Thursday, April 13, 2017

Wash day and other Memories

In the laundry room at Shugborough I saw lots of things that reminded me of both Mum's wash days and my Grandma's too.  I'm remembering back to the 1950s but at Grandma's house you would think you'd stepped back even further.

I was born in 1950 and we lived in the middle row of a long terrace of houses just across from The Granby Halls in Leicester.  Neither the street nor the hall exist anymore.  The houses were demolished to create car parking for the nearby hospital.  I remember that our house had a pale wood front door with a gold knob in the centre.  The door opened onto a hallway with doors going off to front room and living room, the staircase was in between and at the bottom of the passage was the kitchen and scullery.  The back door led to the outside WC and a walled back garden.  In the kitchen was a wooden draining board and a square ceramic sink in which I remember being given a bath and being dried sitting on the draining board.  In the scullery was a tin bath hanging on the wall and a copper with a lid which provided warm water.  I can't remember whether there was a washing machine here, but there was a small electric boiler and a tub and what my Mum called a posher.  We left that house when I was six years old and moved to a small village in Derbyshire and I remember the posher came with us.


Grandma's house was like stepping back in time even in the early 50s as she wouldn't have electricity in the house.  She thought it was unsafe and didn't trust it.  One of my memories is of being lifted up to light the small white gauze gas mantles, which hung over the kitchen table,  with a coloured spill from a jar on the mantelpiece.  The mantelpiece was over a black leaded range.  This had a fire at one side and hob and ovens on the other.  The fire was lit all year round to provide both heat and hot water.  Grandma would do all her cooking on the range and all the food was prepared on a large kitchen table which was scrubbed almost white.  Here she would knead bread and put it to rise covered in clean tea towels in front of the range.

I remember too that she would warm flat irons in front of the range, having two warming whilst using a third one.  She would cover half of the kitchen table with an old sheet and blanket on which to do the ironing, holding the hot iron handle with a square of old towel.  At other times the table would be covered with a maroon coloured chenille table cloth with bobbles hanging on the edges.  I used to love these and remember sitting under the table playing with them and also with buttons and ribbons from the drawers of grandma's treadle sewing machine.


Grandma was born in 1884 and was 32 years of age when my Mum was born and my Mum was 34 when I was born so you can see that there could easily have been another generation between us all and understand why grandma's home, thoughts and ideas seemed to come from so far back in time.  Grandma had Parkinson's disease and died in 1962, by that time electricity had been introduced to the house and a proper kitchen had been fitted in the old scullery where she had worked with a copper and mangle on wash days.  Hanging the sheets and towels on the line outside in the back garden where she and grandad kept hens for eggs and grew hollyhocks and gladioli up against the wall.

As I walked around the laundry room at Shugborough all these memories flooded back to me, plus memories of when Grandma nursed me through  Scarlet Fever, I slept on a mattress on the floor of her bedroom often waking hot and wrapped up and entangled in sheets.  She had what seemed to be a huge bed with an iron bed frame in her room, a washstand with flowery bowl and jug, and a pink lustre ware Pierrot figure and bowl on her dressing table which contained a soft powder puff and delicate smelling powder.  I remember the cockerel waking me up each morning.

Wash days in the village we moved to when I was a child were always Mondays.  I remember my Mum used to be amused by the competition amongst all the women around as to who could get their washing out on the line first.  Our next door neighbour and the lady who lived in a house across the bottom of our gardens used to vie with each other, my Mum deliberately waited until later to put her first load of washing out on the line saying that she wasn't going to join in with the competition.

Tuesdays were usually ironing day and Wednesdays cleaning windows and upstairs rooms. How things have changed now.  I remember when we got our first refrigerator.  I'd have been about ten years old. Before that we used to keep butter and cooked meats in a meat safe which stood on a stone shelf in the pantry under the stairs.  Milk was kept in a bucket of cold water.  Money was left in a tobacco tin on the back step every Friday for the milkman with a note as to what milk was needed through the week.  My dad's friend, a grocer in the nearby small town, would bring an order every week on a Wednesday evening and stop for a chat and a cup of tea before he went on his way.

Mum was thrilled when she got her first twin tub washing machine after years of using one with a mangle.  The posser had finally had its day.

 Now we couldn't manage without automatic washing machines.  I wonder what the future will hold as technology changes yet again?  

I'm taking a short break now.  I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend.

16 comments:

  1. Your grandmother sounds a lot like mine, except she finally got electricity when she was in her sixties, I don't think she ever had running water. When we stayed with her we took baths in a tin tub on the back porch. She lived where it was very hot and my mother bought her a window air conditioner, but she would never use it. She lived well up into her 90's.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your grandmother sounds like a remarkeable lady. My grandma finnally had electricity in the late 50s/early 60s, she didn't have it long before she died. My Mum and her sisters nursed her at home and were grateful then to have more modern equipment:)

      Delete
  2. What a fascinating post. Some of your recollections rang true for me. I remember Monday washday and Tuesday ironing day. My mother listening to the afternoon play on the radio as she ironed. We had a grocery van deliver too, driven by an indomitable lady called Mable. She sold the best dandelion and burdock! Hope you have a lovely Easter break. B x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You had a Mable, our delivery man was Sid. Mum used to listen to records of piano music whilst she ironed. We used to get 'pop' from the Corona man, Dandelion and Burdock, Lime and Lemon and Cream Soda I seem to remember:)

      Delete
  3. What a lovely post Rosie - I was born in 1952 so it sparked many memories of my mother's washday (on a Monday!). She had a boiler and a mangle I seem to remember and she was over the moon when she finally got a spin dryer! Those days were so different - no central heating, fridge, freezer or even a phone let alone more modern inventions such as microwaves! We had a grocer van deliver too - driven by a man called John and also the pop man used to call once a week. Mum had an ancient sewing machine with a treadle and used to make her clothes and mine. How different those days were - yet enjoyable in a way in their simplicity.

    Have a wonderful Easter break.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We didn't have a phone and had to walk halfway down the village main street to get to a phone box I remember going down with my Mum in the middle of the night when my step father was taken ill. We finally had a phone when my sister started work in the pathology labs at the local hospital and had to have one fitted to be on call. I still have my Mum's sewing machine a Singer hand one, beautifuly decorated. Life was much simpler then and we didn't have the huge expectations of today's children:)

      Delete
  4. How times have changed Rosie! A lovely post recording your childhood memories. I remember my Nan having a lovely rich antique gold coloured chenille table cloth and I spent many a time playing under it! My Nan used to offer me 'cordial' such as Tizer,Lemonade or Cream Soda. She always used to add an extra spoonful of sugar to it so it would fizz more!!! I did used to like the gentler pace of life back in the 'olden' days! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We always remember our grandparent's houses and their way of doing things with great affection don't we? Life was simpler and gentler then:)

      Delete
  5. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your memories of your grandmother. Things were done so differently not so very long ago. My paternal grandparents didn't have electricity until I was about 8, I think. Nor an indoor toilet. I was born in 1956.
    What a lot of work it was to live in those days. But I don't think we have much more quality of life or leisure for all our modern appliances. Days fill up with activity no matter what. But I'm glad for my washer/dryer and modern stove and fridge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Lorrie. There were no inside toilets for ages where we lived, we had a bath and airing cupboard and a makeshift wooden thing that fitted over the bath with a hole for a bowl which was our sink. You always saw the men of the house shaving at the kitchen window because of the light. I do love all the modern appliances we have today but the gentleness and simplicity seems to have disappeared in some areas of life:)

      Delete
  6. I so enjoyed this post, Rosie. It seems so romantic and the photos are gorgeous but in reality it must have been a lot of very hard work. I do like a lot of things done the old fashioned way but wouldn't part with my washing machine in a hurry. Happy Easter!
    Amalia
    xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Amalia, glad you enjoyed reading. The photos don't really show how hard, backbreaking and relentless the work in the laundry would have been or for our granparents either in their own homes. My grandma was in service at a larger home until she married. It's nice to see how things were done to make us appreciate what we have now. Happy Easter to you too:)

      Delete
  7. Have a great break Rosie. Your memories remind me if my grandmother's big iron bed too. Haven't things changed so quickly. ☺

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Karen, hope you have a lovely Easter:)

      Delete
  8. Lovely post, I love seeing things like this at old properties, I find it so much more interesting that than the grand rooms!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed it Louise, I always find the working areas and gardens fascinating in these places:)

      Delete