10-12-2016, 09:03 PM
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Slum Britain 50 years on
Did anybody see this? It featured families living in slum conditions all around the UK in the 60s. They had managed to trace some of the children who were photographed and it was good to hear how they had grown up.I was born in 1953 and my first home was a tiny rented cottage with no garden and no bathroom. THere was an outside toilet round the corner which was a double wooden seated affair. This was emptied once a week by the night cart. I don't think we had electricity there, we used paraffin lamps.
When I was about 5 we moved to a council house which seemed huge and had a massive garden as well as a bath upstairs but a downstairs flushing toilet in what we called the washhouse.
There was no spare money whatsoever up our road but they weren't slums. The houses were in good repair but there were some huge families of 10 and 12 kids and they really were very poor indeed. I remember being at neighbours homes and they didn't have bed clothes, just all coats thrown over them and no coal to light fires so the houses were freezing. Amazingly, all the dads were in work but very low paid, unskilled work and there were no top ups to make it a living wage.
There were only 3 kids in our household so I guess in comparison we were not badly off but I can still see my Mum sitting with her little housekeeping book trying to work out how she could save a few pennies. All our clothes came from jumble sales except for what Mum knitted and we had some cousins who passed stuff on to us.
10-12-2016, 11:05 PM
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Re: Slum Britain 50 years on
Originally Posted by Muddy
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The night cart? Double seared toilets ?
In 1953?
Where were you living ?
We left that house approx 1958 and it was still the same. In the mid sixties a friend of mine still lived in a house with no electricity and did her homework by paraffin lamp.
10-12-2016, 11:24 PM
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Re: Slum Britain 50 years on
Originally Posted by Muddy
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The night cart? Double seared toilets ?
In 1953?
Where were you living ?
In the early 60s the local councils had grants to enable these people to construct a bathroom inside the house. In particular I remember one which was constructed in an unused section of corridor.
10-12-2016, 11:34 PM
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Re: Slum Britain 50 years on
Originally Posted by Flowerpower
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There was no spare money whatsoever up our road but they weren't slums. The houses were in good repair but there were some huge families of 10 and 12 kids and they really were very poor indeed. I remember being at neighbours homes and they didn't have bed clothes, just all coats thrown over them and no coal to light fires so the houses were freezing. Amazingly, all the dads were in work but very low paid, unskilled work and there were no top ups to make it a living wage.
In my book, slums were created by the people who lived in them. Although it is said that all 'slums' have been removed now, you can still see them in just about every large city. You can change buildings, but you can't change some people!
11-12-2016, 02:40 PM
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Re: Slum Britain 50 years on
Originally Posted by JBR
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Exactly the same. We lived in a poor area - back to back houses, outside toilet, a single coal fire - yet I wouldn't describe it as a slum.In my book, slums were created by the people who lived in them. Although it is said that all 'slums' have been removed now, you can still see them in just about every large city. You can change buildings, but you can't change some people!
A case in point, around twenty years or so ago a `rough` council estate was totally refurbished at the cost of millions of pounds, the refurbishments included central heating, rewiring, a new bathroom suite, new windows and doors and the outside walls all pebble-dashed. The tenants were re-located to other estates while the work was carried out and then put back into their same houses when the work was completed. Within six months, the estate was as bad as ever - unkempt gardens, stuff thrown onto lawns, fences damaged and litter strewn everywhere. I remember so politician or other (can't remember the name) who claimed that "If you put people in pig-styes they'll behave like pigs". On the contrary, if you put pigs in decent houses, those houses will becom pig-styes.
11-12-2016, 02:56 PM
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Re: Slum Britain 50 years on
Originally Posted by Judd
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A case in point, around twenty years or so ago a `rough` council estate was totally refurbished at the cost of millions of pounds, the refurbishments included central heating, rewiring, a new bathroom suite, new windows and doors and the outside walls all pebble-dashed. The tenants were re-located to other estates while the work was carried out and then put back into their same houses when the work was completed. Within six months, the estate was as bad as ever - unkempt gardens, stuff thrown onto lawns, fences damaged and litter strewn everywhere. I remember so politician or other (can't remember the name) who claimed that "If you put people in pig-styes they'll behave like pigs". On the contrary, if you put pigs in decent houses, those houses will becom pig-styes.
11-12-2016, 04:19 PM
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Re: Slum Britain 50 years on
Originally Posted by JBR
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Exactly the same. We lived in a poor area - back to back houses, outside toilet, a single coal fire - yet I wouldn't describe it as a slum.In my book, slums were created by the people who lived in them. Although it is said that all 'slums' have been removed now, you can still see them in just about every large city. You can change buildings, but you can't change some people!
. When I was sent to live with my aunt in her farm labourer's cottage that had an 'earth closet' 100 yards up the garden and it didn't have a bathroom jut a tin bath and a huge sink . It too was kept immaculatly and everything was scrubbed regularly including the children
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