ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of the mills in structuring the lives of the babas during the historical period from the late 1960s. It deals with an analysis of the process by which the babas came to Oldham and focuses on the organisation of mill work and the role of kinship networks in its structuring. A combination of several factors resulted in Oldham becoming an attractive stop and ultimately an area of long-term settlement on the babas' working tour of England. While workers in the mill were organised according to a management hierarchy, the most significant structuring element of mill work was the shift system. Transport to the mills was organised either by utilising public transport or by catching a mill bus, and then later by the men's own vehicles. The mills played a central role in restructuring and organising the lives of the babas.
