Web Page  No 2404

9th September 2017

 First Picture: Do you remember milk bottles advertising Cornflakes?

 Second Picture: Bottled Fruit

Third Picture: Singer Sewing machine

Summers

Do you remember summers when we were children? Life was much simpler then and probably harder, but we were not aware of it. Tea came with little lumps of cream floating on the top as mother did not have a fridge and the milk was kept cool in a pitcher or bucket of cold water placed on the slate or concrete shelf of the Larder. Cooked meat was also kept on this shelf but locked away in a meat safe with fine mesh sides so that the blow flies and bluebottles could not get in and attack the meat. Cheese was also kept on this shelf under a large china cheese wedge which had probably been in the family for many generations.

As the summer drew to close autumn and harvest time came around. We had a garden with lots of fruit trees, apples, pears, plums cherries, damsons, gooseberries and red and blackcurrants and also a row of hazel nut trees. None of these were planted by us they were all in the garden when we moved in. With all this fruit preservation was the order of the day. The apples and pears were picked, individually wrapped in newspaper and laid out along the purpose-built shelves that had been built in the old air raid shelter. The door was kept closed as the fruit kept better in the dark.

The plums, damsons and cherries were bottled in Kilner Jars and my mother would have jars and jars of preserved fruit hidden away in cupboards all over the house. During the summer months, my mother hoarded as much sugar as she could get ready for the jam making season; this is when all the old jam jars that we, as a family, had collected throughout the year and stored in cardboard boxes in the shed; they now came out and were put to good use. I remember a steamy kitchen with bubbling pans and my mother and grandmother busily cutting out greaseproof paper discs to lay on top of the newly made jam.

Of an evening Mum would be occupied with mending, sewing and darning. I have recently come across the following which is really indicative of its time:-

Advice from a Singer Sewing Machine Manual from 1949.  Firstly prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Think about what you are going to do. Never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically. Good results are difficult when indifference dominates. Never try to sew with a sink full of dishes or beds unmade. When there are urgent,' housekeeping chores, do all these first so that your mind is free to enjoy your sewing. When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Put on a clean dress. Keep a little bag of French chalk near your sewing machine to dust your fingers at intervals. Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on. If you are constantly fearful that a visitor might drop in or your husband will come home, and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewing.

Now ladies do you know where you have been going wrong all these years!

Another natural resource that was stored by my godmother was rainwater. Her father was squire of a small village in Essex and the family, father and mother and the son and daughter, lived in the big house on a mound in the middle of the village. The whole family were country people and the daughter (Jessica), who was my god mother was the last of the family. The house had to be seen to be believed. It was large but only had electric light downstairs, candles and oil lamps upstairs and this is in the early 1960s. No mains drainage or gas and she cooked on a paraffin stove. But outside the back door was a rain butt and this was for the household washing water. Whenever we needed a wash a big dipper was lowered into this butt and the water placed into a special ‘washing’ kettle and heated up. She always maintained that the soft rainwater was good for the skin. In fact, she had marvellously soft skin until the day she died at 86 and she swore that tis was because of the rainwater. In 1962, she decided to move nearer us and bought a bungalow in Bedhampton but she insisted on bringing the water butt with her and I know my father had the job of connecting it up to the downpipe so she could have ‘washing water’.    

This was a period of invention and innovation and I am sure that you all could add to the stories above.

Keep in touch

Yours

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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News and Views:

On this day 9th September 1960-1965

On 09/09/1960 the number one single was Apache - The Shadows and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Rawhide (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 09/09/1961 the number one single was Johnny Remember Me - John Leyton and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Charles de Gaulle escapes assasination attempt

On 09/09/1962 the number one single was I Remember You - Frank Ifield and the number one album was Pot Luck - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 09/09/1963 the number one single was Bad to Me - Billy J Kramer and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 09/09/1963 the number one single was Bad to Me - Billy J Kramer and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 09/09/1965 the number one single was (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Help - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.