The story of the thousands of women in Hull who “slapped” patties for a living is being retold to mark National Fish and Chip Day.

Pattie slapping was one of many jobs done by a generation of workers in Hull’s food processing industry.

The savoury patties were made of mashed potato, seasoned with sage, shaped, then breaded and deep fried. They all had to be turned out uniformly – and making them literally left a mark.

As one of the women who made them recalled: "You had a metal ring holder and you’d bring it down. You’d have a red ring on the palm of your hand, ‘cos it was red hot and you was doing that all day, pattie slapping.”

Matthew Kinsley at East Park Chippy, said: "I’ve been working in the industry since I was 16 and I’m really glad to see the Pattie Slappers being remembered. I’m really pleased to be taking part in this exhibition that also coincides with National Fish and Chip Day on Friday."

In twentieth-century Hull, thousands of women worked “in the fish house” salting cod, “bashing spuds”, smoking kippers and packing boxes in the Victorian fish houses and modern factories surrounding west Hull’s docks.

Known locally as the ‘Pattie Slappers’, they were ordinary women whose everyday lives were a world of hard work, rivalry, friendship, and community.

A decade ago, writer Nick Triplow and social enterprise CERT set out to capture the stories of the ‘Pattie Slappers’ in a series of oral history interviews with men and women who had worked for companies like Summit and Birds Eye.

A decade on, Hull Maritime have brought the story back to life by publishing the women’s stories on pop-up posters in fish and chips shops around Hull, East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

Women workers packing smoked fish, c.1950s-1960s

The women could have a formidable reputation as a newcomer to the trade recalled: “It was cold and hard and it smelled. And they weren’t nice girls in fish houses.

"It was hard work and they was hard women. But when you went to work at Birds Eye, they was posh.

"You had a uniform, you didn’t go in your own clothes. The women used to get made up, you’d think they was going out.

"They used to do their hair, used to have their rollers under their turban, with a roller out the front."

Council leader Mike Ross said the womens’ stories had often been overlooked.

He said: “This pop-up poster exhibition is a creative way to raise awareness of this story in unexpected places and what better way to celebrate National Fish and Chip Day.”

National Fish and Chip Day: Stories of Hull's legendary turban-wearing pattie slappers retold