Web Page 3062 20th April 2023 First Picture: Gas Poker

Second Picture: Gas Fridge

Third Picture: Gas Light

Forth Picture: Gas Iron

Gas With the recent problems of within the energy area it got me to thinking how the used of gas has changed since our formative days. Here are some examples which have come to mind. One of the strangest items in my home in those days was the gas poker. We had a gas plug in point next to the fireplaces in the front and back room. This appliance was rarely used as my parents relieved on laying a proper fire so it would catch and burn away on its own. One strange things that I remember is when the engineer came to convert us to North Sea gas he insisted on converting the gas poke even though my mother told him that we did not use it. My wife’s grandmother lived in a cottage in St. Ives just outside Ringwood which was built in 1897 in the year of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee and was the first brick built house in the village, However not all rooms had the full domestic services. The upstairs rooms were only lit by a wandering lead attached to the stair rail, rather precarious. However, there was no electric light in the kitchen just one gas light on a bracket on the wall. I remember the comforting pop as the mantle lit and the soft warm light around the kitchen as it hissed away quietly to itself. Mind you that was not the only feature in the kitchen as in one corner was a built-in washing copper which was heated by a wood fire underneath, Looking at the other side of my family my maternal grandmother, when she was living in London owned a gas iron. The gas was attached to the iron from the domestic gas supply through the tap and tube at the back of the iron. There were two rows of six jets inside the body of the iron, and gas flowed from these jets, which were then lit. This heated the metal base, making it hot enough to press out creases. The thing always made a scary hissing noise which scared me intensely, luckily when she moved south to live with us she left it behind. I never really understood how a gas refrigerator worked as we never had one but our neighbour did and I remember my father being asked to go round and relight her fridge. I went along and watched but I still do not really understand how they worked. Some folks had a three legged free standing boiler in the kitchen for boiling whites the but my mother always boiled her white in a large pan on the gas cooker. I cannot finish without mentioning the geyser we had mounted over the bath in Drayton. This thing had a pilot light that was turned sideways into the main gas burners. The geyser would then make a horrendous pop and would scare us all to death. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com