General Chat

Oh I remember the rubbing board and we also had a Posser which you used to agitate the clothes. The posser for those that don't know was a long handle with a black Rubber Posser on the end looked like a large version of a Sink Unplugger.
My son was born in the sixties and I had a Baby Birco Boiler to boil all his nappies in. No fancy throw away ones them days.
Nothing nicer than seeing all those lovely white nappies on the line. Also all the sheets were white Cotton in those days and also had to be boiled. Took nearly all day to do the washing.
To be truthful that's something I don't miss all that hard work
Regards
Jackie

Mum did hers on a Monday in a copper boiler in the 1950's when we lived in a prefab. Then through the mangle. Remember coming home from school in the winter and the washing being frozen solid on the line.

When we moved into a "proper house" she got the tin tub. Do you remember how black the water would be after the final wash (Dads work clothes)?.

She still had the twin tub when I was in my early twenties. Hadn't let her wash my jumpers for years because the spin was so fast everything went out of shape.

To this day she still does her wash on a Monday.

Not like me .....Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday etc. and the washing basket is never empty.

As a matter of interest. Does anyone else have about three things at the bottom of the basket that never get washed? I'm going to throw mine out tomorrow.

Posh lot ,no sweet dish for us we had an old toffee tin.Pauline

lol, i found a lovely old dish with a handle at a car boot sale so it became the sweetie dish

PMSL...................sorry ladies ........we dont they go to quick ..before I get the dish out!!!!

I often have a dish with sweets in!!!!

erm..i have a dish with sweets in...lol

Pauline ....I did ......my great auntie used her wash board till she died in about 1985 ..my great uncle was very victorian and his wife kept to all the old ways ...dress code and open fires and wash days and out side loo ......they lived in a two up two down in Reading at the end of their lives ....it was like a museum........even a dish with sweets in ..............

My great uncle was 99 when he died great auntie was about 87

Nobody has mentioned the scrubbing board ,used with the green washing soap.Or perhaps I am the only really oldie on Genes.We had a gas copper to boil the whites in and areally big mangle which was a killer to turn.Good old days my foot .Only men would say that about washday.Polly p

We had no water or drainage in the house. When my eldest daughter was a baby I woul put her napkins and white clothes in a "Baby Belling" boiled it on the gas stove and then took it ouside to the cold water tap to rinse it all.

Thanks for all the above, fellow posters! Really brought back some memories for me. We may all be from different parts of the country but it seems our childhood less-mod-cons at the time is shared. I remember even having a "bath" in the kitchen sink as a toddler as it was the only place it was warm with the Aga on....

Anne .... Yes good old Robin starch.

thanks for this thread Anne (in wales)

Sorry all I have to go will start a new topic on The Flicks and chips after all under five shillings tomorrow. Thanks for all replies. Anne.

To all latest replies love your comments yes Monday dinner left over beef minced with gravy. Annie g you had it hard at least we had warm water Stella we dried in front of the fire no fabric condit. that is luxury Mum started having the laundry doing our sheets they came back like cardboard. Think they need to go back to terrys. Less waste on landfills. Anne in wales Hi Ann Glos.

I too remember the blue bags used to whiten the wash. dolly blue bags. At our time share in the Lake District you can still see traces of the blue in the walls of the hotel which used to be where the dolly blue bags were produced.

Ann
Glos

Monday washday, it took nearly all day. Mum didn't have a washing machine in the 50s, then had a twin tub in the 60s and right through until the late 80s, she wouldn't have an automatic so when the last twin tub finally gave up she went back to washing by hand until she died (aged 85).

But before the twin tub she'd boil the whites, sink wash the coloureds, then the wringer (mangle) to remove the drips. Out on to her very long double line the top one of which was on pulleys. Occasionally the pulleys would give and the whole lot would be down in the mud and she would have to wash it all again. When she had the twin tub with the spin drier it improved her life no end. There was no airing cupboard in the bungalow, no central heating so she got a flatley drier. Before that if the weather was bad everything was dried in front of the coal fire.

Monday lunch was always cold meat and mashed potatoes or shepherds pie made from the cold meat minced in a mincer that clamped to the kitchen table. (I used to help with that when i was little.)

And after it was all ironed on Tuesday it was aired around the fire too.

I didn't have a washing machine until 1968, a twin tub, when my youngest was 7 so all my nappies, shirts etc were boiled in a baby burco, and the rest were hand washed. I did have a spin drier though. sheets, pillowcases, husbands R Navy shirts and separate collars were sent to the laundry and delivered back to the house. I had my first automatic in the late 70s.

In the 60s we too lived in a bungalow with no central heating and no airing cupboard so it was a real struggle to get nappies and baby clothes dry.

Ann
Glos

can smell that lovely smell of white sheets just come off the line....no fabric softeners then.....

my nanny had a mangel which she would turn and wring out the clothes ............

Then when I got bigger she got a sinner and I use to sit on it !!! and it use to catch the water in a red bowl which was put on the floor !!! ...She also had a twin tub but she said the spinner on that was useless!!!

My mum had one of the first washers (automatic) it was called the pinaneir.....which she washed our nappies in then we got a front load automatic in the late 70s..........

how did we make our clothes last the week!!??


My great Auntie had a wash board until she died in about 1985 and she had to use it .....

Amanda and 2ndoow yes remember the soap recketts blue even carbolic.