Sue Tout was born at St Mary’s Hospital, Newport, in 1959 and grew up in the town. Money was tight, but she remembers a happy childhood of hand-knitted clothes, fish her father caught, and horse riding paid for by her grandparents.

Sue didn’t enjoy school and missed out on a secretarial course, so she turned to factory work. After six unhappy months at Osborne Electronics in Binstead, her mum helped arrange an interview at Ronson.
After a couple of weeks on the training line, Sue joined the Comet lighter line, where about ten workers sat either side of a conveyor that never stopped.

“When I first sat by it, it felt like it was you that was moving, and not the conveyor belt.”

She learned every job, fitting buttons, flint holders and screens until her fingers were taped and sore. She later worked as a “float”, covering for others, and in rectification, setting flames with a long, thin tool.
Radio over the tannoy, notes and birthday chocolates sent down the belt, and fancy-dress Christmas parties made the line feel “like a huge family”.

“You felt like you were all on one level, very friendly, very sociable.”

She stayed about seven years until closure, returned when a small line reopened, and left when she fell pregnant. Friendships made there lasted a lifetime; she now works for a tomato grower in Arreton.

Sue’s lasting memory from working at Ronson’s was “Happy, happy and carefree.”