Julie Cocker was born in Rochdale in 1960, an identical twin to Val and younger sister to Gillian. When she was six, the family moved to the Island, where her father’s water board job came with a house at Bowcombe.

Julie loved school sports and hoped to become a PE teacher, but at 16 she met the man she would marry and wanted to save for a house.

Her mother, Hazel, already worked at Ronson’s, and Julie joined after a month’s work experience, in the hot summer of 1976. Her first job on the Comet line was fitting the spinning top plate.

Bored, she worked out how to do it with both hands, which was quicker. She became a float girl, then worked “offline”, building whole lighters on piecework with bonuses.

“We used to write messages … put a message on, you know, like get your finger out or something, just for a joke.”

At about 18 Julie became a training instructor, teaching recruits every part of the job as well as her two-handed method. One trainee, Nella, is still a close friend 48 years later.

“That was the time that was good for me at 16. It was brilliant, you know, and one of the best jobs I’ve had, really, for that camaraderie.”

In 1978 Julie and Val held a double wedding, catered by Ronson’s canteen. Julie left at around 20-years-old to manage a Pippa Dee clothes-party business, later worked at Padmore House hotel, and went on to become a social worker.

Her message for children today about factory life, “That it’s teamwork. You work in teams. You don’t work in silos.”