s the Solicitors, and then I became a ‘Ticky Woman’ who used to go round the houses collecting payment for credit.

I have now had a business in Consett for about 53 years, however I am not active in it anymore. It all started when we used to go to Butlin’s holiday camp where I won ‘the best dressed lass on camp’ competition for 8 years running. I was also the last ever Miss Consett Urban District Council, before it became Derwentside District Council, so I still have the title! For these competitions all you had to do was walk down and smile at the judges and you got £20 in your pocket, which is why I did it – to keep the wages coming in. £20 was quite a lot of money in those days too.

Then someone said I should open a shop because you know how to dress, so I did. I opened ‘She Fashions’ and then ‘Sadie’s Fashions’ which I did a lot of research for especially in to ladies underwear, because I found it wasn’t being fitted correctly. I researched bra fittings and created my own way of doing it which has been copied all over the world. I found that I didn’t need a tape measure and that I could just look at a person to make an accurate fitting. Then I changed the shop name to ‘Sadie the Bra Lady’ which became quite a famous name all over the North East and even the world actually. At one time I had 7 shops across the region.

At the Steelworks, I worked as a stock taker for quite a while, then out of the blue all the women were just finished in the 1950’s. We didn’t know why at the time, but apparently, we lost our jobs so that unemployed men who had been in the war could have jobs. Women were treated as second class citizens in those days, but I proved that we weren’t.

My mother’s side worked in the steelworks and I also worked alongside my husband, Thomas William, who was cutting the steel whilst I took numbers. At night, he often did my role for me so I could get my head down and rest so I thought I would hang on to him, which I did for 63 years!

Tom also had a brother Joe who worked at the works. Tom’s dad and brother got gold watches for length of service at the works, and their families are still living in Consett today. Nearly everybody worked there at the time, they even brought people over from Ireland which did create some religious division. Even when you went for a job you had to say what religion you were at the time. A persons’ religion never bothered me though, although I believed in God.

Today, I feel the town has lost its character slightly, due to not having a lot of specialist jobs in the town the way it did in the past. This could also be the aftermath of the pandemic too which I think did a lot of damage. I have kept the shop going throughout even though we don’t make much money out of it, I truly feel I must give this service in the town. Not only that, but I wouldn’t want to ever abandon my faithful staff and the customers we have from all over the world. I view it as a community service not a retail shop.

I could have retired anywhere but I chose to retire in Consett because I like my house, its location and the town has all I need.

My advice to all young people in Consett is to stick in at school and be kind. I like Consett and I hope that in the future it gets better, or even stays as good as it is.