Memories Of Somercotes by Mary Bullock (3/4)
by Mary Bullock on
Friday 25 March 2016
Washday itself was a mammoth effort and took most of a whole day. The copper had to be heated so clothes could be boiled………. later they had to be soaked in blue bags to brighten them………… then they had to be put through the hand ringer before being hung out on the line, or put up on the washing pulley in the kitchen. The next day was ironing day. Different sized flat irons (as heavy as lead) had to be heated on a rack placed in front of the range fire, which were tested for intensity of heat by spitting on them. No doubt there were lots of scorched items before the testing was perfected?
The copper for boiling clothes (left) and the ponch and tub (right) for washing the clothes
A typical hand ringer and a range of flat irons like “me mam” used.
The blue bags were used to brighten clothes.
Indoor games were favoured in winter; snakes and ladders, ludo, happy families, snap, dominoes and, as a house full of girls, we were taught French knitting. We used to collect rose-hips along the lanes near Morewood Pit and blackberrying in autumn was great fun. My uncle used to take my sister and I “bluebelling” in Spring.
There were lovely bluebell woods down Sleetmoor Lane, before you got to the Laburnum Inn. We used to collect armfuls and deliver them to various aunties on the way home and finally to our house, where they were put in jam jars in the kitchen window. That area is now a housing estate I think?