Washing clothes.

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:06 am

Hi Nina

As a child we must have been quite posh.
The usual scrubbing board was ribbed galvanised metal. Ours was made of glass. Still ribbed with a twist in the glass but somehow it didn't seem to hurt the knuckles as much.
This whole thread is stirring lots of memories.
Does anyone else remember the soap savers just after the war? A sort of wire basket with a handle that you put the endy bits of soap into. When you filled the basin to wash the dishes you swished this wire basket thingy around to get a lather then hung it up on a hook beside the sink.

Those were the days or were they ?

Russell

Post by **emanday** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:54 am

...and were I to mention Dolly Blues...

How many of you remember them? I actually think it was them that gave Mondays their "Blue" adjective.

I do remember Mum also hated wash day, but it was a matter of pride to have the whitest whites and to have them out on the line earlier than anyone else!

Post by **joette** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:50 am

Our boiler was still being used up to at least the late sixties.Mum had gone through at least three washing machines in her quest to keep my brother's nappies pristine as he had the most horrendous eczema.She would steep bucket of Milton solution,then rinse by hand in the sink,then into the boiler & then eventually the twin-tub.
Turns out she was "too particular" & it was all that washing of him & his clothes that was causing the problem.
She swiched to washing him with olive oil & his eczema cleared up nae problem at all.Interestingly he was also the only one of the five of us who ever had to drink formula milk as Mum had to have an op when he was a few months old.He switched back to breast with no trouble despite the two week break.His eczema was horrendous during that period of National Dried.He still has a beautiful skin which tans very easily without burning unlike the rest of us.

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 2:46 am

This thread brought back memories of my mum washing clothes in Faifley tenements. She had a glass scrubbing board, and luckily for her there was hot running water. She also had a mangle which got clamped between the two sinks (??) in the kitchen, then taking the wash downstairs to hang on the line, nice in summer but as was said earlier frozen at the end of the day in winter. When we came over to Aust, she got a big single tub electric washer with a mangle, then upgraded to the twin tub. That must have been bliss after years of hard slog on a scrubbing board.

Post by **emanday** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:57 am

Hi Stewie,

The double sink was probably a Belfast sink. Fairly common back then.

What makes me laugh is that my daughter, who cannot understand my love for all things old, just recently had one fitted in her new, hi-tech, all bells and whistles kitchen

It is identical in every respect to the one my Gran used to have

What goes around, comes around.

StewL · Post by **StewL** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 2:24 am

Hi Emanday

Was it called a double sink because thats where the wains got a bath on a cold winters night too

mallog · Post by **mallog** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:51 am

I remember my mother having to do the weekly wash in the wash-house too and also the excitement of the first washing machine. However I had something of the same experience some years later when I moved into married quarters in the 1970's. My husband's "rank" in the navy meant we only qualified for a boiler not a washing machine !! Any large items had to be washed in the bath. Anyway after a few months of this I asked my husband to do some washing while I was at work - we went out and got a washing machine the next day. Need I say more

Mallog

ninatoo · Post by **ninatoo** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:03 am

I remember my mum being over the moon when we moved to Australia and she had her very own clothes line, not to be shared with anyone. She couldn't believe it!

She told me some stories about women in Glasgow who would drop other people's wash in the dirt of it wasn't their turn for the line, and so my meek mannered mum used to just make do with the pulleys for fear of getting somebody angry! And with two young babies in nappies, I bet that wasn't easy.

Nina

Post by **joette** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:26 am

My Granny lived up a close for many years before she married for the 2nd time-she married my Mum's Dad,thus getting her own garden & washing line.
She used to tell tales off the other families-off how so&so's Husband would sneak into the washouse to do the family wash before work because his wife was unwell & the ribbing he got when discovered.
The biggest insult was to say"that so& so is a clarty ...she only washes once a month"or that your whites were less than pristine.It was a mark of pride to be first with your wash blowing in the wind,pegged out & the clothes pole in place-hands up all those that used to joust with the poles?
The washouse was also the clandestine meeting place for many a young couple or those having an extra-martial affair or "he was having more than his boiler suit washed" as my Granny so delicatetly put it.
If you missed your turn off the stairs or did a less than perfect job again your name was mud.If the weans played there & made a mess then you could be chased down them with a brush,soaking mop or even in my Dad's case a scrubbing brush thrown at you & expect no parental sympathy more than likely you would get a clout round the ear for your pains.
Ironing off course followed the washing & as the temperature soars today I cannot imagine the discomfort suffered by generations of Women who strove to keep their homes & families clean & neat.
Anybody remember being plonked in the Belfast for a wash?I have a wonderful picture of my 29 year old nephew sitting grinning in the sink when he is about 10 months-happy days.
Granny used to keep a board across hers when not in use & it was a wonderful place to view the garden especially if you were unwell & confined to barracks.

Post by **emanday** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:58 am

My older brother took charge of the family documents, albums, etc... once both our Mum and Dad had passed away.

He refuses to return to me the photo of me and my cousin sitting in my Gran's Belfast sink (one in each tub) with soapy suds piled up on our heads! Gave me a copy, but is retaining the original as negotiating (read blackmail) tool

She had a board to put over hers as well to give draining space, but hers was posh - Grandad was a cabinetmaker and had made hers, complete with draining grooves and lovely smoothed off curved corners. Not the standard pine effort for his missus!!