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nero
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Central Scotland
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24-08-2009, 02:23 AM
11

Re: The washer women

Today folks take most things for granted, in that building I mentioned every apartment had only 2 rooms.

There were dozens of apartments with families of 2 or 3 kids, how did they manage to live ? It was just after WW2 and houses were in short supply, the government rushed through an emergency building program, do you remember prefabs ?

Some women were left widows after the war and they were short of money so they used to take washing in to help pay the rent, in those days there was no Social Security to give people a handout.
The building was demolished many years ago but until recently the old residents had reunions to remember the old times.

Falkirk where I live is quite a large town, at that time the council building program had been stopped because of the war, it took many years before the town started to spread out with new housing schemes replacing the old tenaments.
The toilets were all outside not in the apartments, there was a toilet for each landing on the stairs with 2 apartments on each landing, they had to share ! The building was 4 stories high, it was nicknamed "The Glasgow Buildings" as it resembled many streets you saw in the likes of Govan and the Gorbals in Glasgow.
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24-08-2009, 09:53 AM
12

Re: The washer women

Originally Posted by nero ->
I was talking of the early 50's era DM, I recall the mangles and hand wringers too, the town where I lived had dozens of iron foundries and other heavy industries, I used to see the workmen coming home, so dirty the only clean part of them was their eyeballs, how the women got their work clothes clean is beyond me.
Most workplaces did'nt have showers for the men in those days.
I remember my old gran with the mangle, in fact my mum still had one when I was very young.


Cna also remember on a Monday all the ladies in the street would get out and clean their front door step,

What was that red paint they used to do them with... always had a clean step.

Can remember the old dears , they would judge you on how clean your front door step was
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24-08-2009, 01:26 PM
13

Re: The washer women

My Granny had a bath tub, and a scrubbing board!!
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24-08-2009, 01:32 PM
14

Re: The washer women

I had my maternal gran living two doors away -we had to share a communal pump for many years [with two other houses in the terrace] also mum had a 'posher' for boiling clothes in and a 'dolly' to whoosh them around [hope I have it the right way!]
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24-08-2009, 01:49 PM
15

Re: The washer women

I should've said there were no baths in the flats, they had 2 options to keep clean, the public baths were only 2 mins walk away, you could get a hot bath for sixpence (2 and a half pence in today's money) for that princely sum a towel and bar of soap was included.

The other option was a lot of them had the old zinc plated steel baths, like the ones you see in antique shops. As I said some of the men came home really filthy after work.

The young-uns today don't know they're well off do they.
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24-08-2009, 02:08 PM
16

Re: The washer women

Originally Posted by Jackie ->
I remember my old gran with the mangle, in fact my mum still had one when I was very young.


Cna also remember on a Monday all the ladies in the street would get out and clean their front door step,

What was that red paint they used to do them with... always had a clean step.

Can remember the old dears , they would judge you on how clean your front door step was
Was it Cardinal Polish that was used to clean the door step?

We used to have a brass doorstep and I can remember my mum used to diligently polish it every morning.
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24-08-2009, 03:11 PM
17

Re: The washer women

Don't remember wash houses, but old plans/maps of our 200 year old house show outbuildings running one length of the garden which I guess was the laundry.

I do clearly remember the top-loading machine with mangle attachment and my Mum using all her strength to either stop the machine from wandering around the kitchen or pressing the top of the mangle down when wringing.

In terms of personal washing, until recently when it was demolished, we had an old, disused slipper baths at the back of our garden, it became a hangout for wildlife and junkies but in it's time must have been used by all the regency/victorian residents.
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24-08-2009, 06:29 PM
18

Re: The washer women

Originally Posted by Mags ->
Was it Cardinal Polish that was used to clean the door step?

We used to have a brass doorstep and I can remember my mum used to diligently polish it every morning.
Thats right, and we did, posished it till it shone.
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essex
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24-08-2009, 07:02 PM
19

Re: The washer women

i lived on a farm in scotland till i was 5. my mum had a twin sink and she used to pop me in the big sink with the sheets, i loved it. LOL glad she never put me through the mangle afterwards.
and when we moved to london. we had the tin bath. and a scullery.
when i was about 8/9 we went all posh and got a house with a proper bath. and i always remember my step-sister (i really hated her after this) she made me share a bath with my brother. and we had to STAND UP in the bath.
i wasnt happy. b4 that we used to go to balam street baths once a week.
now i just step into a power shower. and then use the automatic washing machine.
and the kids moan now a days if they cant have the most up to date mobile phone.
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24-08-2009, 07:06 PM
20

Re: The washer women

I also grew up in the country and when my mother died I went to live with my Great Aunt and her family

There was a brick boiler in the kitchen and every Monday the fire was lit underneath the boiler at 5.30am and all the weeks washing was done starting with 'the whites'. It took all day to boil/wash/rinse/starch/mangle the clothes for 5 of us. Such hard work..

'At home' with my Father we had the luxury of gas (no electricity) and had lots of hot water which went into the dolly tub to do the washing
 
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