THERE were no prizes for guessing the main topic of conversation in the Bishop household.

Most of the family worked in various capacities at the Morris Motors’ car factory at Cowley.

Mary Bishop worked there, her mother, father and grandmother worked there, and she married a man who worked there.

Her father, Ronald, joined the firm’s sub-assembly department in 1922 and worked there for 46 years. He was also a member of the works’ fire brigade. He played bowls for Morris Motors as well as the county, and during the war, spent nights on fire watch duty at the factory.

Her mother, Katharine, also worked at the factory, in small components assembly, until she married Ronald in 1932.

Her grandmother, Alice Bishop, joined Morris Motors as an assistant nurse at a salary of £3 5s per week in 1935. According to her letter of appointment, her hours were from 9am to 1pm and 3.30pm to 7.30pm, “subject to alteration at any time to meet conditions in the factory”.

She later shared duties with Nurse Hounslow and also took part in fire watch duties at the factory during the war. Mary, now Mary Biggs, of Blenheim Way, Horspath, started with the firm in 1948 in the wages department before moving to sales.

She played in the firm’s mixed and ladies’ hockey teams and the ladies’ table tennis team. She was also ladies’ hockey section secretary.

She married Tony Biggs, who worked in Morris Motors’ trim shop, and left in 1957 to have their first child. Their remarkable record was reported in the September 1949 issue of Teamwork, the works’ magazine – and that featured only three members of the family.

Can anyone beat their tally?