Report : St. Ann's - (Thames TV) - Nottingham Slums 1969

[catfan 14,793]

A few faces I remember on there too.

[Guest]

It's either with embarrassment or harking on nostalgia that i recall the Washhouse on Bath St.

My Mum had to practically wring out my mattress as i was a bed- wetter during my time at Skynner St.

The kitchen at No.4 was a little bijou- and this snug scullery only just allowed you to open the oven door of our De La Rue enamel gas stove.

The Ascot when installed, took us from galvanised bucket on a low light ...to hot water at the turn of a knob.

The fact that it scorched all the ceiling when engaged made no matter- as it blowtorched the cobwebs!

A cereal pisser probably was not amusing- given that we had no washer or drier and the dolly tub/ponch and mangle..were stretching things a little.

So out came the pram- heavy gauge large blue bags were filled and lashed with a length of old washing line, negotiating Mansfield Rd/Vic Station footbridge/Cattle Market Kate/Hunto Bus Station/the tramps/GPO kamikaze despatch riders on those red two stroke yokes was not easy!

As cross as a cut cat she/we , would arrive- park your pram and place your bags through the hatch.

Lillian was the Diana Dors type boss...bright blonde in a nylon smock- the open top huge washing machines had a rotating wooden paddle in the centre... ideal for agitation of urine soaked sheets!

All the washes were done in one shift- then a huge wringer.

All the Bettys- Lils- Dols and Eida's helped one another.

Huge drying racks fitted flush with the tiled walls- the heating was kept going via Kenneth- in a green serge council outfit.

Lillian would mash large pots of tea- and i ate Yo Yo biscuits as the women

sang- feeding sheets and towels into huge rolling irons.

It was indeed a time capsule....Mrs Barnes used to come and wash curtains there..( Alvin Lee's mum).

By the time I moved to Bulwell... i had learnt bladder conrol- but never forget those days from '66- '71.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

De la Rue gas cooker! You just reminded me, Ian, that there was one in our kitchen when I was tiny! White and blue enamel, black oven door handle! It was replaced in the late 60s by a Flavell, eye level grill job!  In the sitting room we had a beautiful, red ceramic tiled range. It was the replacement for the original range my grandmother had used when the house was built in 1922!

 

Now, I bake jacket potatoes in tinfoil on the multi fuel stove! Times don't really change all that much, do they?

[Guest]

Flavell and Parkinson Cowan bring back memories.

The De La Rue stove had a plate rack ( wavy line ). Enamel plates(3) acted as skirting around the base.

When the gas changed..1971? we noticed the change.

Perhaps NBL might know..inside near the gas rings..was a Bakelite button

which boosted the height of the flame when pressed.

Not forgetting the grill and pan in the middle- with a removable enamel sheet beneath.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Now I've started thinking about it, I've also remembered my mother's first vacuum cleaner. A Goblin, stove enamelled, cylinder model. Didn't realise that Goblin still make vacuum cleaners!

[Guest]

And that Bissell thing you shoved about to pick up fluff!

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Yes, prior to the Goblin, she had a wooden Ewbank carpet sweeper! Thought she was very swish when dad bought the Goblin!  

[carni 10,094]

I still use one of those Bissel type sweepers, especially useful when a few crumbs have been dropped. I never like vacuuming crumbs up as they go moldy before the bag needs emptying. My model is a Ewbank by Betterware; bought from a car boot sale and it works perfectly. I just hold it over the kitchen bin, press the underneath flaps and shake the crumbs out. A brilliant little carpet cleaner.