Washing, dolly tubs and mangles

[benjamin1945 16,158]

When i was a single Parent early 80s...........i had a little washer with a Mangle on it..(called Ada)........and keeping with tradition did my washing on a Monday night after work........and my sons who were at school,did the Mangling and they actually enjoyed it.....i'd crack a bottle open put some music on,always recall me lads laughing and Dancing while the chore was carried out................could never manage the ironing though,...used to get a mates wife to do that for us.........my lads used to keep the house neat and tidy while i still worked...........didnt do em any harm,......in fact they were 'Happy days'.............................they were far from Angels........but cracked on with their chores..........bless em,...........

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

We used to do all sorts of things 'back then' which would be frowned on today as to dangerous for example lighting the oven and leaving its door open on a cold day.

 

There are still anomalies for instance we are not allowed to fit ordinary cookers in a room without a window/door opening directly to outside air, but nowhere in the rules does it say said window/door has to be open to let the fumes out.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

 

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.

 

We also had a De La Rue gas cooker when I was little!

[plantfit 7,593]

Some great memories coming in here,without posts like these all the small details would be lost forever

 

Rog

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

 

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!

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

 

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

[benjamin1945 16,158]

I'd say about 2/11................in what is now more or less the E3 size................Oxydol also did a smaller pack about 2 shilling................

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

 

And this?

[benjamin1945 16,158]

Blimey Robin starch,forgot all about that...............lots of sizes from 5d.........to.............1/6.............

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

 

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!

[benjamin1945 16,158]

And that old Mangle reminds me of our old next door neighbour Mrs Fewkes..........who kept one outside near the back door,...her son Harry and me put another Mates (colin Petitt)new coat thru it after getting wet thru one night.............all the Buttons flew off..........listened outside Colins back door,as poor lad took the verbals from his Mam.........lol

[plantfit 7,593]

There was a lady who lived down the yard when I were a nipper who somehow managed to magle the front of the pinny she was wearing into the rollers and the momentum of the flywheel carried on turning until her front went in the rollers, you could hear her shouts all down Bathley street the poor woman

 

Rog

[loppylugs 8,429]

Made by Qualcast eh, Jill?  I wonder if the rollers could have been switched out for blades, then it could have been used as a lawn mower on other days.  

 

Rog.  That sounds like a pretty painful industrial accident.  It hurt just thinking about it.  

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

We also had a Qualcast lawn mower, Loppy!

[Commo 1,292]

We had a mangle like that one Jill as did my Aunt who lived next door in the same yard. Auntie`s mangle had no cover over the cog wheels and being of an inquisitive nature I poked my hand into them tearing the top off the middle finger of my right hand, luckily it was able to be stitched back together!

[katyjay 5,091]

When my eldest broke his femur at age 2, and spent 3 weeks in the Children's Hospital, a child in the next bed had had his arm through a mangle/wringer, not sure which. But either way, his arm was a mess,

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

Mangles were dangerous and in those blissful pre elf & safety years, there were no guards fitted, just your mum making sure you didn't go anywhere near the rollers.

 

Mine watched me like a hawk but I still managed to fall into the fire and burnt my elbow when she removed the fireguard to put more coal on!

[loppylugs 8,429]

Seems like our homes were more dangerous than the average factory.  It's amazing we all survived.  I once swallowed the dregs out of a Parazone bottle I found in a cupboard.  I was about six or seven.  It really rang my bell.  I thought it was a pop bottle.    The powers that be would probably have taken me away from me mam in these days.  Then I'd have been worse off. 

[katyjay 5,091]

The kids in my son's ward were mainly like him, leg in traction. I don't think any one of them had fallen out if a tree or from a great height, just off the bed or settee. 

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Mum didn't have an ironing board she used the table in the back room and the iron itself was heated on the gas stove.

 

I was about 6 years old when one Saturday night an older cousin came round to take me to the flicks a real treat. I had a bath in front of the fire and on exiting the bath in my excitement I dived under the table and sat on said iron which had been put there to cool after ironing me a clean shirt only a few minutes before.

 

Talk about branding, after a night lying on my front in pain Dr Keavney came out on the Sunday, peeled away the burnt skin and when I had come down from the ceiling dressed it with Jelonet. That got me a fortnight off school and an iron shaped brand on my right buttock that I still have to this day.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

Bet you don't like ironing either, NBL.

 

We had a flat iron when I was a child. It had been my grandmother's and it lived in the plate warming section of the fireplace, above the oven. A beautiful contraption that was. Cast iron with red glazed tiles and brass studs/handles. However, it wasn't the original fireplace. When my mother was a child, there was a cast iron range in that room, although grandma never used it for cooking. The house was built in 1921 ish, so I was quite surprised it was kitted out with a coal fired range.

 

Dropped the flat iron on my foot once. Fortunately, no harm done!

[NewBasfordlad 3,599]

Jill they were fitting ranges well after that date especially where the house's were away from mains gas, back in the late 60s I took three out in one year from Burton Joyce. If we had only had tomorrows newspaper they would have been carefully wrapped and stored away, instead they were broken up and sold for scrap.

 

As to ironing the only time I used an iron was in the army, now like the kitchen SWMBO won't let me anywhere near unless she has a problem, reckons it's to much trouble to restore order afterwards.

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

That's interesting, NBL. It can't have been a lack of gas because the house was originally gas lit, no electricity, although I think it was installed in the early 30s. Some of those ranges were beautiful...works of art. I'd love one, even if it meant lots of Zebo and elbow grease!

[EileenH 496]

Gosh, Jill. That's nudged my memory. I remember Mam on her knees in front of the range with what she called 'black lead' making it shine. It had an oven on one side of the fire and a hot water tank on the other, with a lid and a ladle to get it out. The fire had a drop down plate thingy to cook on. The rooms had pipes round the edges of the ceilings that I now realise were gas pipes, although we had electricity when I was a child. My grandma - next door but one - still had the gas lights on her walls.

[Oztalgian 3,285]

EileenH

That sounds similar to the range that was at my grandparents place but without the water tank as the colliery provided all the hot water from the pits boilers. Friday was black leading day and my grandad who was a collier used to threaten us with his belt if you touched it before it had been polished. The drop down plate always had a tea pot on it and the tea was usually so stewed you could stand a spoon up in it.

The oven did beautiful crusty bread, all kinds of pies, fruit and meats and the best stews.