The Leighton Buzzard, Linslade and Heath and Reach areas are geologically rich in sand. Sandpits appeared everywhere, providing continuity of work for many families and affecting the lives of local peopl in a positive as well as a negative way.

Work
The men worked in all the various processes involved in extracting, cleaning, processing and transporting the sand. Women were also employed in the offices and in mending the hessian sacks which held the sand. Maureen Gurney describes how her mother, great aunt and a friend, all from the same street in Heath and Reach, worked sewing hessian sacks. She also talks about the building where they worked: