Jill Sparrow

Then there was the ironing! Mum's was the model on the right. A 1949 wedding present from dad's uncle, the Hotpoint rep for the East Midlands. Mum was still using it on her ruby wedding anniversary! She was also given a wooden ironing board as a wedding present. I still have it!

And this?

Not forgetting this! Come on our Ben, tell us how much it was!

Similar to the one we had. With a cloth over the top, it served a dual purpose but mum had to assemble and disassemble the thing herself on washdays and the rollers were heavy!

Inside view of an empty copper boiler, exactly the same as the one we had. These were manufactured by The Dean Gas Company and I remember seeing their name embossed into the metal body of the copper. There was always a bit of rather slimy water, due to the soap powder...Oxydol, in those days...left at the bottom after it was emptied! The wringer was quite small and had a wooden table top fitting when not in use. The rollers were removable and could be stored under the metal stand, so that it looked like a small table except on Mondays. Think it was made by Qualcast.

Don't forget to bring your store detecting photos, our Ben!

Any chance of Mr & Mrs Catfan turning up?

I shall be there. Wouldn't do to miss an audience with the man in the saffron robes. Can't have Joanna Lumley stealing a march on me!

What time do you call breakfast, Chulla?

Do we, then, have the right to demand the destruction of the Bayeux Tapestry, the Tower of London, Windsor Castle (I imagine someone might object quite strongly to that!) and any other edifice originally built by the Normans...well, they invaded us, didn't they? Beats me why the yanks have suddenly started this nonsense. It's not as though they've ever been known to invade anywhere, is it? About time such folks grew up and stopped their complaining because if that's all they can find to grouse about, things aren't really that bad!

This is identical to the one I remember as a child, with the semi circular lid!

The house where I was born...and my mother before me...on Bobbers Mill Road, was built in 1921 or thereabouts. By the time I came along, the copper was gas fired but in her childhood, it had been coal fired. There were two rows of shelving which ran high up along the kitchen wall over where the copper was sited and still visible when I was little were 2 U-shaped holes in the shelves where there had originally been a pipe which, presumably, went up to a chimney where the smoke was emitted. I've often thought, as NBL said, that there were no carbon monoxide detectors in the days of g

History cannot be changed but as Loppy says, those who fail to learn the lessons it teaches are doomed to repeat them. It is becoming ridiculous and makes me angry. There is no reason at all why we should apologise for what our ancestors did, nor be made to feel ashamed of it. What next, some idiot setting up a company with the aim of claiming compensation behalf of all those with relatives killed in two world wars? The human race has lost its marbles, in my opinion!

Bit dangerous, Rog, putting a child in there! Ours had a semi circular lid with a Bakelite knob. I doubt you'd have got a child in it. Well recall mum removing her boiled washing with a copper stick and transferring it to the dolly tub where it was tramelled with a copper ponch. Must have burnt a good few calories, wash day!

My mother certainly used a dolly tub and mangle when I was a child. She would have no truck with washing machines! At some point, the iron mangle was painted orange...it had previously been blue. Mum used sunlight soap to get stubborn marks from collars and we also had a gas copper which boiled water for the washing. Mum loved it and said nothing got the washing as clean as that copper. She prided herself on the whiteness of the terry towelliing nappies her babies wore! Great auntie Emily in Garden Street also had a gas copper in the scullery. It was painted green. I

Thinking about that area, there was a shop on Peveril Street, I think, which sold the dark stained pine Spanish ornaments and small items of furniture which became popular in the late 60s. They were characterized by what looked like adze marks on the surface My sister went to Spain in 1967 and brought back some candlesticks of this type. The following Christmas, dad bought me a jewellery box in the form of an old wooden treasure chest and some corner hanging shelves to match the candlesticks. He got them from the shop on Peveril Street. I still have all those items.

The shop on the rounded corner that has Gallery outside also sold costume jewellery in the mid 60s. I remember my sister buying some blue earrings from there around 1966/7 and then walking further up onto Bentinck Road where there was a confectioners next to Bentinck Road School. I vividly recall going in there to buy an Easter egg for mum on the same day. For some reason, every time I remember that day, I can hear the Beatles song Penny Lane in my head!

It's said that some people can wear a shapeless Hessian sack and look a million dollars while others can wear a Savile Row suit and still look like a scarecrow! I've found it to be very true!

Chulla, we'll remember that next time you've got a health problem!

Why, thank you, Loppy!

This is my all time favourite painting, although not a brilliant reproduction of it. John Atkinson Grimshaw's Silver Moonlight. It has a mesmeric effect on me. Love his work.

Personally, I've never liked supermarkets. Much preferred the shops of my childhood like those on Denman Street and our local grocers where everything was weighed out and wrapped in paper. Loved the smells. Likewise, the pot shop on Denman Street. My mother never failed to nip in there en route to Garden Street. She loved china and although it was all piled up in baskets and looked more like a jumble sale, it was more exciting searching for plates, cups, saucers, tea services. Seeing them lined up on shelves just doesn't do it for me.

If you were there between 62 and 65, i may have been in with my mum. Recall her buying tub butter from somewhere near there but have a feeling it may have been Maypole. Was there a Maypole in the area? I remember the lovely fascia and the lettering.

Elaine Stritch and Joan Rivers didn't even make me smile. US humour is often too aggressive and in your face for us over here.

As they say, humour often doesn't travel across the Atlantic. I believe the late Bruce Forsyth tried on several occasions to make his break in the USA but wasn't successful. Morecambe and Wise also tried it. Just didn't take off.